Ottawa, June 24 (IANS) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has denied meddling in an investigation into the 2020 mass shooting, the worst the country's history.
Brenda Lucki, head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), has been accused of pressuring local officers to help advance Trudeau's gun control plans, the BBC quoted the Halifax Examiner as saying, which was the first to report on the development.
According to the Halifax Examiner, the accusation stemmed from notes made by a local RCMP officer, released as part of a public investigation into the mass shooting on April 18-19, 2020, during which a gunman posing as a police officer killed 22 people in Nova Scotia.
The suspect died in a stand-off with police.
Addressing reporters on Thursday, Trudeau said that his government "did not put any undo influence or pressure" on police.
"It is extremely important to highlight that it is only the RCMP, it is only police that determine what and when to release information," the BBC quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
Denying the accusations, Commissioner Lucki said in a statement released on Tuesday that information sharing between the federal government and police is normal during a high-profile event such as a mass shooting.
The RCMP chief however acknowledged that she "should have been more sensitive" in her approach.
Canada's opposition Conservative Party has called for a debate in the House of Commons, and a parliamentary committee voted on Thursday to hold a hearing into the matter.
In the wake of the deadliest rampage in Canadian history, Prime Minister Trudeau in May 2020 announced an immediate ban on the sale, transportation, importation, or use of some 1,500 makes and models of "military-grade assault-style" weapons.
Earlier this month, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said a lack of supply caused January home sales to slow from a record-setting pace last year, nonetheless pushing the benchmark price up 18.5 per cent from last January, to about $1.2 million.
The Kelowna RCMP say in a news release Monday that the 24-year-old woman who was allegedly assaulted Saturday morning while working on campus succumbed to her injuries.
Municipal Affairs Minister Nathan Cullen said the new program responds to municipalities that have asked for more flexible and consistent funding to implement projects that support the province's climate plans and their own goals.
The panel found climate change costs in Canada have risen to about $1.9 billion from about $400 million in 1983. Just fighting wildfires, a threat exacerbated by climate change, could reach $1 billion a year — a figure already reached in six of the last 10 years.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Russian President Vladimir Putin has created a refugee crisis, and the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said about 500,000 people in Ukraine have fled to neighbouring countries so far.
Her visit comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that Canada was sending anti-tank weapons and upgraded ammunition to Ukraine, which amounted to a significant enhancement in lethal military aid.
