The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is continuing its court fight to force the federal government to release projected costs for its gun ban and confiscation program by challenging a decision that the records should not be withheld under cabinet confidences.

“Canadians have a right to know how much Ottawa’s gun confiscation scheme will really cost and the Carney government shouldn’t be able to hide that information behind a bogus cabinet confidence claim,” said Devin Drover, CTF General Counsel. “This is the next step in our court fight to force transparency and stop the government from burying basic cost estimates for a program that taxpayers are forced to pay for.”

The CTF filed an access-to-information request seeking projected costs for the federal firearm confiscation program in July 2023

The government released partial records in January 2024, showing the RCMP’s Pacific Region estimated it would cost $12.6 million to confiscate and destroy firearms in that region.

The government refused to release projected costs from other RCMP divisions.

The CTF filed a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner in April 2024 after the government refused to release the full records.

After receiving no update for over a year, the CTF filed a mandamus application to force the commissioner to complete the long-delayed investigation. In response, the commissioner produced a report that accepted a new claim from the government alleging the withheld records were covered by cabinet confidence.

The government did not claim cabinet confidences when the CTF first filed its complaint.

The CTF is now asking the Federal Court to review that determination and rule that the records are not protected by cabinet confidence.

“Taxpayers should not be left in the dark on the costs for this wasteful program,” said Gage Haubrich, CTF Prairie Director. “Ottawa needs to come clean on how much money it could be wasting on a confiscation program that law enforcement experts say won’t make Canadians safer.”

The government has committed at least $742 million to carry out its gun ban and confiscation scheme, according to Budget 2025.

But the government has been anything but transparent on these costs to taxpayers.

The Liberal Party initially said the confiscation would cost $200 million in 2019. The Parliamentary Budget Officer said it will cost up to $756 million to compensate owners for their firearms. Other experts put the final price tag at about $6 billion.

The union representing RCMP members says Ottawa’s program “diverts extremely important personnel, resources, and funding away from addressing the more immediate and growing threat of criminal use of illegal firearms.” 

The CTF’s latest application can be found here.