Public Accounts committee  Because, sir, once the analysis on what we thought was an additional charge to the appropriation was complete, the conclusion was—

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely not.

Public Accounts committee  Never. And my duty is under the Financial Administration Act.

Public Accounts committee  I was never directed to avoid supplementary estimates. My duty was to present the options to the minister. That in turn triggered more detailed examination by officials at the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Office of the Comptroller General, and others, which in turn raised

Public Accounts committee  Yes, I am. We discussed it.

Public Accounts committee  When we first identified the issue, the advice I received as commissioner from my chief financial officer was that this should be booked in 2003-04. Of course, since we didn't have the budget for 2003-04, naturally we had to pursue some solution. To my knowledge, there are two so

Public Accounts committee  Yes, indeed. It was in the public accounts: $21.8 million.

Public Accounts committee  It was a liability.

Public Accounts committee  I may. Those costs refer to the delay and other costs associated with the new system that was under development. There are two information systems. CFIS I, or Canadian firearms information system I, is the system that has been in place since the outset of the program, and it is

Public Accounts committee  It's the deputy commissioner and chief operating officer. Thank you for your remarks. Mr. Chair, in the interests of time, I'll keep my opening remarks very brief. First of all, I would like to signal to members the presence of some of my colleagues, including Beverley Hollowa

Government Operations committee  I can't give you a precise statistic. I can tell you, to the best of my knowledge, the numbers of registered firearms used in offences are relatively small. I think we should bear in mind, though, that the requirement to register is relatively new, so there are still a number of

Government Operations committee  I don't disagree.

Government Operations committee  It certainly will. First of all, beginning in May 2004, the decision was made to eliminate the transfer registration fee, so obviously there was an effect on revenue. Then the announcement of May 16 or 17—pardon me, as I don't know if I have the day correct—to eliminate the licen

Government Operations committee  Just quickly, as I indicated, with the $10 million reduction announced by the minister—

Government Operations committee  Exactly. There's still some revenue that comes in. I believe it's in the area of $4 million or $5 million per year for other duties, so it would perhaps be similar.