Carney Says He Still Has Confidence in Public Safety Minister After Leaked Comments on Gun Buyback

Prime Minister Mark Carney says he still has confidence in Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree following leaked audio of the minister doubting the federal gun buyback initiative.

“I have confidence in the minister—he’s doing important work,” Carney told reporters at a Sept. 23 press conference in New York City, where he’s attending the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Carney also said Anandasangaree has “a lot of important work this session of Parliament, including legislation on borders and others.”

The prime minister was responding to questions from reporters about a leaked audio recording of Anandasangaree in a private conversation on Sept. 21 about the Liberal government’s gun buyback program.

In the conversation, the public safety minister expressed doubt about the program, saying he didn’t think municipal police forces would have the resources to enforce it. He was also heard saying if he could redo the program, he would focus on illegal firearms instead.

Anandasangaree told the individual he was speaking with that he would bail them out of jail if they were arrested for not complying with the program, and that he would compensate the individual for any firearms costs not covered by the compensation program. He admitted the compensation will not cover the full costs for firearm owners.

Additionally, Anandasangaree said he is simply carrying out a directive provided to him by Carney, who is following through on an initiative started by the previous Liberal government because it was part of Carney’s election campaign earlier this year. He said his party is also carrying on with the program to maintain Quebec votes.

Carney told reporters on Sept. 23 that his government is fulfilling its campaign promise by carrying out the buyback program.

Anandasangaree told the House of Commons on Sept. 22 that the 20-minute conversation was recorded without his knowledge and his comments were “misguided.”

“It was a bad attempt at humour on my part,” Anandasangaree told reporters on Sept. 23, adding that his comments were “being misrepresented.”

The Tories are calling on Carney to fire Anandasangaree from his role as public safety minister, citing the “buyback boondoggle” and his “abysmal record,” including a past controversy involving Anandasangaree asking the CBSA to overturn an immigration decision.

Pilot Program

The Liberal government is moving forward with its gun buyback initiative by launching a pilot program in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, marking the beginning of the compensation program for individual firearms, Anandasangaree announced at a Sept. 23 press conference.

The government intends to collect 200 guns from licensed owners in Cape Breton, where the local police force has agreed to participate in the program. The program will run for roughly six weeks and aims to test the program’s online portal, collection and destruction process, and compensation system.

The program will be launched nationwide later this fall and will be open to all eligible firearm owners, Anandasangaree said, noting there are approximately 180,000 registered firearms that are subject to the prohibition. According to Public Safety Canada, a collection and compensation period will follow in 2026.

Approximately 1,500 makes and models of so-called “assault-style” firearms were first banned under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government after a mass shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020, which involved stolen and smuggled weapons. The prohibited firearms list was expanded to more than 2,000 in March of this year.

The program opened earlier this year for firearms businesses across Canada and has collected more than 12,000 prohibited guns. The deadline to submit claims for the firearms that were prohibited in 2020 was on April 30 of this year, but the program will reopen for businesses to submit claims for the most recently prohibited firearms “in the coming weeks,” Public Safety Canada said.