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SHEILA GUNN REID | Ottawa has zero evidence its $6 billion gun grab will reduce crime
00:32:38
The Liberals want Canadians to believe their massive gun confiscation scheme is about public safety. Listen to audio-only versions of RebelNews+ exclusive shows like the daily Ezra Levant Show, the Gunn Show, and audio versions of our DAILY livestreams along with other Rebel News long-form videos and interviews.
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- [00:00]
Ezra Levant
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- [00:49]
Sheila Gun Reed
The Liberal government was just forced to admit that their massive gun grab has no impact on on public safety. Then we've got journalist Sam Cooper on foreign interference. It's May 12, 2026. I'm Sheila Gun Reed, but you're watching the Ezra Levant show.
- [01:10]
Ezra Levant
Shame on you, you sensori.
- [01:22]
Sheila Gun Reed
The Liberals want Canadians to believe that their massive gun confiscation scheme is all about public safety and making Canadians safer.
- [01:32]
Public Safety Canada Official
Just reminding Canadians to those with prohibited firearms to enroll and to take part in the program. This is a voluntary program. However, compliance under the act will not be Voluntary as of October 31st when the current order and council is set to expire. So with that I want to just thank everyone who has already taken their civic duty seriously and enrolled in the program. And we look forward to others doing the same. This is a critical part of the work that our government is doing in addition to the number of legislation that's before the House to ensure the safety and security of Canadians. And we believe that removing these prohibited firearms is one additional step in that measure.
- [02:24]
Sheila Gun Reed
But now we know something extraordinary. The federal government cannot produce a single shred of internal analysis proving that their scheme will reduce crime whatsoever. Not one study, not a single briefing note, not one departmental analysis. Nothing. Not even an email. We know this because the Canadian Taxpayers Federation filed an access to information request asking Public Safety Canada to respond. All analysis from the department on the efficacy of the Assault style firearms compensation program and its effect on crime rates slash public safety. And the government's response was stunning in its honesty. I guess the reply was. Please be advised that no information related to your request exists within Public Safety Canada. That's the direct quote. No information exists yet. Taxpayers are already committed to spending at least 742 million on this scheme according to Budget 2025. Meanwhile, Fraser Institute researchers warn the total cost could balloon past 6 billion once collection, compensation, storage, destruction, staffing, consultants, of course inventory losses and administration are fully accounted for. Think about how insane that is. $6 billion Ottawa is preparing the largest confiscation program in Canadian history. And apparently nobody inside Public Safety Canada bothered to produce evidence showing it would actually make Canadians safer. That alone should nuke this Entire program. Because if the government cannot justify a multi billion dollar policy with evidence, then what are Canadians paying for? Exactly. And the cost estimates just keep getting worse. Back in 2020, the Liberals tried to frame this as a relatively modest program. You know, like every government program that gets out of control, because they all do. But like every liberal registry database, confiscation scheme, or pipeline for that matter, the price tag explodes the moment reality sets in. According to Fraser Institute senior fellow Gary Mouser, the parliamentary budget officer, estimated compensation, just paying people for the things the government is taking from them alone from $47 million to $756 million, depending on compliance rates and the number of firearms actually confiscated. And that's a key point here, because the government doesn't really know how many of these newly prohibited firearms are just floating around out there. Because many of them moved from the non restricted, so non registered list directly to prohibited. So there's no record of them out there. They're just guessing. The real costs besides that come afterwards. That's just the guns. There's collection, transportation, storage, destruction, administration. As I said, consultants. There's always consultants. Government advertising of the program, and compensation for retailers stuck with unsellable inventory. Mouser estimates the collection phase alone could cost between 1.6 billion and 5 billion, pushing total taxpayer exposure to somewhere between 2.6 billion and $6.7 billion. Think about the number of cops or hospitals you could have for nearly $7 billion. And remember, the Liberals have already burned through $67.2 million before collecting a single firearm, not one that money largely disappeared into where you know, it always does. The bureaucracy, staffing, planning again, consultants and administrative overhead. Sound familiar? It should, because this is starting to look exactly like the long gun registry fiasco over again. Canadians were promised that registry would cost around $85 million and basically pay for itself. Instead, it spiraled into a nearly $2 billion boondoggle. Now history is repeating itself. Except this time the numbers could be even worse. And for what? That's the question the Liberals still cannot answer. Because Public Safety admits it has no evidence the confiscation scheme will reduce crime or improve public safety. None. Zero evidence. Meanwhile, the violent firearm crime rate has continued increasing since the Liberals introduced the ban in 2020. Firearm related violent crime climbed from more