The News Rundown
- The federal government's gun buyback program has been much maligned ever since it was first announced. In 2020, the Trudeau government banned over 2,500 of what it calls 'assault-style' weapons, through an undemocratic order-in-council which bypassed the scrutiny of parliament. Since then, the ban came with a two-year amnesty that allowed owners of guns like the AR-15 to be turned in until April 30, 2022. That amnesty period was extended by a year in 2022 and then by another two years in 2023 to Oct. 30, 2025. Anandasangaree said the amnesty has been extended until Oct. 2026.
- As the Liberals pushed the problem further down the road, this week we got the first glimpse of the ineffectiveness of the gun buyback with some results of the pilot program the federal government was running in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
- In September, Cape Breton Regional Police Chief Robert Walsh was in Ottawa as part of a federal announcement about a pilot program to offer money to owners of up to 2,500 banned makes and models of what are being called assault-style firearms. The project started Oct. 1 and was to last six weeks, with the results being used to refine the program before rolling it out nationally.
- Official results of the federal government's banned gun buyback pilot program are not yet available, but the chair of Cape Breton Regional Municipality's police commission says he's heard it has had some uptake.
- The topic was not on Monday's commission agenda, but after the meeting, Coun. Glenn Paruch said he's heard police have bought back up to 22 outlawed firearms.
- "It tells me that there are some people out there that wanted to pass in guns," he said. "What it says for the potential project itself, I honestly can't comment on that until I talk to the chief and get the actual numbers on it. Let's say there [were] 22 guns here out of 200. Now you take that number and you put it nationally across Canada, you're probably going to get quite a few guns that way."
- Paruch wouldn't say whether that number should be considered successful, but was supportive.
- Federal officials and Cape Breton police were confident they would be able to collect up to the estimated 200 banned firearms in parts of CBRM, specifically in the communities of Sydney, North Sydney and Glace Bay.
- However, more than 100 people rallied outside police headquarters at the start of the program, saying the project criminalizes law-abiding citizens. Officials at the rally urged owners to not comply.
- Paruch said he's willing to give the government the benefit of the doubt: "The gun buyback program is something that the federal government feels is important to do and the general public might not understand, but it's like any other rules. We still have to stop at stop signs, whether we want to or not."
- Regardless, the Liberal government refused Wednesday to say how many banned weapons have been collected in the trial for its contentious gun buyback program, as federal sources and local reports suggest minimal success, raising concerns about how the roughly $750-million scheme will unfold on a national scale.
- Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree would only say the government was “analyzing the results” and would be sharing the data “at the appropriate time.”
- “By all accounts, technical capabilities have been satisfied, and we are looking forward to rolling out the program across Canada over the coming weeks,” Anandasangaree told reporters.
- But Nathalie Provost, the secretary of state for nature and a longtime gun-control advocate, acknowledged this week there was a low uptake, telling the Star she was “concerned” about it. She added, however, that the Cape Breton pilot project was a valuable learning experience that showed the importance of communication.
- Provost, a survivor of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre: “The program is going well, because one of the first issues of the program was to see if the system worked. And so on that aspect, it worked well. The numbers are not very high, but they’re very important. We learned so much doing it.”
- The Cape Breton Post reported this week that Cape Breton Regional Police Chief Robert Walsh said he had agreed to a request from the federal government not to comment on the results of the pilot project. Anandasangaree’s office did not address that question when reached by the Star. Two Liberal MPs told the Star they don’t think it’s politically smart to promote the program to constituents, citing fear of backlash.
- The gun buyback has been an unmitigated failure since it was first introduced, and the poor results from the pilot program have provided a graceful exit plan for Mark Carney to scrap the outrageously expensive program entirely. We'll see if he has the guts to do it, or if the gun control lobbyists in his own party, like Anandasangaree and Provost, will continue to control the narrative and waste taxpayer money on this boondoggle.
- Supplementals:
- The Alberta government has invoked the notwithstanding clause by way of Bill 9 covering three pieces of legislation that are aimed to protect and support children, students, parents, and female athletes.
- Sections in the Health Professions Act that prohibit both gender reassignment surgery for children under 18 and the provision of puberty blockers and hormone treatments for the purpose of gender reassignment to children under 16.
