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.
For two days, the downtown core of the nation's capital has been a no-go zone as trucks and crowds have snarled traffic, with some members defacing monuments and wielding signs with violent and hateful imagery. Police are also investigating what they describe as threatening behaviour toward officers, city workers and other individuals, as well as damage to a city vehicle.
Trudeau is fully vaccinated and received his booster shot at a local Ottawa pharmacy in early January. Last Thursday, Trudeau said he was going into isolation for five days after finding out the previous evening he had been in contact with someone who tested positive.
The one per cent tax was to take effect at the start of the year and the Finance Department estimates it will bring in $200 million in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which begins in April.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to address Canadians Monday afternoon, following three days of unrest that has brought the divisive arguments about vaccine mandates and public health restrictions soaring back to the top of the agenda.
The government last year announced it would spend $85 million to plow through the backlogged applications, which Fraser says will be used mainly to hire more staff.
The party's electoral district for the rural Saskatchewan riding of Battlefords-Lloydminster announced today it has launched a petition it plans to present to the Conservatives' national council.