than 12,600 incidents in 2020 to nearly 14,000 in 2022, the highest level since comparable records began. Organized crime offenses have surged too, by more than 170% since 2016, from 4,800 to 13,000 crimes. Gang violence, is rising. Random attacks are rising. Carjackings are rising. Repeat violent offending is rising. And yet the Liberals are focused on confiscating legally owned firearms from licensed owners who already comply with some of the strictest firearms laws in the world. Why? Well, I think the answer is simple. This is the path of least resistance for the Liberals. Go after the people already following the law because it's easier than confronting the people who actually drive violent crime, or for that matter, the Liberals policies that drive violent crime. It's easier to confiscate firearms from licensed owners with fixed addresses, background checks, registration records and spotless compliant histories than it is to reform a broken bail system. It's easier than tightening border security to stop the flood of illegal handguns coming across the border from the United States. It's easier than locking up repeat offenders who cycle through the courts over and over again while Canadians watch the same names rack up the same charges. It's easier than taking on organized crime or transnational repression. It's easier than dismantling gang networks. It's easier than dealing with the consequences of soft on crime policies that turned catch and release justice into the default setting of the Canadian legal system. So instead, the Liberals are targeting hunters, farmers, sport shooters, collectors and lawful firearms owners because those people comply. They fill out paperwork, they renew licenses, they store their firearms safely, they follow transport laws, they submit themselves to daily background screening. They're easy to find, easy to regulate and politically easy to demonize. Meanwhile, the criminals don't care. The gang member carrying a smuggled handgun in Toronto is not worried about a confiscation letter from Public Safety Canada. The the fentanyl trafficker running guns across the border is not checking the RCMP prohibited firearms list before committing crimes. The repeat violent offender released on bail for the fifth time is not suddenly going to reform because Ottawa sees somebody's locked up target rifle in rural Alberta. Even Statistics Canada acknowledges that firearms used in homicides are rarely legal firearms used by their legal owners. That's devastating for the Liberal narrative, except they don't care because it confirms what lawful firearms owners and police have been saying for years. This program does not target the source of violent crime and police know it. Clayton Campbell, the president of the Toronto Police association, said the buyback program would have, quote, essentially zero impact on the crime in Toronto. End quote, zero impact. The RCMP labor union called the confiscation scheme a misdirected effort when it comes to public safety. Dozens of police departments across Canada have refused participation. Most provincial governments have also refused to participate in the confiscation scheme.
- [10:16]
Ezra Levant
May have heard we will also not
- [10:18]
Sheila Gun Reed
participate in the federal government's gun grab program. Yeah, we've instructed our police services and our crown prosecutors that this is just not our law enforcement priority. We want them going after real bad guys. In fact, if anyone is trying to take away Albertan's guns who is not licensed as a seizure agent by Alberta's chief medical or chief firearms officer, they could actually be arrested. Firearms retailers want nothing to do with any of this. Even Canada Post backed away from any sort of involvement. And honestly, why would they be involved? Nobody wants ownership of a failing program that cannot achieve its stated goal. Because this was never really about public safety. It's about politics. It's about creating the appearance of action after tragedies. It's about demonizing a politically unfashionable minority. Hunters, farmers, sport shooters, collectors, indigenous hunters, rural Canadians, people who already obey the law. People who already pass extensive background checks. People who already continuously are screened by the RCMP every single day. Meanwhile, repeat violent offenders get bail. Gang members just run the circle through the courts. Border smuggling continues. Fentanyl traffickers flourish. And the Liberals, well, they're spending billions confiscating property from licensed owners because it's easier than dealing with these actual bad guys. And now we know the most important part of all. The government cannot prove that any of this will work. And they didn't even try. Not internally, not statistically, not operationally. No evidence exists inside Public Safety Canada showing the scheme will reduce crime. In a normal country, that would be the end of it. Because in any rational country, a government admitting it has no evidence for a multi billion dollar program would be immediately forced to shut it down. Instead, Ottawa just keeps spending. Taxpayers just keep paying. Stay with us. Independent journalist Sam Cooper is with us up after the break. So joining us now is independent journalist Sam Cooper, who has been following the foreign interference beat for, well, years. And he's got an incredible expose on his substack at the Bureau. The op ed is the enemy is already inside the gates and Mark Carney just opened them wider. You say the alliance does not change. In Ottawa, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a warning that underlines themes the Bureau has been reporting for years, and that's really that Canada is completely vulnerable to foreign interference and the government has done nothing tangible to fix this and our democracy is truly at risk.
