It's no secret that Prime Minister Mark Carney is a big fan of carbon taxes. But did you know that he also thinks carbon taxes are textbook good policy? And that's why he wants to get rid of them all together.
00:19:29.940we're, uh, targeting law-abiding gun owners in this country and the program needs to stop.
00:19:35.720Yeah. To be very clear, I mentioned it off the top before you joined the show, but for folks who
00:19:41.280just woke up to this issue, we are not talking about illegal guns. This has nothing to do with
00:19:48.100illegal guns. So, you know, the folks that you see that are filling the parking lots at Cabela's on the
00:19:53.200weekends, right? They're, they're buying up all this hunting gear and everything. There are millions of us,
00:19:58.360okay, who are legal licensed law-abiding firearms owners. We have to go through a safety course.
00:20:04.760All of our backgrounds are checked all the time. Like the RCMP phones, all of your exes to make sure
00:20:11.000that you're not a crazy person before you're allowed to have a license for a firearm here in Canada.
00:20:16.660It's those folks with their firearms that for some inexplicable reason, the federal government is
00:20:24.240going after. And before people say, oh, well, those guns are dangerous. Um, the Trudeau government
00:20:29.620announced this back in 2020. It's now 2025. So those same firearms owners have been, uh, hanging
00:20:38.260onto those things in their gun safes for five years. And there hasn't been rampant violence on
00:20:43.580the streets being committed by licensed firearms owners. I'm laughing because the whole thing is just
00:20:48.240so absurd. I wanted to play a quick clip here and kudos to the Toronto Police Association. I know
00:20:55.140that police are hesitant to say stuff that will be interpreted as being political. They just want
00:21:01.160to keep their head down and do their jobs. But it's really important that the Toronto Police
00:21:05.300Association is speaking up on this, basically saying this is going to cost a lot of money, waste resources,
00:21:11.920and it's not going to solve the crimes on the street. This is Clayton Campbell at committee in Ottawa.
00:21:17.700Let's listen. The bottom line, the city of Toronto is the, the gun buyback program would not have any
00:21:24.500impact on the violence we're seeing in the city. The violence we're seeing in relation to firearm
00:21:29.840offenses is essentially exclusively to a small number of gang members, thugs using illegal firearms.
00:21:37.640Most of the time that come across the border, but 90% of the 700 illegal firearms we seized last year
00:21:44.080came across the border. Um, and most of the time people on bail or prohibited from using a firearm.
00:21:51.040Amazing. Like he couldn't have said it more clearly, uh, on this show. Um, Devin,
00:21:56.400what's your take on the public safety minister? Because this is what kind of really had me
00:22:01.120cluing into this harder saying, wow, you guys are really screwing this up. Um, famously before the
00:22:06.480summer break, Andrew Lawton, former host here on Juno news and its predecessor, uh, true north,
00:22:12.720he started quizzing the public safety minister saying, okay, uh, what's a PAL possession and
00:22:18.000acquisition license. Uh, what's the safety course that firearms owners have to take. And he famously
00:22:24.000said, this isn't, doesn't have anything to do with legal firearms owners, which was amazing
00:22:30.800because that's all this is about. And now we've recently heard him on a recording when he didn't
00:22:35.840know he was being recorded, basically saying, if I had to do this all over again, I wouldn't do this.
00:22:41.120And, uh, this is kind of a big mistake. What's your take on his handling of this file so far? Do
00:22:46.480you think this will be the ability to get rid of it? It might help us get rid of it.
00:22:50.400Yeah. I mean, I think it's very clear that the public safety minister in Ottawa has absolutely no idea,
00:22:55.520uh, about this program and absolutely no idea how to solve the issues facing public safety.
00:23:01.120You know, as we see in that clip, the problems with in, in Toronto, for example, in crime is not
00:23:06.240law abiding gun owners. It is the, you know, limited to gang activity, um, and illegal firearms
00:23:12.320brought over the border. It is not my father moose hunting in Newfoundland and Labrador is not a
00:23:16.480criminal. Um, and this government instead is treating them like one with this band. So, you know,
00:23:21.680I think it's, it's very clear that he's in over his head on this file. It's very clear that this
00:23:26.640program needs to be scrapped. If you know, in the idea that, you know, if he had his time back,
00:23:32.080he would do it different. The time is still here. We still have, we're still under an amnesty period
00:23:37.200where the firearm owners are legally allowed to keep these, these, uh, firearms in their homes.
