The Liberals’ firearm buyback program has seen its cost rise by the tens of millions but has still failed to collect a single gun.
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Don Plett, shared a post to X on Thursday where another senator questioned Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc about the program.
Plett revealed that the buyback program has cost Canadian taxpayers at least $67 million so far. Of that price tag, $11.5 million of taxpayer dollars have been spent on consultants the Liberals refuse to identify.
When Plett asked the government representative in the Senate Marc Gold whether he would table the contracts, Gold refused.
“This is an incredible amount of money to spend on a program that doesn’t yet exist, which ultimately targets licensed, trained, law-abiding gun owners – not criminals,” said Plett.
CEO and executive director of the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights, Rod Giltaca, told True North that the problem with the Liberals’ use of consultants is nothing new.
“I think Canadians have become desensitized to the numbers they see, but this cost alone could have made a difference in public safety if it were used responsibly,” he said.
LeBlanc saw things differently.
“I don’t share your view that we’re targeting law-abiding gun owners,” he said. “Canadians support these measures. We’re proud of the program that we’re going to launch. It was a commitment we made to Canadians in an election, and we’ve done a lot of good work in getting this ready, and I look forward to launching the details of the buyback program in the coming weeks.”
True North has been covering the Liberals’ buyback program since 2021, following the federal government’s order-in-council banning 1,500 types of firearms in May 2020. While the cost has risen by the millions and tens of millions per year, no guns have been collected. The Liberal government’s failed long gun registry from the 1990s was supposed to cost $2 million and ended up costing $2 billion.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer calculated in 2021 that the buyback program would cost over $750 million to compensate firearm owners.
Giltaca said that the Liberals’ approach to gun control has been destroying the relationship between law-abiding gun owners, the federal government, and the RCMP.
“The Liberals’ approach to firearm-related violence couldn’t have been worse. Firearm-related violence has gone through the roof; the data is very clear,” said Giltaca.
“Contrary to what the Liberal government, the NDP, the Bloc, or anti-gun groups say, 95% of everything the Liberals have done since 2015 affects exclusively licensed gun owners and has no effect on the lives or operations of criminals,” he said. “No serious expert would dispute this.”
The cost of the gun buyback program reached $42 million back in Mar. 2024.
The federal government enlisted the Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association to assist in retrieving banned firearms from retailers. However, the CSAAA has criticized the Liberals’ understanding of firearms, describing it as limited in scope.
Canada Post refused to collect firearms under the Liberals’ buyback program.
Giltaca said that the buyback is an enormous undertaking and the fact that the Liberals have failed to implement it is not a surprise.
“The surprising part is that they haven’t been able to complete the retailer buyback. These are willing participants that possess invoices for exactly what they paid for these firearms, and the government knows where all these businesses are as they are licensed,” said Giltaca. “I’m sure there’s more to the story than what we see on the surface.”
The Liberals previously extended the amnesty order for owners of prohibited firearms until Oct. 30, 2025, just weeks before the latest possible date of the next federal election.
Giltaca said that he doesn’t think the Liberals will complete the buyback before an election or whether they’ll even complete the retail aspect before they leave office.
“The Liberals will attempt to pivot their failure into an election promise,” said Giltaca. “It’s bait and red meat for their base at the same time.”