Gun control group not supporting Trudeau's buyback plan

The Trudeau's government's key gun control program is losing a key ally.

PolyRemembers spokesperson Nathalie Provost - who is also a survivor of the Ecole Polytechnique massacre that killed 14 women in 1989 - says the buyback program won't work.

"Those style of weapons are designed to kill. To kill people," says Provost.

The federal government has banned nearly 1,500 models of assault-style firearms and their variants.

This year, it'll begin recovering them from retailers.

The goal is that by next spring, owners can either sell their guns to the government or store them, not to be used or transported.

Starting at the end of October 2025, owners can be held criminally liable unless the guns are inoperable.

The ban is a step in the right direction, Provost says, but does not go far enough.

She worries people will use their federal compensation cheques to buy other firearms that are still legal and taxpayers will foot the bill.

"We are for a buyback, but a real one, that will have a real effect," Provost adds.

Criminals will always find a way to get the guns they want, says Rod Giltaca, CEO of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights.

"You're playing politics by saying this gun is unacceptable, and we're going to use tax money to buy it from you, you can turn around and buy another gun," he says.

A spokesperson for federal Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc says efforts are now focused on implementing the buyback program this fall.