- Sections of the Education Act that require schools to obtain parental consent when a student under 16 years of age wishes to change his or her name or pronouns for reasons related to the student’s gender identity, and require parental opt-in consent to teaching on gender identity, sexual orientation or human sexuality.
- And the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act and regulation, which require the governing bodies of amateur competitive sports in Alberta to implement policies that limit participation in women’s and girls’ sports to those who were born female.
- Media coverage of the Bill has framed this as using the notwithstanding clause to override Charter rights in the three laws.
- The reality though is much more mundane and this is spelled out in the government's page about the Bill. Bill 9 ensures that certain provisions can not be struck down by courts.
- Many including LGBTQ+ advocacy groups have framed this as a suspension of rights but in the purest legal context, the notwithstanding clause does not do this.
- As discussed in relation to the labour unions and the teacher strike the notwithstanding clause is a tool that was included in the Constitution brought forward by Pierre Trudeau at the request of the Premiers.
- The Premiers of the day had concerns that unelected judges could have the final say over legislation compared to those who are elected to a legislature or Parliament.
- The notwithstanding clause ensures rightly or wrongly that the legislature and by extension the people have the final say.
- Earlier this year Geoffrey Sigalet (who we discussed while covering the teachers strike) wrote on what might come for legislation regarding gender medicine.
- Writing for the MacDonald Laurier Institute he said that the court decisions in Canada and the US have different legal contexts but relied on similar evidence.
- Even though they relied on similar evidence the courts reached opposite decisions because of judge interpretations and assumptions.
- U.S. judges in the majority accepted growing evidence of risks and limited proof of benefit while in Canada the treatments were deemed as beneficial or necessary compared to what may happen if they were to be restricted.
- The decision Egale Canada v. Alberta emphasized what may happen if minors are not offered medical interventions. A study out of Finland showed little to no evidentiary support of increased suicide.
- The article also cited a “liberal misinformation bubble” that the assumptions about the safety and efficacy of gender-affirming treatments persist despite mounting evidence of risks such as infertility, bone loss, and irreversible physiological changes, and despite weak evidence that such treatments prevent suicide.
- Sigalet concluded by saying that invoking the notwithstanding clause would be following the intentions of the key architects of the notwithstanding clause.
- If Alberta were to appeal it would take too long and become moot if amendments were implemented.
- He also said that using the notwithstanding clause would give rise to “rise to what have become entirely predictable protests by members of the Canadian legal and political establishment who view the clause as an illegitimate device used by governments to violate rights.”
- However in the context of Egale Canada vs. Alberta establishment opposition to Section 33 will only be reinforced by the “liberal misinformation bubble” which continues to surround the medical transition of minors.
- He ends off by saying, “When combined with the serious harms caused by the interventions at issue, the Alberta government has a strong mandate to move forward in the hope this misinformation bubble will finally burst.”
- The full MacDonald Laurier Institute post can be found in our supplementals and provides the legal angle to why the notwithstanding clause is used.
- There has been zero discussion in the media about the legal angles.
- By the media presenting the notwithstanding clause as removing rights they are immediately showing their bias by not understanding the process.
- Agree or disagree with the original legislation the notwithstanding clause does not inherently remove rights of Canadians and instead it gives the last word to the Legislature.
- By ignoring this in this case the media has shown their bias and what their modern operating practices are when combined with the messaging of advocacy groups.
- Supplementals:
- The BC NDP are scrapping both their 100% electric vehicle sale mandate by 2035, as well as a rebate program for EVs that it paused 6 months ago. As usual, the BC NDP are trying to blame anyone but themselves for the failure of their policy, with Energy Minister Adrian Dix saying the 100-per-cent sales goal, and a 90-per-cent target for 2030 were no longer "realistic," and the government saw rebates "as a federal responsibility."
- Dix told reporters he will be introducing legislation next spring to modify those targets and bring them in line with the reality that electric vehicle sales are falling across North America, including in B.C.
- “People will know that those current targets, which are at 90 per cent by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2035, are no longer realistic,” he said, blaming the federal government’s ending of its rebate program and the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump for declining EV sales.
