Thanks to an Access to Information (ATIP) request by Joey Gilliland, we know the Liberal government’s own estimates for its Firearms Confiscation Compensation Scheme (they call it a “buyback”) topped $1.8 BILLION in 2019.[i]
In a December 2019 email thread about the Justice Department briefing document, Sonia Salah wrote:
“Chantal Bouchard at PCO tracked it down. DOJ is getting approval to share as info may be dated.”
Page 13 of the “dated” Justice Department briefing document states:
“The buy-back program would be costly: administration (such as notification, collection, storage, destruction and payment) and compensation to individual owners is estimated at $1.8 billion.”
The Firearms Confiscation Compensation Scheme was Bill Blair’s responsibility. It defies believability that he was unaware of the Justice Department’s cost estimate.
This didn’t stop Bill Blair, then Minister of Public Safety, from lying to the public and to Parliament about the potential costs of the gun confiscation scheme.
On September 20, 2019, CBC news reported that Bill Blair said he expected the Liberal government’s Firearms Confiscation Compensation Scheme would cost between $400 million and $600 million, not $1.8 billion.[ii]
On January 21, 2020, Dr. Gary Mauser estimated the federal government’s Firearm Confiscation Compensation Program would cost a minimum of $1.64 billion up to $4.92 billion in the first year.[iii]
“…confiscating 250,000 firearms would cost the Canadian taxpayer between $1.6 billion to almost $5 billion in the first year. This estimate EXCLUDES travel costs and any ministerial administrators.”
On November 25, 2020, Bill Blair refused to offer any official estimates for his Firearms Confiscation Compensation Scheme to the Standing Committee on Public Safety (SECU).[iv]
GLEN MOTZ: Upon examining the estimates, Minister, I’m having trouble finding the costs associated with this particular buyback program. Can you tell us the total cost of the buyback program?
BILL BLAIR: Thank you for the important question. As we indicated, we will be introducing legislation that does a number of things, including provides us with the legislative framework for…
GLEN MOTZ: Minister, I’m asking specifically for numbers. Do you have the numbers of the total cost of what this buyback program will cost Canadians?
BILL BLAIR: Thank you Glen. That actually will be provided when we bring forward the legislation that is required to facilitate the… the… how we deal with those firearms which have been prohibited.
Yet as late as February 16, 2021, a full 15 months after his $400 million and $600 million estimate communicated to CBC, Bill Blair downgraded his estimate for confiscating firearms from licensed owners.
“If we take the estimate, for example, of 150,000 to 200,000 of these weapons that would be surrendered and for which compensation would be paid, on an average price … of approximately $1,300 per firearm, the estimate is somewhere between $300 and $400 million dollars,” Bill Blair told CBC.[v]
Bill Blair hid his knowledge of the true costs from the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), too.
On June 29, 2021, the PBO reported that, “depending on the number of affected firearms in Canada, the take-up rate, and the pricing structure used, the estimated cost of firearm compensation under the buy-back program ranges from $47 million to $756 million.”[vi]
Bill Blair’s ongoing pattern of deception, to be undeservedly polite, should concern every Canadian because Bill Blair’s lies are part of a much bigger pattern within Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.
They lie because they know you won’t support them if they told you the truth.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government utterly ignores thousands of violent, repeat offenders who violate firearms prohibition orders every year.[vii]
These are the true threats to public safety.
Two Billion Dollars buys a lot of doctors, nurses and health care technicians.
We all support spending more money on health care.
Wasting two billion dollars to confiscate guns from licensed firearm owners?
Canadians won’t stand for such nonsense again. Not after the Liberals lied about the true costs of the failed long gun registry.
Worse, CSSA estimates it could go much higher than that, particularly if items made useless after the firearm is prohibited, like optics, magazines, ammo, reloading accessories, etc., are included.
So Bill Blair lies to Parliament.
Then Bill Blair lies to the media.
The media, subsidized by the Liberal government, dutifully repeat his lies to you verbatim.
The reality is that Bill Blair lies the same way you and I tell the truth – easily and often.
If Bill Blair comprehended the word “integrity” he would resign immediately.
If Justin Trudeau understood the meaning of the word, he’d resign immediately too.
Sources:
[i] https://thegunblog.ca/2023/06/05/liberals-estimated-gun-confiscation-costs-at-1-8-billion-in-2019-briefing/
[ii] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-liberals-pledging-more-new-money-to-camping-than-combatting-gun-crimes/
[iii] https://www.fraserinstitute.org/blogs/trudeau-governments-buy-back-gun-program-likely-a-multi-billion-boondoggle
[iv] https://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20201125/-1/34331?Language=English&Stream=Video [Motz-Blair segment begins at 16:06]
[v] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/buy-back-gun-bill-1.5915166
[vi] https://distribution-a617274656661637473.pbo-dpb.ca/4196f91c9ca790eba879bf359fc2535b02af838191712fcef827a0643d71b4a7
[vii] https://christopherdiarmani.com/firearm-prohibition-order-violators/
Pierre Poilievre: Video of his Speech at the CSSA’s ‘Stick to Your Guns’ Dinner