- [13:16]
Ezra Levant
Yeah, exactly. I was picking up on themes raised by the former State Department head and CIA director Pompeo, as well as a man named Michael Lucci, who runs State Armor in the United States, and that's an NGO that is rolled out to sort of try to implement laws at the state level to counter CCP interference. And they both were pointing, especially Pompeo, to the fact that, as he said, the enemy is inside our gates. He raised a bombshell, sort of disclosure that the US Government found the Houston Chinese Consulate was running a massive spy operation. They shut the consulate down, and hundreds of Chinese spies ran for the exits and flew out of China. And so Mr. Pompeo said, look, that showed how deep the interference in the United States is. And remember, I assert the US Government has laws. There are a number of prosecutions right now against Chinese agents, but Canada does not. So that was the point of my op ed. Michael Lucci of State Armor really hammered Mark Carney for this secret MOU that Carney has signed between our RCMP and the Ministry of Public Security. I've reported in detail for the Bureau news that the Ministry of Public Security is the same Chinese police agency that has been running these secret police stations in Canada. You know, I reported based on leaked documents for the Bureau, news from a CSIS intelligence report. The Ministry of Public Security had sent covert agents into Canada. It had tasked Chinese language. Tasked Chinese language journalists to track dissidents. So this is extremely, you know, egregious violations of Canada's sovereignty. And. And here we have Carney now making a deal with that very same Chinese police service that my reporting exposed was running wild in the Fox Hunt. It's called Fox Hunt. Illegal police operations in Canada under Justin Trudeau. That's the whole point of a lot of my exposes on Trudeau's government. And I feel that Carney has just hit the reset button. He's acting like he's a new government. He's not. He has continued what Trudeau has done and scaled it up. So that's why I say he's opening the gates wider. The US Government has real investigations. We can talk about some of them. The mayor of Arcadia in California just admitted this week that she was running a secret Chinese operation from her council seat. And so I say, look, Canada. Canada has a much bigger problem, we know, than the United States does, and Canada is doing nothing. Carney, in fact, I believe, is making the problem worse.
- [16:10]
Sheila Gun Reed
Right. And it's not conjecture. Michael Chong testified during the Foreign Interference Commission that he was the target of an intimidation campaign coming out of the consulate in Toronto. So this is a very real problem. We held a Foreign Interference Commission that was weeks and Months long. I had the displeasure of sitting through most of it, as you did too, Sam. And there were tangible warnings in there every step of the way. And the federal government has really done nothing. And you know, now we're seeing people like Nate Erskine Smith, as I said before we started recording, getting mugged by the reality of not following some of those recommendations. The Liberal government was warned that they needed to tighten up rules around political nominations because the presumed Member of Parliament or presumed MLA could be chosen by people who are non citizens, wouldn't even need to vote in the general election if it was in a safe seat. And we just saw that happen to Nate Erskine Smith.
- [17:22]
Ezra Levant
Absolutely. The, the parallels there are absolutely striking. So that as a candidate he has alleged significant irregularities. Nomination contest. That's the exact same language that my reporting for Global News alleged, you know, in, in Toronto writings, especially one for a significant candidate. Right. And the allegations that were revealed in the Hope Commission, which by the way, I believe pretty much whitewashed some of the more serious allegations. But look, it was non Canadians voting for a nominee that community leaders allegedly sort of directed them to. There were allegations, you know, that people were being told, you know, here's a card, even if you don't speak or read English, you know, here's a card in your language that you know, will tell you who to nominate. So this is exactly what Erskine Smith points to. And I'll tell you something else I can disclose today that I have received information that a significant Muslim community leader has been involved in sort of promoting the nomination candidacy of Mr. Erskine Smith's rival. And my prior reporting for the Bureau News revealed that this individual had a prior sexual assault conviction, you know, related to his teaching job in a Muslim lane in a Muslim community school. So, you know, I should say that others, you know, I believe have reported on that story. There's no allegations that this man is still involved in criminal activity, but he's a significant Muslim community leader that apparently was promoting Erskine Smith's rival. And now Erskine Smith is, is saying there's serious irregularities. And as you point out, I think the word is, if I pronounce it correct correctly, schadenfreude or something. Right. You're not acting on a threat for your own Liberal government, Mr. Er, Smith. And now it looks like you've been bitten by the diaspora vote banking hand that used to feed you.
