QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Firearms Buyback Program
November 25, 2025
Government leader, we know that the federal government is pressing ahead with its nationwide Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program, or ASFCP, even though the six-week pilot in Cape Breton collected only 22 of the 200 guns it aimed for. That’s barely 11% of its target.
How do you defend moving ahead with such an expensive, politically driven program, when the pilot, which was supposed to test the system, fell so dramatically short of its objective?
Thank you for raising the question. The pilot’s objective was to ensure that the government is fully prepared to launch the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program nationally. It was not a question of quantity; it was a question of being prepared to do that, and that’s exactly what the pilot showed to the government.
The government continued to have a robust ability to complete the program, with collection facilities across Ontario and municipal police participation. It will expand the program elsewhere in Canada.
The main idea is to keep guns off our streets, and I think that Canadians deserve to feel secure in their own environment. That’s what the program is all about. The commitment of the government is to go forward with that program everywhere in Canada. The pilot proves that it’s possible to do that in a very efficient manner.
Leader, taxpayers have already watched more than $70 million thrown into that program, with credible estimates reaching as high as $746 million, yet Canadians still don’t know the true cost. So much so, that the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has been forced to go to court simply to obtain basic, transparent cost figures from your government.
Why does the government continue to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into targeting licensed, law-abiding gun owners while refusing to disclose what this program actually costs?
What is the cost of saving lives? What is the cost of insuring that Canadians feel safe? Do you have an answer, Senator Batters? What is the cost of saving lives? What is the cost of having Canadians feel safe in their own neighbourhoods? Do you think that assault rifles have a place here in Canada, in our neighbourhoods? We want to protect all Canadians, and I think it’s not a cost-related program.