- Dix told reporters in Victoria that the NDP government would introduce legislation next year to revise B.C.'s mandates, bringing them in line with targets the federal government is expected to announce in coming months.
- "I think targets should be things that you can reach with efforts," Dix said. "So they shouldn't be what you expect will happen, but what you can realistically reach with effort."
- Dix said the new targets had not yet been set because a review under CleanBC, the province's climate plan, wasn't complete, and the federal government had not finished a review of its own mandates.
- At the same time, Dix partly blamed Ottawa for inflating electric-vehicle prices by placing "considerable tariffs" on EVs made in China. "I leave it to the Government of Canada to deal with our complicated relationship with the [People's] Republic of China," he said.
- In January, the federal government ended its own rebate program, that had offered up to $5,000 off select models, and in September announced it was pausing the rollout of its own EV mandate that had been scheduled to begin in the coming months and would require 20 per cent of new light-duty vehicles to be zero emission next year and 100 per cent by 2035.
- Hon Chan, B.C. Conservative critic for climate solutions and climate readiness, said Dix's announcement confirmed the Opposition's position that the EV mandates were not achievable, and that they were unfair for both car dealers and consumers.
- But Chan said the announcement would create "confusion and uncertainty" among car dealers as they waited months for more details, he said. He predicted the percentage of EV sales would drop by double-digits without rebates.
- Chan said the problem with having EV mandates is that many people can’t afford them without government support and, while they may work well in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island, they aren’t practical in certain parts of the north or Interior.
- He said the government should leave consumers alone and allow them to choose the vehicle that makes the most sense for them: “If their lifestyle supports an EV, they should purchase an EV, but if their lifestyle or business cannot have an EV, I think they should have a choice,” said Chan.
- Dix's announcements come six months after Energy Futures, an energy think-tank, released government documents questioning whether B.C. could hit the 90-per-cent sales target by 2030.
- The documents, which The Canadian Press has since obtained, say "recent developments" led to a consensus that reaching the target will be "challenging."
- The documents say EV adoption in B.C. has "levelled off" because of numerous factors, including affordability concerns, gaps in the charging infrastructure and changes in policy.
- Zero-emission vehicles accounted for 22.4 per cent of all light-duty vehicle sales in the province in 2024, up from 0.8 per cent in 2015, but down from 22.7 per cent in 2023.
- Barry Penner, a former B.C. environment minister and the chair of the Energy Futures Initiative, said the problem with legislating targets for EV sales is that the province has neither the electricity nor the charging infrastructure to meet the demand that would come from 100 per cent of new vehicle sales being fully electric.
- He said that the government’s mandates are “not in alignment with consumer reality” and voiced his disappointment the province has no intention of bringing back its rebate program for electric vehicles.
- “On the one hand, (Premier David Eby) says we need to stand on our own feet, become more independent from the United States. This EV policy is doing the complete opposite. It’s making us import more electricity, and it’s making us purchase vehicles from the United States, like Tesla,” said Penner.
- At the end of the day, this mandate never made sense and when we first covered it several years ago, we knew it was never going to be fulfilled in a province like BC that has such diverse geography. The BC NDP finally admitting their mistakes in trying to push EVs on every car driving individual was inevitable. Perhaps now we'll be able to get some more sensible car regulations that strike a balance between protecting the environment, and letting consumers have choice as to how they spend their money on vehicles.
- Supplementals:
Firing Line
- Sweden has recently taken an interest in Canada in an attempt to secure sales of its GlobalEye surveillance plane to Canada.
- David Modern who is the sales director for GlobalEye says that if Canada bought it the entire assembly would happen in Canada creating 3000 jobs.
- Before we get too far down the road here GlobalEye is a surveillance platform designed to operate in the early warning and control arena.
- It is based on a Bombardier 6000 series long range business jet which is already built in Canada. Presently GlobalEye planes are constructed in Canada and then flown to Sweden where they are stripped down and rebuilt into their military application.
- Saab, the company behind GlobalEye, has been eyeing Canada for Swedish military purchases.
- The King and Queen of Sweden recently came to visit marking an increased influence of Sweden on Canada.
- This is all within an aim to get Canada to buy the Saab Gripen.
