Mr. Toews (Provencher, Man.) received the report on Friday, Dec. 16, the final day of sittings prior to the break, the RCMP told The Hill Times in a series of email exchanges last week.
The government quietly tabled it with the House of Commons clerk on Jan. 18 while Parliament was adjourned for its winter recess.
In a separate series of question-and-answer emails with Mr. Toews’ office, communications director Michael Patton insisted that Mr. Toews did not receive the report until Tuesday, Dec. 20, and “and we tabled it on the next available tabling day.”
RCMP Sgt. Julie Gagnon, a spokesperson at the force’s media relations headquarters in Ottawa, responded to questions about the report on behalf of the RCMP as well as its Canadian Firearms Program branch, after The Hill Times reviewed the report.
Former RCMP commissioner William Elliott prepared and submitted the report but was replaced as head of the national police force on Nov. 21 by current Commissioner Robert Paulson.
At that time, and past Dec. 6, MPs, the House Public Safety Committee and the gun-control community were seized in a battle against the Conservatives and gun-registry opponents over Bill C-19, Eliminating the Long-Gun Registry Bill, which would scrap the registry and destroy its entire database of ownership records on seven million rifles and shotguns across the country.
The majority of Conservative MPs passed the bill through its final committee hearing on Nov. 29, and Government House Leader Peter Van Loan (York Simcoe, Ont.) said Monday he expects it to pass through the Commons by mid-February. Despite the measure’s central role in the past three Conservative election campaign platforms, the timetable suggests the bill will not pass through the Senate before March.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) said the possibility that the government or Mr. Paulson delayed the report so it would not be made public until January reflects a pattern of secrecy and information control that has characterized Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) successive governments since he first won power in 2006.
“This is typical, another example of this government [which] does not really want access to information,” Ms. May said, noting two previous reports on the registry that were embarrassing for the government, including one in 2010 that the registry be maintained, were also delayed.
“They have a massive number of people assigned as information officers. Their job as information officers is very Orwellian. Their job is to keep the information from flowing freely. It’s bottlenecked at PMO before it’s released, not as much is given out, or if it’s a report they don’t want to get publicity, they’ll wait until Friday night on a long weekend,” Ms. May said. “They are the least transparent government we’ve ever seen.”
Ms. Gagnon confirmed on Monday that Mr. Elliott completed the report before he was replaced on Nov. 21, but she explained the delay in presenting the report to Mr. Toews was due to subsequent editing stages.
“Once the report is drafted, there is content review/editing, translation and production of bound copies,” Sgt. Gagnon wrote in an email. “The Report was delivered by the RCMP to Public Safety on Dec. 16.”
NDP MP Jack Harris (St. John’s East, Nfld.) said the report should have been available during the controversial debate late last November and early December. The report cites increases in the use of the registry by police, and presents several instances where the registry and the program surrounding it were used to solve gun crimes.
“There is valuable information and it should have been available to the committee,” Mr. Harris told The Hill Times.
Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia (Lac Saint Louis, Que.) said he intends to question Mr. Paulson about the way the report was handled when the commissioner appears at a hearing of the Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.
“I think there is definitely a question in this,” Mr. Scarpaleggia told The Hill Times. “It’s convenient because they can blame Elliott, and just say, ‘Well he should have given it to us earlier.’”
Original Article
Source: Hill Times
Author: TIM NAUMETZ
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