Trudeau to PAL Holders: No Firearms Confiscation Compensation for You

Buried deep inside Justin Trudeau’s 2023 Fall Economic Statement, there is a line item that confirms CSSA’s long-held position that the Trudeau government would not pay compensation to RCMP-vetted licensed firearms owners.

That line item, Advancing the Collection of Banned Assault-Style Firearms, shows an allocation of $27 million in 2023-24 and $62 million in 2024-25, but no money for actual compensation payments to licensed firearms owners.[i]

These amounts are allocated to Public Safety and the RCMP, with no explanation of how they will use this money.

What we know:

• The May 1, 2020 Order in Council gun ban was entirely politically motivated. They sold it as a public safety measure to capitalize on the horror of the Nova Scotia mass murders.
• The Nova Scotia mass murderer smuggled most of his guns into Canada from the United States, and stole the rest.
• The National Police Federation (NFP), the union representing 20,000 RCMP members, called the Liberal narrative a lie, stating, “The narrative is that we need to restrict gun ownership because that will curtail crime, when really the evidence is that illegal gun trafficking leads to criminals owning guns, which leads to crimes with firearms.”[ii]
• In July 2020, Public Safety issued an insulting list of proposed compensation prices for the firearms banned by the May 1, 2020, Order in Council.[iii]
• On September 22, 2020, Public Safety cancelled a tender for contractors to develop a firearms confiscation compensation program after none of their hand-picked vendors submitted a proposal.
• In December 2020, the Trudeau government hired International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) to design a system to confiscate firearms from firearms businesses and licensed firearms owners.
• Public Safety continues to avoid provincial jurisdiction by attempting to strike deals with cities and their police forces.[iv]
• The provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta have both passed legislation that requires the federal government to respect provincial jurisdiction and pay compensation.
• The Trudeau government’s own estimates of the cost of a firearms confiscation compensation scheme topped $1.8 billion in 2019[v] – and will be much higher today.

Justin Trudeau’s federal government is quick to blame RCMP-vetted firearms owners for the actions of drug dealers, violent criminals and gang members, but short on implementing measures that will actually protect Canadians.

“Justin Trudeau has given us the worst increase in crime in recorded history,” said Pierre Poilievre on December 6^th, “a 100% increase in gun crime, the highest murder rate in 30 years.” [vi]

“Common sense Conservatives will bring in jail and not bail for repeat violent offenders; treatment not decriminalized and subsidized hard drugs; and we will reinforce our borders to keep illegal guns and drugs out rather than harassing the law-abiding, trained and tested RCMP-vetted lawful firearms owners.”

“We will protect the lawful people and put the real criminals in jail. Common sense,” Poilievre stated.

What we don’t know is a much shorter list.

• Will the Trudeau government respect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
• Will the Trudeau government respect the Supreme Court of Canada?
• Will the Trudeau government pay compensation to the lawful owners of firearms that Trudeau banned during a moment of national tragedy?

All indications, including the government’s own fiscal updates, are that “NO!” is the answer to all three questions.

 

 

 

Sources:

[i] https://www.budget.canada.ca/fes-eea/2023/report-rapport/anx1-en.html#a2

[ii] https://cssa-cila.org/rcmp-union-echoes-cssa-position-on-liberal-gun-confiscations/

[iii] https://cssa-cila.org/firearm-confiscation-compensation-prices-released/

[iv] https://cssa-cila.org/liberal-gun-confiscation-plan-moving-forward/

[v] https://cssa-cila.org/shocker-more-bill-blair-lies-revealed/

[vi] https://www.facebook.com/PierrePoilievreMP/videos/193331410441863