Taxpayers group takes Ottawa to court over gun confiscation program

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is taking the Carney government to court to expose the real price tag of the Liberals’ massive, taxpayer-funded gun confiscation scheme.

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The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is taking the Carney government to court to expose the real price tag of the Liberals’ massive, taxpayer-funded gun confiscation scheme.

The CTF announced the “ground-breaking” legal challenge Thursday, which stems from a long-delayed access-to-information request.

“This case is about the accountability and transparency Canadians deserve in order to exercise their democratic rights. Ottawa has a legal duty to respond to access-to-information complaints, yet the Commissioner has allowed this file to languish while taxpayers are left in the dark,” said CTF general counsel Devin Drover in a statement.

“Canadians have a right to know what this program will really cost and we’re in court to make sure the government follows the law and tells the truth.”

The highly controversial confiscation program resulted from a 2020 order-in-council, which initially prohibited over 1,500 guns. The Liberals have since expanded the order’s scope to include a ban on more than 2,500 firearms.

The group filed its access-to-information request in July 2023, seeking the projected costs for the controversial gun confiscation program.

While the federal government released partial records in January 2024, showing the RCMP’s Pacific Region estimates, it refused to release cost estimates from other RCMP divisions in a subsequent request.

Estimates from the RCMP Pacific Region alone projected a cost of $12.6 million to confiscate and destroy firearms in that area.

The CTF filed a complaint with the information commissioner in April 2024, but the commissioner has yet to produce a report, providing no explanation for the delay or confirmation of whether it will ever be completed.

“Taxpayers have a right to see the costs of Ottawa’s gun ban and confiscation,” said CTF Prairie director Gage Haubrich. “Ottawa shouldn’t be hiding the full picture of potential costs for a program that will cost taxpayers tons of money and that law enforcement experts say won’t make Canadians safer.”

The Trudeau government initially promised the program would not cost more than $200 million in 2019 when first announcing it, but that figure has continued to skyrocket.

The Liberals then earmarked another $597.9 million in taxpayer funds as part of their Fall Economic Statement last year.

However, according to Budget 2025, Ottawa has since allocated “a net fiscal impact of $38.7 million over three years, starting in 2025-26, to allow for the continuation of the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program.”

“The program will be implemented in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible, within its existing funding envelope of $742 million,” it reads.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Budget Officer projects costs of up to $756 million for compensation to firearm owners, while the economic think tank, the Fraser Institute, pegs the final price tag closer to $6 billion.

The program has received considerable pushback from hunters, gun rights advocates and various law enforcement agencies.

The union representing RCMP members said the program “diverts extremely important personnel, resources, and funding away from addressing the more immediate and growing threat of criminal use of illegal firearms.”

“The Supreme Court of Canada has long held that the purpose of access-to-information legislation is to protect democracy,” wrote the CTF.

“If Canadians cannot obtain information about important public policy issues in time to participate in public debate, their Charter right to freedom of expression is undermined.”