These comments are direct quotations from the Hansard
documents.
Outrage Over Cost Overruns
Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville,
CPC): Mr. Speaker, according to the CBC, the Firearms Act has not cost
taxpayers just $1 billion; it is instead approaching the $2 billion mark.
There are many costs still unaccounted for in that number.
The Prime Minister said that he was outraged by the waste of $250 million
on the sponsorship program. The cost of the gun registry is now not 500
times over budget but 1,000 times over the original projection given to
Parliament.
Why is the Prime Minister not outraged about that?
Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety
and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, let me be absolutely
clear. We do not accept that number referred to in the report referred to
by the hon. member. In fact, we have asked Radio Canada to provide us with
its numbers and its calculations which to date it has refused to do.
Let me reassure the House that to date, the Canadian firearms program has
not cost $1 billion let alone $2 billion.
Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the
cost benefit analysis of the gun registry has been kept a secret. The
Auditor General blew the whistle on that. Trust for the Prime Minister is
in free fall and he still keeps the gun registry reports hidden from
Parliament.
The gun registry is closing in on $2 billion and the Prime Minister just
orders another review. Look at the similarities of this and the
sponsorship scandal. Ignorance is no excuse on this file. The Prime
Minister wrote most of the cheques. He helped hide the most damaging
reports. When will he take responsibility for--
The Speaker: The hon. Deputy Prime Minister.
Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety
and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, let me remind the hon.
House that since the Auditor General tabled her report in relation to the
gun control program, we have accepted her recommendations and we have
implemented her recommendations.
Full program costs, as the hon. member should know, were tabled last
October as part of the justice department's performance report. I will
soon table a complete response to the public accounts committee report on
the program. A ministerial review of this program is underway.
We have been transparent in relation to the cost of this program.
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