Administering the Trudeau government’s long gun ban is projected to cost taxpayers over $100 million by the end of this fiscal year, despite not one single firearm being confiscated since the program was first introduced.
Conservative MP Larry Brock tabled a Question on the Order Paper which revealed that Public Safety Canada spent $51.6 million on the ban from 2021 to 2023.
That figure brings the total projected spending to at least $88.5 million by next March, when the government’s fiscal year ends.
However, it’s likely to surpass even that figure as the department has expressed the need to increase the program’s funding past that timeline, according to the quarterly report.
Additionally, the $88.5 million does not include the amount spent by Public Safety during the 11-month period between May 2020, when the ban was introduced, and April 2021. However, reports have estimated spending of around $12.5 million and $12 million in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
According to Public Safety Canada’s latest report, these combined expenses bring the total cost allocated for the Liberals’ long gun ban closer to $100 million this fiscal year.
The program was initially granted $30.4 million over two years under Budget 2024 “for the buyback of assault-style firearms.”
However, the department’s latest Quarterly Financial Report for the period ending June 30th indicates $36.9 million is being earmarked for the program this fiscal year.
Of that allotment, $23.2 million will go toward operating expenses for the Assault Style Firearms Compensation Program and the remaining $13.7 million to new funding distributed through grants and contributions “to complete the collection and destruction of business owned assault style firearms and to establish a compensation program.”
While the 2024 federal budget claimed that the additional funding would be “sourced from existing departmental resources,” the department’s latest financial report identifies the $23.2 million in operating expenses as being incurred by the ASFCP.
Furthermore, the ASFCP is responsible for the Public Safety department’s 21.9% increase in operating costs year-over-year and 9.6% of the department’s overall budget.
The report also explicitly refers to the $13.7 million that is slated for grants and contributions to initiate Phase 1 of the buyback program as “new funding.”
The Order Paper question tabled by Brock also revealed that the RCMP spent $13.4 million on the ban to date, further increasing that overall projection to hit $101.9 million by next March.
According to Public Safety’s 2024/25 Departmental Plan, the ministry intends to “continue work towards the launch of the Firearms Compensation Program for businesses,” with plans to begin confiscation from businesses this fall.
The Trudeau government granted Canada Post the ability to transport and store prohibited firearms to have the Crown corporation assist the Liberals in their gun buyback program last month.
According to an Order in Council dated Oct. 16, Canada Post will be permitted to remove prohibited assault-style firearms from safes at firearms retailers for their transportation and ultimately their disposal.
Under Ottawa’s so-called buyback program, over 1,500 models of firearms were banned by Order in Council, with the government initially granting amnesty to gun owners until May 1, 2022, a date which has since been extended to October 2025.
The mass ban resulted in weapons retailers being left on the hook with excess inventory and having to store the firearms securely until collection.
However, the confiscation of firearms from individuals is omitted entirely from the plan, as that task is likely to be far more complicated and certainly more costly.