There is no right to keep and bear arms in Canadian law. It's essentially a privilege to own a gun, and the government dictates the terms of that privilege. Because of that, there's no real way to challenge the legality of the Liberals' "buyback" scheme targeting more than 100,000 legally owned firearms, at least on constitutional grounds.
There is, however, no mandate for the federal government to force provinces to aid and assist the Liberals' compensated confiscation scheme, and a growing number of provinces are telling the feds they're on their own.
Newfoundland and Labrador was the latest province to confirm it has no intention of participating, with the province’s premier saying in Ottawa on Wednesday that while he supports Prime Minister Mark Carney in many areas, this is one where he disagrees.
Between provincial police and politicians, more than half of Canada's provinces have declared their intent not take part in the "buyback" scheme from the Liberal government. That won't scuttle the compensated confiscation program, at least not on its own, but it shows the scant support for the disarmament scheme outside of Liberal strongholds and the province of Quebec.
Federal officials say it has the ability to roll out the program in every jurisdiction, save for Saskatchewan and Alberta.
They have added that mobile collection units could be deployed to collect firearms, along with trying to work with local police and the provinces.
The Quebec government remains the only province to have signed a $12-million contribution agreement that commits it to help with the coordination of collection efforts. Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree confirmed on Tuesday that the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force, would participate.
Anandasangaree, who announced the official launch of the compensation program earlier this month, has applauded the fact that impacted gun owners have so far submitted declarations for slightly more than 22,000 weapons.
