The public safety minister was there to defend the Liberals proposed handgun freeze but Conservative MPs focused mostly on the proposed 'assault style' rifle ban
OTTAWA – At a committee hearing Tuesday, Conservative MPs accused Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino of targeting the wrong gun owners, with the Liberals proposed buyback program arguing it is a waste of resources and money.
Mendicino appeared before the Commons Public Safety committee Tuesday to defend the Liberals proposed handgun freeze, which is contained in legislation currently working its way through Parliament.
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However Conservative MPs focused mostly on the proposed “assault style” rifle ban, which the Liberals passed through regulation and is set to lead to a program to buy back those weapons from gun owners beginning as early as this fall.
The governments of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have all called on the government to abandon the buyback program and have said they do not want local police resources used to enforce the program.
Conservative MP Raquel Dancho said Mendicino should be focusing on rising crime rates and not divert resources that police need.
“The problem certainly is gun smuggling, but you’re investing considerably less money in border enforcement and considerably less money in community protection,” she said to Mendicino. “You’re planning to redirect RCMP resources and possibly other police resources to your confiscation regime.”
The government has set a price list for the roughly 1,500 models of firearms it is prohibiting, but hasn’t completely outlined how the program will work. It is asking provincial government to help implement the program with local police.
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Mendicino didn’t provide a specific cost for the program, but said it was worth the cost.
“We plan to be very transparent about the costing around the buyback program. but I also want to be clear with you and all members of this committee, that there is no way to put a price on a life lost,” he said.
He doubled down on the “assault style” rifle ban arguing that there is no good reason for weapons like this to be on the streets.
“Those guns were designed with one purpose in mind and that is to kill.”
Conservative MP Dane Lloyd charged the program was entirely political and there was no public safety justification.
“Have you or your department commissioned any studies that demonstrates that this buyback plan is an effective use of taxpayer dollars to enhance public safety?”
Lloyd argued a program targeting illegal firearms would be much more effective.
“Why don’t you have a program to buyback illegal firearms from criminals on the street. Why aren’t you putting a program like that in place?”
Mendicino said with gun crime on the rise, the government believes it has no choice but to bring in new legislation and this is the Liberals’ solution to the problem.
“We’ve looked at the data and the data says unequivocally that gun crime is going up, that handgun crime is going up. And my response to you is that the status quo is not acceptable.”
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