00:23:41.920Um, they do not need to comply, um, with the confiscation, uh, that their trial that's taking
00:23:47.520place in Cape Breton right now. And you know, it's, it's real telling to me, and this is,
00:23:51.520this is bothersome as an Atlantic Canadian, because I think this government takes advantage
00:23:55.840of Atlantic Canadians sometimes in their support for them. And I think, you know, it's telling to
00:24:01.440me that the public safety ministers announcing this trial, um, of this confiscation regime
00:24:06.320in Cape Breton Island, but wouldn't even go to Cape Breton to announce it. They did it from an,
00:24:11.280uh, they, they hit an Ottawa press room to tell legal law abiding gun owners in Cape Breton that they're
00:24:19.040coming for their property. It is sickening to me as an Atlantic Canadian, and I'm tired of seeing
00:24:24.320our Atlantic Canadians being treated like this by the federal administration in Ottawa. However,
00:24:29.680as I've said, we are offering free legal advice for those people, and we're not going to let Cape
00:24:35.360Breton be a guinea pig for this federal program. We'll, we'll encourage resistance legally, uh,
00:24:40.960to make sure that this program cannot roll out across the country. I wanted to really stress that,
00:24:46.560uh, you're, you're jittering a little bit there with your audio, but I wanted to reinstate what you
00:24:50.640said there. Um, quite often, and I've, I've lived in Atlantic Canada. Uh, a lot of my family is from
00:24:55.920there. Uh, I agree. Uh, the liberal government in particular, cause they have quite strong support
00:25:01.040out that way, as they say. Um, I find that they take them for granted and that they think, oh, well,
00:25:07.440they're going to be a soft touch. We're just going to do this little pilot project there where we're
00:25:11.840seizing their property for no safety reasons. Um, and so that's why I'm really glad that we're stressing
00:25:17.840two things. Don't freak out if you get one of these letters in the mail. Okay. And two,
00:25:23.520this is so important. And he barely mentioned this, but it's true. We have another year.
00:25:29.680We have another year of amnesty. So even if you have one of these firearms, okay. Some of which,
00:25:35.360by the way, folks who are watching are like 22s. Okay. People call them plinkers here on the prairies.
00:25:40.560Okay. Um, if you have one of them, you still have another year you have until October of 2026.
00:25:47.520So that gives us some breathing room and some time to be able to challenge this stuff legally.
00:25:52.240Uh, Devin, I wanted you to touch on something that I'll admit, I'm, I'm not a lawyer. This part
00:25:58.800confused me and I don't know why they keep using this term. So we had prime minister Mark Carney
00:26:06.000tell a podcaster, Oh, this program is voluntary. It's voluntary. And then we had the public safety
00:26:16.000minister repeat that word. And so this is, I think it caused a lot of confusion among licensed firearms
00:26:22.640owners. Do you know what they mean when they keep on saying that the program is voluntary?
00:26:30.320Oh, this is such clearly an example of, of, and probably cooked up by some PR experts in Ottawa
00:26:35.280and liberal, uh, in liberal HQ to try to make this program a little more sellable to the general
00:26:39.760public. It is not voluntary any more than paying, you know, paying your income taxes is voluntary.
00:26:45.360Yeah. You can choose to do it or you can choose not to do it and go to jail or face criminal consequences.
00:26:50.880That's not voluntary to me. Um, you know, no matter how Ottawa wants to put lipstick on a pig here,
00:26:56.080it is a bad policy and they're not going to be able to convince Canadians, convince law-abiding
00:27:00.640gun owners to give up their rights by throwing around words like voluntary. It is not voluntary.
00:27:06.960They are making it a criminal defense to own these firearms that are used for hunting and sports
00:27:11.520shooting. And, uh, yeah, that's, that's the bottom line. That I was trying to give them the benefit
00:27:19.120of the doubt thinking they were just incompetent because of what the safety minister had been saying
00:27:23.920earlier. But when they kept repeating that, I thought, yeah, so the choice is you either comply
00:27:29.600or you go to prison. That is not a real choice. Um, frankly, after the last few years, I'm tired
00:27:37.120of hearing from this government of, oh, it's up to you. Uh, but we'll just take everything that you
00:27:42.000have away from you and or put you in jail. If you don't comply, that's voluntary. That doesn't help.
00:27:47.920That doesn't help people believing in government. That doesn't help people trusting politicians.
00:27:52.400Um, and it doesn't help, frankly, this law because it makes it sound really disingenuous and sneaky.
