The former Liberal government misinformed Parliament about millions of dollars in expenses incurred by the gun registry, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said.

The largest portion of her latest report to Ottawa focused on how the government twice failed to properly record tens of millions of dollars worth of overspending at the Canada Firearms Centre.

Auditor General Sheila Fraser reads her opening statement during a news conference before tabling her report in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

In one example, the Liberals did not include an estimated $39 million incurred in 2002-03 by the CFC for a new computerized registry system.

"It is our opinion … that Parliament was misinformed about the centre's costs for that year," the report states.

The report said that in 2004, the centre realized it would exceed its spending limit on the registry, and officials were asked to look for "an accounting treatment that would, if possible, avoid having to record all the [new computerized registry system] costs."

In 2003-04, costs of $21.8 million were also not charged to the centre's budget, the audit found.

Fraser said the new computer registry system is three years overdue and so far has cost $90 million, three times more than expected.

Fraser also had concerns about the CFC's database. She said no one checks the information submitted from gun owners to see if it's accurate or complete.

Firearms' whereabouts unknown

The centre also doesn't know what happened to 62 per cent of the firearms owned by people whose licences were revoked between July and October 2005.

Fraser highlighted weaknesses in the Canada-wide network of volunteers who verify people's firearms. She said no one does background checks on the volunteers, nor are audits done on the quality of their work.

Fraser issued a scathing report on the firearms registry in 2002 that said the costs had ballooned to $1 billion. The report also said the Liberals had hidden the true cost of requiring Canadians to register rifles and shotguns. The original estimate for setting up the registry was $2 million.

But Fraser said the CFC has made satisfactory progress in implementing the 2002 recommendation on financial reporting, except in recording the costs of developing a new information system.

The federal government is expected to move as quickly as possible to scrap the gun registry.

Many Tories believe they have the public's blessing to dismantle it, but support for the registry runs high in Quebec and the country's biggest cities, areas where the Conservatives want to build support.