April 4/history

[more] What else happened today

2002 — Cost of the Canadian Firearms Program more than triples. The tab for implementing the registry rises to $629 million, according to an audit of the registry: $2 million to help police enforce legislation, at least $60 million for public-relations programs, including television commercials ($18 million of which went to ad agency GroupAction, which received millions in sponsorship scandal contracts) and $227 million in computer costs. Complicated application forms slow processing times and drive costs higher. Then there is $332 million for other programming costs, including money to pay staff to process the forms.