- Saab claims they will create 10,000 new Canadian jobs if Canada buys the jet.
- Defence Minister David McGuinty said that the government is open to purchasing jets from “several companies.”
- This comes as Canada is presently reviewing the 2023-signed F-35 contract to buy 88 jets from Lockheed Martin. As with everything going on with the US the government has decided to review the contract.
- Industry Melanie Joly called the prospect of Saab jobs as “interesting” citing the thousands of jobs in Canada.
- She said, "We think that we can use military procurement to get more. That is why we're looking, indeed, at the Gripen."
- McGuinty and Joly are on a fast track to cancel or cause Lockheed to cancel the F-35 contract due to the present push amongst the government to move away from the United States.
- However, in a statement to CTV News, an executive at Lockheed Martin wrote that the F-35 supply chain also has economic benefits for Canada.
- Those benefits include 110 Canadian companies involved in the supply chain with $3.2 million in Canadian components before the first plane lands in Canada.
- The F-35 program consists of more than 3,600 aircrafts for 20 countries with 30 Canadian suppliers and Lockheed expects it to fulfill over $15.5b in industrial value for Canada.
- While it may be nice on paper to buy multiple planes. The reality is quite complicated.
- Multiple fighter jets require different maintenance and supply chains, different training programs, and a fine tuning of the forces to know where exactly each plane would be used.
- This entire discussion with Sweden has wedged open the door to the spectre of more trade turmoil with the US - if you ask the media.
- The Toronto Star and CTV News ran pieces suggesting that future trade talks depend on Canada maintaining its purchase of the F-35.
- Now Canada should maintain its purchase of the F-35 as this project has been advancing for at least 15 years at this point and backing out now would represent a complete restart in the process of replacing aging F-18s.
- The Toronto Star’s piece suggested that US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said that restarting US trade talks depends on how Canada reviews the decision of the F-35.
- In paragraph 2 the article writes: “Pete Hoekstra told a conference hosted by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters on Wednesday that it will not be easy to restart the now-stalled trade talks, and urged Canada to “harmonize” as much as possible with the U.S. on a range of economic and military co-operation issues.”
- And with a headline of “Future of trade talks depends on Canada’s purchase of American fighter jets, U.S. ambassador says” the media had all they need to say that the Americans were extorting Canada to choose the F-35.
- The reality is though that the Ambassador did not say that.
- He said, “Well, on a number of these issues, we’re actually waiting to see exactly where the Canadian government is going to come out on this. Okay. We have, like I said, on the F-35, we’ve got all kinds of people and companies that are involved. You know, from an economic standpoint and a military cooperation standpoint, the F-35 has been a phenomenal success. It’s not an American plane. It’s an international plane. We put together a consortium, American-led consortium, you know, twenty years ago. Canada was one of the first to sign on.”
- He then went on to talk about a company in Nova Scotia producing a classified component and then pointed out how these companies can use the technology on different products and efforts later.
- He ended by saying, “We’ve built a thousand of them already. We’ve got more than 2,000 on back order. And so, it’s a great example of good coordination. But, you know, Canada’s going through a review of their defense industry.”
- The media and government seem intent on moving away from the F-35, a plane that will works cross borders with both NATO and NORAD in exchange for procuring a European plane that will not interoperate with our closest ally given that the Trump administration will be gone in less than 4 years.
- Supplementals:
Quote of the Week
"The gun buyback program is something that the federal government feels is important to do and the general public might not understand, but it's like any other rules. We still have to stop at stop signs, whether we want to or not." - Cape Breton Councillor Glenn Paruch on the gun buyback pilot program
Word of the Week
Target - an objective or result toward which efforts are directed
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Show Data
- Episode Title: Target Unacquired
- Teaser: The gun buyback pilot in Cape Breton produces only 22 guns, the notwithstanding clause gets misinterpreted by the media in Alberta, and BC cancels its EV mandate and rebate. Also, Canada looks at the Saab Gripen instead of the F-35.
- Production Code: WC-445-2025-11-22
- Recorded Date: November 22, 2025
- Release Date: November 23, 2025
- Duration: 1:03:06
- Edit Notes: None
Podcast Summary Notes
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