The federal government’s plan to buy back the newly banned guns will cost far more than originally estimated, tax advocates say.
Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayer Federation, said:
“Really, this is the cause of the huge taxpayer Boondogle, who will come at the worst possible time.”
Parliamentary budget officials released a report at the end of June, with about 150,000 affected firearms (military assault rifles) based on federal estimates, 518 according to the Canadian Sports Arms and Ammunition Association (CSAAA). It shows that it was 00. ). According to the PBO report, depending on the actual number of affected guns, repurchase recovery rate, and pricing structure, the estimated compensation cost would be 755,600 if all gun owners identified by CSAAA participated in the repurchase. It can be as much as $ 10,000. ..
During the 2019 federal elections, Minister Bill Blair, who was in charge of the gun files at the time, would cost about $ 375 million to buy back, assuming each of the 250,000 affected weapons averaged $ 1,500. I estimate that. Then, earlier this year, as Minister of Public Security, Blair once again nailed compensation costs “somewhere between $ 300 million and $ 400 million.”
However, these estimates do not include administrative costs such as staffing, secure office space, transportation and disposal of firearms, and advertising.Fraser Institute paper Last year, “One of the steps required to complete a” buy-back “program of the nature that the federal government is considering is estimated to include well over $ 1.5 billion and a lot of additional costs. I did.
The former Liberal government advertised less than $ 2 million when it founded the Longgun Registry in 1995. However, the registry cost $ 2.7 billion in the 17 years before it ended in 2012.
Trudeau said the Trudeau administration was “at the center of debt” and said it couldn’t waste any more money as it intends to permanently increase spending by $ 100 billion more than before the pandemic. And lament the price increase. 2026.
He said $ 756 million should be paid to 1,200 new police officers in five years.
“Let’s use common sense here. I don’t think there are too many gang members appearing in government to hand guns to Trudeau. Therefore, buying back his guns does not stop criminal activity. We will not stop gang activities, nor will we deal with illegal cross-border gun flows, “says Trudeau.
“Which will make us safer: use more police on the streets or grab a completely ineffective gun that targets legitimate gun owners?”
Political context, rule changes
Given the potential for autumn elections, the political background of the program is important. Nelson Wiseman, a political scientist at the University of Toronto, believes that the Liberal Party will not lose many votes in the repurchase of guns, and is more bipolar among local and urban voters than between Central Canadians and others. He sees it as politicized.
“Gun enthusiasts haven’t voted for the Liberal Party before. This new policy is almost unchanged in both gun-loving and gun-fearing communities. Rural Alberta and Rural Ontario. So there isn’t much opposition to the Liberal Party, which may have a small impact in the rural areas of Ontario, “Wiseman told the Epoch Times.
“If the government has outlawed certain weapons, it must confiscate them. Rewards should be minimized. [The] $ 756 million seems like a lot, so we need to turn to other priorities such as childcare, public transport, and tax exemptions. “
Rod Giltaka, CEO and Executive Director of the Canadian Firearms Union, believes that uncompensated confiscation is doubly unjustified.
“The question is, why is it unfair to use the power of government to steal property from millions of people who do nothing worth it and not compensate them?” Giltaka rhetorically Said.
“This is a slap in the face of all honest citizens who joined the government system and adhered to the letter just for the government to look back and move the goalpost again.”
Giltaka believes that the money spent on healthcare and community programs is better than what he sees as an untargeted federal initiative by the government looking at gun owners.
“Gun owners are tired of the rules changing every few years and need to be prepared for the impact every time the government changes. Gun owners are subject to daily criminal record checks. Thanks to the facts, they are the safest citizens and victims of criminal behavior. It’s ridiculous, and it shouldn’t be tolerated. “
New Zealand launched a firearms repurchase program in 2019, budgeting $ 150 million for compensation and $ 18 million for management. By February 2020, the estimated cost of buying back a gun had dropped to $ 120 million, but the expected management cost had almost doubled to about $ 35 million. The percentage of public guns repurchased by the government is unknown.