Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms

These subcategories reflect a review of major themes in story content. Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms includes: Gun Control, Marijuana, Tobacco

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Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms

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wdt_ID	Details	Author	Date of Publication	Media Outlet	Title	Category Name	Story summary
1	More details	Kirk LaPointe	06/08/1991	Vancouver Sun	Guns in 25% of homes, study shows	GUN CONTROL	A federal study this year found there were firearms in nearly one-quarter of Canadian households but only a negligible number of people said they owned handguns, shotguns or rifles for their own protection. The justice department study, obtained under the ATIA, estimated there were 5.9 million firearms owned in Canada. In the nearly 2.2 million firearm-owning households, there were 2.67 firearms on average. The Angus Reid Group's profile of a typical firearm owner: Male, middle-aged, employed, blue-collar, of average income and below-average education.
2	More details	Jim Bronskill	02/07/1996	Canadian Press	Officials warn of gun amnesty backlash	GUN CONTROL	Federal officials are warning of a possible strong backlash against plans for a national firearms amnesty. A confidential briefing note says a large-scale call to turn in unwanted guns could fuel suspicions the government wants to rid the country of firearms. ``Any amnesty program can result in strong negative reaction from hunting and gun groups, as it is seen as further proof that the government is trying to remove firearms from the population,'' says the note, prepared by Justice Department officials. It says one of the strategic objectives of an amnesty should be to demonstrate the federal commitment to ``a high level of public safety in the home and in the street.'' It says unwanted firearms are prone to misuse, loss and theft.
3	More details	Rick Mofina	08/04/1999	Calgary Herald	Lebrun would have slipped through gun registry	GUN CONTROL	Ottawa's national firearms registry would not likely have forestalled the shooting deaths of five people in Ottawa, says Canada's Justice Minister. "I don't pretend that the gun registry would have prevented what happened yesterday in Ottawa. But if we create a culture of safety in this country around firearms it will be less likely to happen," Anne McLellan said…. Prior to the shooting, Reform MP Garry Breitkreuz said it will take almost a century to register all the weapons in Canada, noting the rate at which they're being registered and the current capacity to do the job. Breitkreuz based his estimates on documents the Reform party obtained under the ATIA. The licensing deadline is Jan. 1, 2001 and the registration deadline is Jan. 1, 2003. McLellan admitted there were glitches when the program was introduced.
4	More details	Robert Fife	10/11/1999	National Post	Gun registry spending soars to $100M this year: System's bill $195M so far	GUN CONTROL	The Justice Department is expected to spend $100- million this fiscal year to operate its controversial federal gun registry, which forces gun owners to license and register all of their firearms. Ottawa has already spent $195-million to set up the registration system at the Canadian Firearms Centre in Miramichi, N.B., and a separate facility in Montreal, which serves as a Quebec-only registry. When the gun law was passed four years ago, the government said it would cost $85-million, spread over five years. A government advisory group, including the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, warned that the gun registry, which it supports, is too complex and is creating a black market in illegal weaponry, according to a memo to the Justice Minister obtained under the ATIA by the Reform party.
5	More details	Janice Tibbetts	06/03/2000	Ottawa Citizen	New Brunswick risks losing jobs over gun control: Federal Liberals threaten to pull registry office out of province	GUN CONTROL	The federal Liberal government is considering moving the central gun registration centre out of job-depressed New Brunswick if the Conservative province steps up its anti-gun-control position by boycotting the registry. The province has been warned of the potential fallout if it follows several other provinces in opting out of the new Firearms Act, says a briefing note obtained from the Justice Department through the ATIA. At least 250 jobs have been created in the city of Miramichi where workers handle most firearm licensing and registration business. The region is one of the poorest in Canada. The briefing note was drafted soon after New Brunswick decided to join seven other provinces and territories in a Supreme Court of Canada challenge to gun control.
6	More details	Editorial	04/04/2000	National Post	No, Minister; Anne McLellan, the Justice Minister, takes issue with our criticism of her approach to crime in a letter on this page.	GUN CONTROL	'Anne McLellan, the Justice Minister, takes issue with our criticism of her approach to crime in a letter on this page…. when Ms. McLellan claims that "none of the money" for the gun registry comes from "any police budget," she is defending herself against a charge we never made. This is based not on speculation but on RCMP documents obtained through a series of [ATIA] requests by Garry Breitkreuz, a Canadian Alliance MP. These documents show that nearly 400 officers have been taken off their regular duties to work on the registry. Given the RCMP is already understaffed, that is disquieting. In British Columbia, for example, the RCMP is short by more than 300 officers; 24 B.C. officers were seconded to the registry nonetheless.'
7	More details	Tim Naumetz	26/04/2000	Ottawa Citizen	Gun registry under fire: Weapons owners may be sabotaging legislation: MP	GUN CONTROL	Gun owners may be sabotaging the federal firearms registry by bogging it down with error-filled licence applications, says Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz. He was commenting on an internal RCMP document that shows the registry has been swamped with applications that contain incorrect information and mistakes. Nearly all applications to register guns and 90 per cent of gun licence applications up to last August contained errors, it says. Breitkreuz obtained it through the ATIA. At the same time, the registry was receiving only 10 per cent of licence applications Ottawa had expected under the new Firearms Act and less than 30 per cent of registry applications, it says. Breitkreuz said while he has no proof gun-owners are undermining the new system, it is possible because of high feelings over the issue.
8	More details	Tim Naumetz	13/06/2000	Ottawa Citizen	Federal gun registry `hanging in the balance': Report says technical, management problems threaten program	GUN CONTROL	The federal gun registry centre in Miramichi, N.B., is plagued by archaic office systems, staff frustration and a poor working environment that threatens the success of the firearms program. An internal study by the Justice Minister's advisory group of gun users cited a host of technical and management problems that put into question the government's ability to license all gun owners in Canada by the Jan. 1, 2001, deadline. A letter the advisory group sent to the minister, along with the 2000 report, said the future of the program was "hanging in the balance" with less than a year left for all gun owners in Canada to license their weapons. The report and the letter were obtained by Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz under the ATIA.
9	More details	Tim Naumetz		Ottawa Citizen	Firearms licence system 'a mess': critic: Government agency won't disclose data on licences issued	GUN CONTROL	Information obtained under the ATIA suggests the Canadian Firearms Centre may be withholding precise statistics about the number of gun licences it has issued. It's either that or the centre's internal records system has failed, and it is unable to tabulate the exact number of licence applications it has processed, says the head of the National Firearms Association. And if the internal records system is at fault, said NFA president Jim Hinter, the integrity and safety of the new firearms regulatory system cannot be trusted. Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz obtained statistics through the ATIA that reveal the centre was woefully backlogged in processing the temporary licences it had been issuing since the beginning of 2001.
10	More details	Tim Naumetz	26/09/2001	Ottawa Citizen	Government spends $535M on gun registry: Money used on firearms licensing better spent on defence, MP argues	GUN CONTROL	The government has spent more than $535 million over the last six years on its trouble-plagued firearms licensing system, according to the latest figures obtained by Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz under the ATIA. After revenues of $44.3 million from licence and gun registration fees are taken into account, as well as $3.8 million Ottawa spent under the previous firearms control law, the system has cost taxpayers $487 million. The original forecast of about $85 million in startup costs came in at $120 million. Breitkreuz said the figures show the government has consistently tried to hide or play down the program's cost. Considering the weaknesses in Canada's security and military readiness that have come to light following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., he said the money would have been better spent on the Canadian Forces, the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
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