Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree is under fire after being caught on a recording suggesting municipal police don’t have the resources to enforce Ottawa’s gun buyback program. In the audio, released Sunday by the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, Anandasangaree is heard telling an acquaintance that they shouldn’t worry about being arrested for holding on to a banned firearm, even after the amnesty expires.
“I just don’t think municipal police services have the resources to do this,” the minister says in the recording, referring to enforcement of the program that bans about 2,500 models of what Ottawa calls assault-style firearms. The comments came just ahead of Tuesday’s scheduled announcement of the program’s next phase, including a Nova Scotia pilot project.
The buyback, capped at $742 million, is intended to fairly compensate owners who surrender their firearms. An amnesty until October 30 protects owners from criminal liability while they turn in or deactivate their weapons.
After the recording surfaced, Anandasangaree admitted the conversation took place with someone he’s known for years, who secretly taped it before it was distributed by a gun lobbyist. In a statement, he said his remarks were an attempt to ease frustrations but were “misguided.” He insisted he remains committed to the policy: “Canadians have waited long enough for this to be implemented, and I fully intend to deliver.”
The fallout reached Parliament Hill, where Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accused the Liberals of undermining their own gun control efforts. “We don’t have time for politics, so why is this minister caught on tape playing politics with guns?” Poilievre charged during Question Period. Anandasangaree defended the government’s position, saying, “Canadians want responsible gun control. Why are the Conservatives against keeping guns off our streets?”
Poilievre countered that the government is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars targeting licensed hunters and sport shooters instead of directing those resources to frontline police and border security.
The leaked comments have intensified the political fight over one of the Trudeau government’s most contentious public safety policies, raising fresh doubts about whether Ottawa’s buyback plan is enforceable—or even fully backed by its own minister.