- [19:32]
Sheila Gun Reed
Yeah, that's a great way to put it. Normally I tell people to dance with the ones that brought them, but all of a sudden their dance partners have chosen somebody else. And it's not, you know, it's not ccp. It's not just the, the CCP that's infiltrated Canadian politics. It's not just this Muslim vote banking as we saw allegedly, allegedly with Nate Erskine Smith. But now we have IRGC radicals within the country. Some community linked people who watch this have said there's upwards of 700. The government has a much lower number, naturally, and they've only been able to seriously push for the deportation of one. This is an ongoing problem and it's making Canadian streets far less safe. And the government seems to be taking a hands off approach. In fact, when I watch these committee hearings, they're basically saying, well, what do you want us to do? I don't know, deport them.
- [20:33]
Ezra Levant
Yeah, enforce the Canadian law. But yeah, maybe that's exactly the point. People may say what, what is the issue if sort of a community, a diasporative, diasporic community group promotes candidates that, that you know, come from their community? There's nothing wrong with that. The real issue is, look, Iran, Pakistan, China, India or Khalistan separatist networks are promoting, this comes from csis are promoting candidates that they believe will support that foreign government or foreign separatist power in Canada's parliament. And the real sharp edge of the tool here is transnational repression. So as you point out, the Iranian guards and the Iranian clerical regime which is on its, possibly its deathbed under the US government overdue attack in the Middle east, they are seeking to not only attack the Jewish community, I believe CSIS has acknowledged they are targeting Iranian Canadian journalists who are critics of the regime. So my reporting at the bureau, you know, looked into CSIS's annual report and it showed that CSIS acknowledges a group called Handle a Hack which they say is connected to Iran's, you know, Intelligence ministry did target Canadian journalists with serious threats, targeted their families in Iran is involved in major cyber operations. But the real, the real point of my story that I broke is the FBI had already targeted Handle A Hack in Canada around the same time that CSIS released its annual report showing that this cyber operation had targeted former Doug Ford MPP Goldy Gamare, an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime. The FBI had taken down a number of websites where the Iranian regime had said they had tasked the Jalisco New Generation cartel to behead Goldie Gamare in her home along with another Los Angeles Iranian dissident. And they, they were offering a $250,000 reward to the cartel. So that points to a lot of details, but the point I don't want to lose is CSIS never reported it in its annual report. If you recall, the RCMP commissioner around the same time a few weeks ago was saying, the RCMP has no evidence that any foreign government is involved in these serious transnational repression operations. So I can point to all, all types of problems with Canada's vulnerability and weakness to pushing back against foreign interference. But suffice to say, look, the RCMP looks wrong and CSIS isn't pointing to the, the most serious case of this Iranian regime targeting that the FBI, it looks like, has had to clean up Canada's mess. And it could be a lethal mess.
- [23:39]
Sheila Gun Reed
Now, Sam, you've been on this foreign interference beat for years to the point where I frankly worry a little bit about your own safety. But how do people find your work and support your work because you're doing important work that I think a lot of journalists working for larger operations are scared to do.
- [24:00]
Ezra Levant
Well, thank you. They can go to the Bureau News, my independent journalism investigative platform. Up to close to 40,000 subscribers. Now. I tried, I would like to get to some more paying subscribers converted so I could pay some of these legal bills. And I'll let you know, I do pay for some, you know, military veteran training for my own sort of counterintelligence or surveillance awareness and my safety. And I'll say, look, Juno has some reporters that are also exposing themselves at some of these street rallies, getting in the face with microphones of some very dangerous and apparently untouchable in Canada. People working for foreign governments, I believe. So kudos to Juno's journalists that are doing, you know, or the rebel news journalists as well are doing that hard work.