00:27:59.040Um, if I can, is there a way, do you think that we can get more people on board with this? Like,
00:28:04.320I know most of the, like the firearms community, as we would call it, um, the ones who legally own
00:28:08.880firearms, they get this. They understand that this is going after hunters and sport shooters.
00:28:14.160They understand what they have to do. Do you think there's room to bring more moderate people on who may not
00:28:20.320own firearms or have experience with them understanding that this, you know what,
00:28:24.880it could be my 22 today, but it could be your Ford F-150 tomorrow. If they want to seize private
00:28:31.680property. Are we able to go there? Do you think with that argument? Yeah, I, I, I absolutely think so.
00:28:37.440We're seeing an increasingly more authoritarian regime in Ottawa that is looking at taking your
00:28:42.400property away or your freedoms away, whether it's your freedom to purchase a vehicle that's gas powered,
00:28:47.520which you need in vast amounts of this country, or whether it's now your ability to, um, have legal
00:28:53.600firearms. So, you know, I think it's, um, we need to be making the case, you know, as to as many people
00:28:59.920as possible. And that means talking to non firearm owners about this issue, because it is complicated.
00:29:04.800If you don't know, um, you know, if, if you're in downtown Toronto, um, never have touched a firearm
00:29:12.000in your life. And then you hear a little bit about this voluntary, uh, quote unquote, voluntary program,
00:29:17.440you might think, uh, maybe this is going to help. Um, it's not going to help. And it's very clear from
00:29:21.840the quote unquote experts that it's not going to help. And it's very clear when you talk to people who
00:29:26.720actually are law abiding firearm owners in this country, that they are not criminals. So, you know,
00:29:31.840I think we need to be open with people. We need to talk to people. And one of the things I'm really looking forward to is just in a couple days,
00:29:38.000I'll be on the ground in Cape Breton when this confiscation, uh, program officially starts myself,
00:29:44.720other members of the firearms community, um, some members of parliament who are standing up against
00:29:49.840this, uh, confiscation regime. And I'm looking forward to that because not only will that rally
00:29:55.200on the ground there, you know, show that Cape Bretoners are opposed to this. It provides an opportunity
00:29:59.680for dialogue with other Cape Bretoners who are not aware of the policy and allows that discourse to happen.
00:30:05.120Awesome. Uh, once again, Devin Drover, can you hit us with that email address? So folks have mercy on
00:30:11.600Devin for now, only if you're in Cape Breton. Okay. If you're in Cape Breton and you are a legal
00:30:16.960licensed firearms owner, and you're concerned about this program, where can they email you?
00:30:22.240Please reach out to us. If you have any questions about the confiscation regime,
00:30:26.880if you get a scary letter or a phone call from government to the RCMP, and you need advice on this
00:30:32.160issue, please email us legal underscore help at taxpayer.com. Perfect. Awesome. Thank you so much
00:30:39.600for your time today. Devin Drover, Atlantic Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
00:30:44.320and our in-house counsel. Once again, folks, um, two things. One, if you get a letter about this,
00:30:52.400don't freak out. There are still options. And two, you have another year. There's another year left
00:30:59.760of amnesty. So they only start actually seizing the firearms and saying, okay, now you have to comply
00:31:06.240in October of 2026. So there's a lot of runway left in this fight. Uh, folks, this is exactly the
00:31:13.680reason why you should be a Juno News subscriber. Okay. Quite often in the mainstream media,
00:31:19.920they will talk about things like, oh, the voluntary buyback program. Like Devin just said,
00:31:25.680if you're some regular person living in downtown Toronto, and you're watching TV and you hear a bit
00:31:31.360of a snippet on the mainstream media, and it's the voluntary buyback program for firearms, you might
00:31:37.040think that this is like, oh, this is one of those things where, you know, when you watch those cop shows
00:31:42.080on TV in prime time, this is like one of those things where the gang bangers are turning in their
00:31:46.560firearms in exchange for, you know, gift certificates or something to take guns off the street. They named it
00:31:52.560this on purpose so that it flies under the radar and normal earnest people think that this is about
00:31:58.480fighting crime. It's not. This has got nothing to do with fighting crime. As the head of the Toronto
00:32:05.520Police Association said, we spoke directly to Clayton Campbell on this very program just a couple of
00:32:12.320weeks ago. And he said the same thing that made news. Okay. So it's really important that if
00:32:19.200you want the full story, if you want the other side of the story, that you support independent media
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