cuchulainn
Member
Well, I'm sure the good people of Canada are relieved that the billion dollars was wasted honestly. [brittany]oops I lost a billion again[/brittany]
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1046136326241_13/?hub=Canada
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1046136326241_13/?hub=Canada
Cauchon pins registry cost on honest mistakes
Canadian Press
Cost overruns in the federal gun control program are the result of honest mistakes and unforeseen managerial complications, not of bureaucratic incompetence or political deceit, says Justice Minister Martin Cauchon.
"Nobody had a crystal ball," Cauchon told the Commons public accounts committee as it opened hearings Monday on the financially troubled program. "I believe they've used the best numbers that they had . . . All the people have been working and acting in good faith."
The gun control system - and especially the national registry created by the Liberal government in 1995 to keep track of firearms - have been under siege since Auditor General Sheila Fraser delivered a scathing report in December.
The cost of the program was supposed to be $2 million, a figure that was based on the assumption that most of the government's spending could be recovered by user fees charged to gun owners.
Fraser found the Justice Department had, in fact, spent $688 million on gun licensing and registration by early last year. Using the department's own projections, she estimated the cumulative, 10-year bill for the program would reach $1 billion by 2005.
The auditor general, appearing with Cauchon at committee Monday, said her chief concern was not the cost in itself but the fact that MPs were kept in the dark for so long.
"It undermines the essential role of Parliament to oversee spending and to keep government accountable," she said. "Steps must be taken to prevent similar situations from arising in the future."
Opposition MPs used the ammunition supplied by Fraser to attack Cauchon and his top bureaucrat, deputy minister Morris Rosenberg.
Canadian Press
Cost overruns in the federal gun control program are the result of honest mistakes and unforeseen managerial complications, not of bureaucratic incompetence or political deceit, says Justice Minister Martin Cauchon.
"Nobody had a crystal ball," Cauchon told the Commons public accounts committee as it opened hearings Monday on the financially troubled program. "I believe they've used the best numbers that they had . . . All the people have been working and acting in good faith."
The gun control system - and especially the national registry created by the Liberal government in 1995 to keep track of firearms - have been under siege since Auditor General Sheila Fraser delivered a scathing report in December.
The cost of the program was supposed to be $2 million, a figure that was based on the assumption that most of the government's spending could be recovered by user fees charged to gun owners.
Fraser found the Justice Department had, in fact, spent $688 million on gun licensing and registration by early last year. Using the department's own projections, she estimated the cumulative, 10-year bill for the program would reach $1 billion by 2005.
The auditor general, appearing with Cauchon at committee Monday, said her chief concern was not the cost in itself but the fact that MPs were kept in the dark for so long.
"It undermines the essential role of Parliament to oversee spending and to keep government accountable," she said. "Steps must be taken to prevent similar situations from arising in the future."
Opposition MPs used the ammunition supplied by Fraser to attack Cauchon and his top bureaucrat, deputy minister Morris Rosenberg.
Canadian Press
Cost overruns in the federal gun control program are the result of honest mistakes and unforeseen managerial complications, not of bureaucratic incompetence or political deceit, says Justice Minister Martin Cauchon.
"Nobody had a crystal ball," Cauchon told the Commons public accounts committee as it opened hearings Monday on the financially troubled program. "I believe they've used the best numbers that they had . . . All the people have been working and acting in good faith."
The gun control system - and especially the national registry created by the Liberal government in 1995 to keep track of firearms - have been under siege since Auditor General Sheila Fraser delivered a scathing report in December.
The cost of the program was supposed to be $2 million, a figure that was based on the assumption that most of the government's spending could be recovered by user fees charged to gun owners.
Fraser found the Justice Department had, in fact, spent $688 million on gun licensing and registration by early last year. Using the department's own projections, she estimated the cumulative, 10-year bill for the program would reach $1 billion by 2005.
The auditor general, appearing with Cauchon at committee Monday, said her chief concern was not the cost in itself but the fact that MPs were kept in the dark for so long.
"It undermines the essential role of Parliament to oversee spending and to keep government accountable," she said. "Steps must be taken to prevent similar situations from arising in the future."
Opposition MPs used the ammunition supplied by Fraser to attack Cauchon and his top bureaucrat, deputy minister Morris Rosenberg.
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