BD
02-25-2001, 04:21 PM
From the editorial of today's Edmonton Sun
Grits would 'outsource' Breitkreuz
If we polled the Liberal caucus in Ottawa on which member of the Canadian
Alliance they'd hope would resign and return to a private life, we bet the
answer would not be Stockwell Day, Deb Grey or Chuck Strahl.
No, we'd bet that if the Liberals had their choice, they'd rather be free
of Garry Breitkreuz, who has been a constant irritant in their side.
Breitkreuz, representing Yorkton-Melville in Saskatchewan, isn't the
highest-profile MP in the Alliance. He doesn't seek publicity and he's not
a braggart. Instead, he and his staff regularly come up with embarrassing
documented evidence that Ottawa's gun registry isn't living up to the
Liberals' vaunted promises.
It was Breitkreuz who first uncovered the massive cost overruns of the gun
registry, the huge bureaucracy that had been hired to process applications,
and big backlogs which had developed in processing.
All of which were initially denied by the government, only to be grudgingly
admitted later.
In short, while a lot of opposition MPs are all talk and no action,
Breitkreuz is all action, preferring to let the documents he uncovers and
obtains talk for themselves.
It was no different this week, when Breitkreuz released a three-page letter
from George Radwanski, the country's privacy commissioner.
In it, Radwanski expresses his concern that the Firearms Interest Police
database, which is only supposed to contain the names of "potentially
dangerous" individuals, in fact contains the names of victims, witnesses
and people who had been charged but not convicted.
Radwanski was also concerned that there was no mechanism in place to
correct faulty or duplicate entries.
Now this database is one of the key mechanisms used to determine whether
someone gets a firearms licence or not. Radwanski admitted that a database
full of inaccurate information could result in the police investigating
people who have done nothing wrong.
Confronted with Radwanski's concerns in the House of Commons, Justice
Minister Anne McLellan lamely said her department deals with the privacy
commissioner all the time and that if he had specific concerns, he should
get in touch with her.
And Maryantonette Flumian, CEO of the Canadian Firearms Centre, excused the
errors saying, "We're new at this," and that police officers may input the
wrong information because they're not properly trained at it.
Heaven forbid that the Liberals actually ensure the system is working
properly before they launch it, rather than try to patch the holes later.
In his letter to Breitkreuz, Radwanski also brought up concerns that the
Justice Department might privatize some or all of the data collection for
the firearms program.
That story from two weeks ago, like this one about the holes in the
government's database, brought the usual denials in the face of a paper
trail saying otherwise. Not surprisingly, that story originated from
Breitkreuz as well.
The government put out a "letter of interest" seeking "vendors" interested
in the "delivery of goods and services in support of the future operation
of the Canadian Firearms Program."
McLellan denied the government was privatizing the registry, only that she
would "outsource" some of the work, without being specific.
But the letter of intent clearly says that the government wanted to
contract with a vendor for the "overall operation, redevelopment and
maintenance of the Canadian firearm program's) registration and licensing
program for a long term, as in 10-plus years. McLellan's denials ring
hollow.
Radwanski expressed annoyance in his letter that the Justice Department had
not consulted his office about potential violations of the Privacy Act
which may result from changes in the way the data is collected. He said he
would take it up with Justice as soon as he could.
We won't know for a while what the results of those discussions will be,
but it's a safe bet when there is something to say about it, the Alliance
member from Yorkton-Melville will have his press release locked and loaded,
ready to shoot down another broken promise from the Liberals about Canada's
poorly run gun registry.
Grits would 'outsource' Breitkreuz
If we polled the Liberal caucus in Ottawa on which member of the Canadian
Alliance they'd hope would resign and return to a private life, we bet the
answer would not be Stockwell Day, Deb Grey or Chuck Strahl.
No, we'd bet that if the Liberals had their choice, they'd rather be free
of Garry Breitkreuz, who has been a constant irritant in their side.
Breitkreuz, representing Yorkton-Melville in Saskatchewan, isn't the
highest-profile MP in the Alliance. He doesn't seek publicity and he's not
a braggart. Instead, he and his staff regularly come up with embarrassing
documented evidence that Ottawa's gun registry isn't living up to the
Liberals' vaunted promises.
It was Breitkreuz who first uncovered the massive cost overruns of the gun
registry, the huge bureaucracy that had been hired to process applications,
and big backlogs which had developed in processing.
All of which were initially denied by the government, only to be grudgingly
admitted later.
In short, while a lot of opposition MPs are all talk and no action,
Breitkreuz is all action, preferring to let the documents he uncovers and
obtains talk for themselves.
It was no different this week, when Breitkreuz released a three-page letter
from George Radwanski, the country's privacy commissioner.
In it, Radwanski expresses his concern that the Firearms Interest Police
database, which is only supposed to contain the names of "potentially
dangerous" individuals, in fact contains the names of victims, witnesses
and people who had been charged but not convicted.
Radwanski was also concerned that there was no mechanism in place to
correct faulty or duplicate entries.
Now this database is one of the key mechanisms used to determine whether
someone gets a firearms licence or not. Radwanski admitted that a database
full of inaccurate information could result in the police investigating
people who have done nothing wrong.
Confronted with Radwanski's concerns in the House of Commons, Justice
Minister Anne McLellan lamely said her department deals with the privacy
commissioner all the time and that if he had specific concerns, he should
get in touch with her.
And Maryantonette Flumian, CEO of the Canadian Firearms Centre, excused the
errors saying, "We're new at this," and that police officers may input the
wrong information because they're not properly trained at it.
Heaven forbid that the Liberals actually ensure the system is working
properly before they launch it, rather than try to patch the holes later.
In his letter to Breitkreuz, Radwanski also brought up concerns that the
Justice Department might privatize some or all of the data collection for
the firearms program.
That story from two weeks ago, like this one about the holes in the
government's database, brought the usual denials in the face of a paper
trail saying otherwise. Not surprisingly, that story originated from
Breitkreuz as well.
The government put out a "letter of interest" seeking "vendors" interested
in the "delivery of goods and services in support of the future operation
of the Canadian Firearms Program."
McLellan denied the government was privatizing the registry, only that she
would "outsource" some of the work, without being specific.
But the letter of intent clearly says that the government wanted to
contract with a vendor for the "overall operation, redevelopment and
maintenance of the Canadian firearm program's) registration and licensing
program for a long term, as in 10-plus years. McLellan's denials ring
hollow.
Radwanski expressed annoyance in his letter that the Justice Department had
not consulted his office about potential violations of the Privacy Act
which may result from changes in the way the data is collected. He said he
would take it up with Justice as soon as he could.
We won't know for a while what the results of those discussions will be,
but it's a safe bet when there is something to say about it, the Alliance
member from Yorkton-Melville will have his press release locked and loaded,
ready to shoot down another broken promise from the Liberals about Canada's
poorly run gun registry.