Last week in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Premier Doug Ford made a statement about guns that puzzled many. After a rant about a judge going too far in a ruling on a homeless encampment, Ford told gun owners to hold onto their property.
“Gun owners, protect your guns. Simple as that, don’t ever give them away,” Ford said. Standing to his left was Mark Carney’s Industry Minister Melanie Joly, one of the cabinet ministers backing Carney’s decision to continue Justin Trudeau’s controversial gun buyback program that targets legal and licensed gun owners instead of gangsters with illegal, smuggled guns.
Ontario Challenges Buyback Before Supreme Court
Premier Ford and his government are joining the governments of Alberta’s Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe in asking the Supreme Court to declare the gun program unconstitutional. The court challenge is brought forward by the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR), arguing that by never passing legislation and banning all these guns through a cabinet decree, the government overstepped its authority.
Ford has repeatedly called on the Liberal government to abandon the program, saying it focuses on the wrong target. “Start focusing on the bad guys, not on the good guys,” Ford said in January. “I support law-abiding hunters and gun owners because they’re responsible.”
Now, his government will back the court challenge. “The federal government’s gun buyback program has done nothing to address the root causes of gun violence in our communities,” a statement from the office of Solicitor General Michael Kerzner said. “We share the concerns raised by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) on the federal government’s approach to the gun buyback program. Local police resources should be focused on combatting crime and keeping our communities safe — not attending residential addresses and confiscating firearms that were previously lawful but are now prohibited.”
The statement called on the federal government to take control of the border with the United States to keep smuggled guns out of Canada. Roughly 90% of crime guns that can be traced are traced back to the United States and were smuggled into Canada illegally.
Tracey Wilson, VP of public relations with the CCFR, welcomed Ford’s government backing their court challenge as an intervenor. “I think it sends a very loud and clear message to Mark Carney’s government that Ontario stands with their citizens and not with the feds on this issue,” Wilson said Tuesday.
She said the CCFR’s court challenge seeks answers to fundamental questions: “Can the government step into your life despite you doing nothing wrong and deem your stuff illegal that you’ve owned safely and without issue for decades and come and confiscate it by force? And I think all Canadians need an answer to that question.”
Other questions before the court include whether the government can make these moves without a vote in Parliament. The ban was originally implemented via an order-in-council, a cabinet decree similar to executive orders used in the United States. Cabinet orders were never meant to usurp the power of Parliament, and now the court will be asked to rule.
All parties need to have their paperwork into the court by September. Wilson expects a hearing early in 2027 with a decision in the months that follow.
