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The revelation drew fierce criticism from opposition parties in the House of Commons and both sides of the debate on gun control, but听Anandasangaree’s office said听Monday afternoon they would still announce the start of the program Tuesday with a pilot project in Cape Breton, N.S..

That was only one of many revelations made in a roughly 20-minute back-and-forth about the plan between Anandasangaree and a tenant living in his 海角社区官网residential property. The tenant, who is a frustrated gun owner, recorded the conversation discreetly because they were discussing issues at the home before the minister began talking about the buyback scheme, unprompted.

At one point, Anandasangaree made personal promises to his tenant, offering to pay the difference to the man if the federal government’s compensation is not as much as the value of his now-banned guns. At another, he laughed as he told the tenant he would bail him out if he is arrested for non-compliance, though he asserts “it will not go that far” because police forces don’t have the resources to enforce the ban.

Clips of the conversation, which occurred Sunday morning, were circulating online after the man shared it with the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights. The Star obtained the full version and confirmed the authenticity of the recording with the man, who believed the content of the conversation was in the public interest but wished not to be identified out of fear of repercussions.

In a statement to the Star, Anandasangaree said he unequivocally supports the program despite his comments and that it needs to proceed after many delays because it is critical to combating crime and getting guns off the streets. The Prime Minister’s Office said it had nothing to add.

“On Sunday, I had a conversation with an individual I have known for many years, who recorded it without my knowledge before it was distributed by a gun lobbyist,” he wrote. “I make a point to speak with Canadians who do not support our approach, to listen to their concerns and ensure they understand their options in this voluntary buyback program. In trying to address this individual’s frustrations, my comments were misguided.”

But the walkback didn’t stop heavy criticism from both sides of the gun-control debate, with the Conservatives attacking the minister in the House of Commons and gun control advocates expressing disappointment with the comments.

Parts of those comments focused on Quebec, where Anandasangaree said the gun buyback program is electorally advantageous.

“Quebec is in a different place than other parts of Canada, right? And this is something that is very much a big, big, big deal for many of the Quebec electorate that voted for us,” Anandasangaree said in the conversation, adding he would have a “very different approach” if he could start over from scratch, but maintaining it was a campaign promise that needs to be fulfilled.

That promise was apparently set to be realized with an announcement Tuesday that a pilot project would be launched in Cape Breton, N.S., the minister told the man.

Other revelations Anandasangaree made include that the Carney government plans to cap the program’s budget at $742 million. He also suggests Ottawa is working on legislative changes to increase penalties for the unlicensed possession of firearms.

On several occasions, he is pressed about why the Carney government is moving forward with the program when most gun crimes are committed with illegal weapons.听

“Don’t ask me to explain the logic to you on this, OK?” Anandasangaree says when the man raises this.

“But we’re not the problem, Gary,” the man cuts in, defending legal gun owners in Canada, to which Anandasangaree says “I realize that.”

“This is the mandate I was given by (Mark) Carney to complete this, and not revisit this,” Anandasangaree says. “That’s my objective: just put an end to this and move with other additional criminal justice tools, including on bail, including on increasing penalties for people who have illegal, and you know, unlicensed firearms.”

“I’ll tell you, going forward, it’ll be a different approach.”

The comments come as an October amnesty deadline nears and as the Carney government continues to face difficulties getting police forces to agree to collect the guns, frustrating advocates. Already, the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments have signalled they would add roadblocks to federal efforts to implement the program, while the Ontario Provincial Police, which represents more than a quarter of policing in the province, has refused to participate.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in the House of Commons the recording was proof the Liberals were “playing politics with guns,” as he urged the Carney government to drop plans to move forward with the program.

“While this government blocks criminal justice reforms that would lock up gun criminals, they want to go ahead and take nearly a billion dollars away from border security and police officers to go after licensed, law-abiding, trained and tested hunters and sport shooters,” Poilievre charged in a back-and-forth with the minister. “Why won’t they drop the politics and save lives?”

Anandasangaree, in response, doubled down.

“Canadians want responsible gun control. They wanted it in 1989 after a man killed 14 women at 脡cole Polytechnique, they wanted it after six people were murdered at the Quebec City mosque shooting, and they wanted it after the biggest mass shooting in our history, where a man opened fire and killed 22 people in Nova Scotia,” he said. “Why are the Conservatives against keeping guns off our streets?”

Meanwhile, Ken Price, an advocate with Danforth Families for Safe Communities, told the Star the minister was diminishing the program by downplaying it as a political ploy when gun-control measures have widespread support.

“This is not a Quebec-only issue,” Price said. “To even put it that way, it’s outrageous, you know, it’s divisive and completely unhelpful in this discussion.”

Bloc Qu茅b茅cois MP Claude DeBellefeuille, the party鈥檚 public safety critic, also slammed Anandasangaree鈥檚 recorded comments as 鈥渁ppalling.”

鈥淭he minister of public safety is meant to offer security to all Quebecers and Canadians. What we鈥檙e seeing now is that he doesn鈥檛 believe in the measures he is proposing,鈥� she told the Star in French on Monday, stopping short of demanding Anandasangaree resign.

鈥淢y confidence in this minister is truly shaken.鈥�

With files from Alex Ballingall