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Industry minister Allan Rock talks with reporters following Question Period in Ottawa Thursday. Photo: Tom Hanson/CP
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ALLISON DUNFIELD
Globe and Mail Update
The Liberals have postponed their request for an additional $72-million for the federal gun registry, which already has massive cost overruns, according to a report by the Auditor-General. The Liberals received unanimous consent from all parties in the House of Commons to remove the $72-million from the government's supplementary estimates. A vote was supposed to be held Thursday evening in the Commons on the Justice Department's request as part of the votes on supplementary estimates — money Parliament requests for unforeseen program costs. But Mr. Cauchon said during Question Period that "We can postpone the vote on the $72-million to give us time to see the audit." (After the damning report by the Auditor-General which accused the Justice Department of hiding cost overruns in the new firearms registry, the cost of which is expected to be $1-billion instead of the $119-million forecast, Mr. Cauchon said his department would conduct an external audit).
Thursday's consent to postpone the $72-million request does not mean that the Liberals will not make a future bid for additional money. In the House of Commons, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said the Liberals remain committed to the firearms program. During Question Period, Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper asked Mr. Cauchon to outline how much the gun registry will cost taxpayers in total. Mr. Cauchon refused to say but said the audit will show why the registry ran so far over budget. He told the House that the idea behind the registry is to increase the safety of Canadians. After Question Period, Mr. Harper said that it is obvious the government does not know how much the registry will cost taxpayers in the end. Progressive Conservative MP Peter MacKay asked Mr. Cauchon to table the results of the external audit when they become available. But the Justice Minister said all of the figures have already been released through the Justice Department and other ministries. Cancelling a vote on the requirement for the additional money is a relief to the Liberals. A vote on the supplementary estimates would be considered a money vote for the Liberals, and would have been a confidence vote in the government. But several backbench Liberal MPs, along with all four opposition parties, have condemned an Auditor-General's report. Two Liberals — Benoît Serré and Alex Shepherd — called Wednesday for the resignation of Industry Minister Allan Rock, who presided over the program's inception as justice minister in 1995. Mr. Rock defended his program Thursday. He said that Liberal MPs who are calling for his resignation are using this as an opportunity to win political points against him and his possible run for the Liberal leadership. "The people in my own party who are saying that are motivated by leadership politics — they support someone else for leader. None of those people have ever supported gun control," Mr. Rock said. He blamed gun lobby groups and some provinces Thursday for the $1-billion cost overrun, saying they blocked the process and drove up the cost. "In fact, some provinces decided after we adopted the law not to administer it," Mr. Rock told CBC Newsworld. "[Former Ontario premier] Mike Harris and [Alberta Premier] Ralph Klein never supported gun control. He said it is troubling that the gun lobby is using the Auditor-General's criticism of the overspending to open up the debate on gun registration. Mr. Rock admitted the cost overruns are a concern to everybody and said he is confident current Justice Minister Martin Cauchon will fix the problem.
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