Fraser Report Issued

The Fraser Report has been tabled, and as expected there were serious shenanigans in the gun registry.

The former Liberal government hid more than $60 million in unexpected costs from Parliament, left no written record of important decisions taken by officials, and may have broken numerous contracting rules in its handling of the controversial gun registry, Auditor General Sheila Fraser has found.

The Canadian Firearms Program, which the Conservatives are expected to start dismantling, perhaps as early as today, has incurred $87.3 million in startup costs since 2002 - three times the budgeted amount - for a computer system that does not yet work, Fraser revealed in her long-awaited report.

This is since 2002 remember, not since the thing started in 1995.  That's a whole 'nother thing.  Plus the registry weenies have never demonstrated the registry did any good, and she says so in the report.  No wonder that was, the thing cannot in principle do any good even by accident.

This isn't the end yet either.

The criticism that the Liberals are certain to face for their handling of the gun registry may not end with this report either. Fraser's report also reveals that her office is continuing to investigate the handling of a number of the 3,642 contracts awarded for work done on the registry.

The "red flag" contracts include those worth less than $25,000 - exempting them from a competitive bidding process - whose value subsequently increased by 150 per cent; properly awarded contracts whose value increased significantly; and "fixed-price" contracts awarded in 2001 and 2002 that had no measurable goal and no record of a product being delivered.  [Emphasis mine]

"The initial value of each contract was below the $25,000 limit, but the final values were much higher: $50,000, $107,000 and $319,431," the report said. "We will be reviewing these contracts in greater detail."

KILL IT NOW, PLEASE!

The Phantom