TheGunBlog.ca — The cost of Canada’s Liberal Party-led effort to confiscate many rifles and shotguns from government-licensed gun users has risen to $75 million, wasting more taxpayer wealth on an ideological attack that is on track to fail.
Rising Costs
- The Department of Public Safety spent $63.3 million from April 2021 to September 2024 to prepare and plan the crackdown.
- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) spent $12 million from April 2022 to September 2024.
- The Liberals budgeted $30.4 million for confiscation-related work this fiscal year, bringing the projected waste of citizen wealth to more than $100 million.
- Source: Government documents filed this week in the House of Commons.
Dangerous Policy
The two Ottawa-based departments are leading the Liberal suppression of honest citizens, fueling a backlash against politicians and police, undermining personal and public safety, and eroding social stability.
A government response in June to Conservative Senator Don Plett listed costs of $70 million.
Expense Update to Conservative MP Larry Brock
- The government revealed the newest cost increase in response to questions from Larry Brock, an Ontario member of federal parliament with the Conservative Party.
- The response is dated September 12.
- It was filed in the House of Commons on October 30.
- Internal documents from 2019 show the Liberals estimated their forced property seizures would cost roughly $2 billion when completed.
Missing Confiscation Expenses in First Year
- The newest cost summary doesn’t reflect the full financial waste of the Liberal assault.
- The Liberals omitted their confiscation-related expenses in the first fiscal year of their crackdown, from April 2020 to March 2021.
- They had several staff working on the program in that period, including dozens of lawyers and legal staff responding to six cases opposing the attacks in Federal Court and roughly 150 cases in provincial courts across Canada.
Context
- The Liberals ordered their mass criminalizations and confiscations in May 2020, specifically targeting licensed firearm owners and businesses.
- Seizures have begun from the families and estates of deceased firearm owners. Many living owners intend to keep their goods. Alberta and Saskatchewan have passed laws to block the seizures, and other provinces have said they won’t assist the attacks.
- The Liberals have missed every milestone of their confiscation plan and extended their completion deadline twice. It’s now after the next election, almost guaranteeing it will fail.
- They said in September that they will ramp up their seizures from businesses by mid-November.
Government Response to Larry Brock (PDF)
Source: Library of Parliament