Leader, the Minister of Public Safety was caught on tape in a recording released by the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights. On it, the minister admits that the assault-style firearms buyback program is moving forward mainly because of electoral pressure in Quebec —

— and not because he truly believes in the policy. He even acknowledged that he would have done things differently.

How can the government justify such an expensive and controversial measure presented as essential to public safety when in reality, it is being advanced due to electoral calculations rather than to protect Canadians?

Thank you for the question. I think that the minister has had the occasion to explain himself, and the Prime Minister reiterated his confidence in the minister.

You are very interested in safety and keeping our communities safe. I saw that in your question yesterday. Unfortunately, I was unable to answer your question, but I know that it’s a topic that you want to bring back to and raise in this room, and you’re totally right. And we — the government — agree that keeping communities safe starts with responsible action to keep guns out of our streets. What the government is doing over and above this is presenting a program. Yesterday, there was a pilot program presented in Nova Scotia, and I think that the government wants to move forward to ensure that our communities are safe and sound.

Senator Moreau, during the previous parliamentary session, our former colleague Senator Plett was told that the Liberal government had already wasted $67.2 million on this failed buyback program. Now the Public Safety Minister says spending could reach $742 million. How can the government justify spending nearly $1 billion to target law-abiding licensed hunters and sports shooters when those funds could instead be used to support police forces and border security in the fight against illegal firearms?

The government has been clear that they stand beside hunters and those who have guns to shoot. At the same time, the main concern of the government is to keep our streets and communities safe, and I think from that perspective, you must have a strong program, and that’s exactly what this is. It is to buy back firearms that are not needed by farmers or hunters and that only help criminals. I think —