- [24:51]
Sheila Gun Reed
Yeah, yeah, it's dangerous work, but I think it's vital work because it's not being done anywhere else. Sam, thanks so much for coming on the show and stay safe out there. Well, letters, letters, letters. We get your letter letters every single hour of every single day. I think you're some of the most engaged viewership on the Internet, whether it's sending us letters directly to our email or commenting on our work wherever you might find it on any of the platforms. Today your letters come to us on the news of 301,000 signatures, nearly double the amount required to trigger an independence referendum here in Alberta on October 19, 2026. And I should tell you that these signatures were collected by some 7,000 volunteers in some of the most bitterly cold conditions in the country. The an Alberta winter. Okay, so for those of you out there who are skeptical and saying, well, the Forever Canada petition efforts. They, you know, collected over 400,000. Good luck finding people outside when it's -30. They collected their signatures. They being the Forever Canada petition collectors, they were doing that in summertime when Albertans do their best to be outside as much as possible. It's easy to collect signatures in the summer. Very easy. All right, let's get into it. Lynn Osborne writes 300,000 signatures collected by grassroots people with no big money, no big media and no political backing. Odd. In Canada, these facts alone are considered very undemocratic. What group goes out to solicit public support without government approval nor subsidy? It's just not Canadian. The census this year that we are required by law to complete or suffer a penalty is focused on gender issues and French language skills. Obviously Albertans anyway have other interests and priorities. It's true, the petition canvassers, they had zero political support. In fact, they were being demonized by the media and the politicians on both sides of the political spectrum. Jason Kenny viciously from the right, and I mean Mark Carney and Nahid Nenshi here in Alberta from the left. Silver Feet Comments the enemies of freedom will use all the fear mongering tactics that exist and may even invent some new ones. But the greatest fear of every Albertan is the horrendous life their children will have if they remain in Canada. It's true that that's a excellent point. The Brexit campaign, the Remain side, did exactly that. It was called Project Fear and it was meant to scare people away by implying that chaos would follow if the UK left the European Union and chaos did not follow. You know, they said such crazy things as you wouldn't be able to get sandwich meat. I mean, we're going to see it during the campaign. But here's the thing about Albertans, we're not scared of hard work. And if you've ever tried to use a government service these days, when you're standing there, and I know I have frequently asked myself this, how could this possibly be worse? How could these services be any worse? And I think Albertans should and will have that in mind when they're walking into the ballot box on October 19th. Look, yes, there will be some hard work on the other side, but could the current delivery of those services that are now done by the federal government be any worse than they already are? Now we can be really bad at this as Albertans and still, still not be as bad as the federal government. Paul Schofield writes, Congrats Alberta. Even with a 20% toss out rate that's over a quarter million patriots who appear fed the hell up. Good for giving people the right to choose their own path. October 19th should be something. That's. That's the thing. A lot of people on the left and even on the right are upset with Daniel Smith not getting involved in the referendum, but I think she's taking the exact right approach. This is a question for Albertans to decide for themselves. And if one in three of us are so mad that we want to leave this country, shouldn't we able to. Shouldn't we be able to express that in the form of a referendum? If not, there's no pressure release valve for the anger that people are feeling. I should tell you, I was on Newsmax, which is an American cable news channel, over the weekend, and the person on the panel with me said, oh, you know, it's only one in three. Well, that's a hell of a lot of people. Our prime minister is decided frequently by one in three people, and he is apparently legitimate. So why isn't one in three people like a legitimate event horizon of anger? But he said, oh, this is just political posturing so that Alberta can get more out of Ottawa. That might be the case with Quebec, but I disregard that argument completely because this is not a movement of the provincial government. This is not a movement of any political party. In fact, this is 7,000 grassroots volunteers, 300, 1,000 people who are demonized from the left and the right. They don't want more out of Ottawa. They want less Ottawa. And so for this whole movement to have just been political posturing, it would have to have some political power. But it exists completely outside of the political structure. And I will not disregard the visceral anger and the hope and the drive of these people for something better. But that was an American commentator on the outside looking in. And so I was happy to be the Alberta commentator on the inside looking out. I'll be the ambassador of US in the American media if need be, so that people understand what's really happening here. This is not about political posturing. These are actually people with no political power trying to seize their own political power. And I hope they do. Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight. Thank you so much for tuning in. We'll see everybody back here in the same time, in the same place twice tomorrow, I think Ezra's back in the chair and, well, I'm hosting the show. So I'll say what I always say. Don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.