Weekend Question 1: Has the Failure of the Canadian Gun Registry “Registered” Here?
You might think that the answer is “no.” After all, Canada’s nearly $1 billion database debacle was written up about 10 days ago, and was of course mostly ignored by the WORMs (Worn-Out Reactionary Media, known to most as The Mainstream Media) here:
Gun registry cost triggers furor
May 17, 2006OTTAWA — The former Liberal government cooked the books on the much-maligned gun registry program, ignoring legal advice and hiding the true cost of the registry from Parliament, says the auditor general.
While the 10-year cost of the registry through the end of fiscal 2005 has been pegged at $946 million — just below an earlier $1-billion estimate — government officials tried to obscure the true annual tally, including spreading the accounting of past spending over the next 15 years.
“It is more than simply a disagreement between accountants,” Fraser said at a news conference, in reference to a 2004 decision that hid almost $22 million in overspending by the Canadian Firearms Centre that year alone.
“We believe that decision did not respect the government’s own policies nor the Financial Administration Act. So this is a serious matter,” she said.
The finding is just one of several in a report yesterday that also details major failures in the management of First Nations, military recruitment and tax debt collection.
“Taken as a whole, the eight chapters of this year’s report paint a picture of mixed progress,” Fraser said.
It is Fraser’s first report since the Conservative government of Stephen Harper came to power this year. Its damning indictment of program management under the previous Liberal regime is likely to provide a powder keg of partisan grist in the minority-led House of Commons.
Treasury Board President John Baird immediately denounced the Liberal activities as “deplorable,” “a coverup” and a “complete violation of Canadians’ sense of right and wrong.”
It gets “better”:
Fraser said the accuracy of the registry information can’t be verified.
And the centre’s performance reports fail to give solid information about how well the program is performing its public safety function.
“It is critical that any program in government be able to show what they are accomplishing,” said the auditor.
One would hope that Canada’s new Prime Minister puts this critically ill, resource-sapping patient out of it misery.
As to its effect in America, despite the relative lack of media attention, the Canadian embarrassment has indeed “registered” here. You can tell because you don’t hear anti-Second Amendment types in the US advocating gun registration too often any more, at least not openly. Enough people know about what happened in Canada that I don’t see any attempt at registration happening here any time soon.
