I'll speak quickly.
The answer to Mr. Wallace is that it was to be $80 million, recouperable in 14 years with the fees. That's how it started.
We talk about review and estimates. These documents--we get many of these--are produced by accountants. I hire an accountant to do my taxes because it's become too complicated. I don't have the patience, and it's too complicated. So we need more information. The Auditor General mentions that committees don't put in the time they should. I guess we don't put in the time. There's no way I went through this book, and if anyone around this table claims they have, they have time to waste.
So we need information, and I'm going to ask Mr. Sims, the deputy minister, to see if his department can produce for us. Some talk about a billion-dollar boondoggle; I've been responding to my constituents and trying to explain that, but I don't have the figures. You have them buried somewhere.
Did you cost the delays? Did you cost the court cases by the provinces? Did you cost the fees that were to be in place, but are not in place? Every time we transfer a firearm, it should have been $25. It's free. Is that costed?
There is the overtime. Clubs who said not to register until December 31 bogged down and disrupted the computer, and there was lots of overtime. There is the rest--the advertising, because of the other advertising campaigns.... I would like a sheet at least showing me those costs, and then the $1 billion may become $200 million. It's still too much, but it's not as offensive as $1 billion.
You see, Auditor General--Madame Fraser--the reason we don't spend that much time on these figures is they're too damn--and I use the word--complicated. We are lay people. Some politicians like to have people think they know everything, but I don't, and I need help. If you're not going to give me the information, we will come back and criticize the ones who produced the vague information.
Thank you.