Court battle launched to unearth costs of Liberal gun buyback

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OTTAWA – The Canadian Taxpayer Watchdog is taking the federal government to court.

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On Thursday it was announced that the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) I'm launching a lawsuit designed to reveal true value Canadian Gun Buyback Program — starting with a request for the court to rule on a long-delayed request for access to information.

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“Too often, the Information Commissioner's Office's complaint investigation process becomes yet another barrier to access to information rather than the protections mandated by Parliament,” CTF general counsel Devin Drover said. Toronto Sun, saying the move is an attempt to bring transparency and accountability to the controversial policy.

“The Access to Information Act places clear legal responsibilities on federal agencies and the commissioner to provide timely and independent oversight. When a complaint about spending on a major federal program remains unresolved for more than a year, it is clear that the system is broken.”

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Government refuses to publish spending data

The case stems from a stalled access to information request filed in July 2023 seeking payment of project costs for the program.

Although partial reports were released the following January that put the estimated costs to Pacific in excess of $12.6 million, further attempts to disclose the costs to other RCMP branches were apparently blocked.

This prompted the federation to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner in April last year, after which the process appears to have stalled.

“Our court filing seeks to enforce these legal obligations and set a precedent that the commissioner must act promptly to ensure Canadians have access to the information to which they are entitled,” Drover said.

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“Taxpayers have a legal right to know how much this gun ban and confiscation program will cost, and government delay cannot be allowed to stand in the way of that.”

Smuggling problem, police chiefs say

Although Mark Carney's liberals claim confiscation of property from licensed and legal firearms owners in Canada is key to improving public safety, lawyers, athletes and even Canadian police chiefs continue to argue that Canada's gun crime problem is the illegal import of guns into Canada from the United States.

So far, more than $70 million has been spent on developing the weapon capture system, with the Parliamentary Budget Officer noting that offset aspects could cost as much as $746 million in 2021.

Budget 2025 adjusted financial consequences on the so-called “assault-style firearms compensation program” to $38.7 million over three years starting in fiscal year 2025-26.

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Gage Haubrich, director of the Prairie Federation, said Sun The government should not be allowed to hide the cost of the program from taxpayers.

“When politicians and government bureaucrats spend taxpayers' money, they have a responsibility to provide full transparency to taxpayers, and that is why we are calling on the government to make this information public,” he said.

“Gun bans and confiscations are a huge waste of taxpayer money and will not make Canadians safer. Instead of doubling down on bad policies and withholding information, the government should abandon this boondoggle altogether.”

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