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.
A University of Calgary analysis of over 6 million tweets and retweets — and where they originate from — has found that Canada is being targeted by foreign powers trying to influence public opinion here.
The report, released Wednesday, focuses on the effect the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and the Canada Recovery Benefits had on child benefit payments to families. It provided costing estimates for several scenarios.
The worker leaned onto a fabric webbing panel that broke away when he was trying to retrieve an item floating in the water, and he drowned. The agency says the worker wasn't wearing a life-jacket and the fabric panels were insufficient at stopping him from falling into the water below.
The Office of the Fire Commissioner's annual report says fire-related deaths have increased in B.C. by 119 per cent since 2020 and victims older than 65 were overly represented.
During your travel, you may be subject to procedures at your destination put in place to limit the spread of monkeypox, such as isolation, should you become infected. You may have limited access to timely and appropriate health care should you become ill, and may experience delays in returning home.
Before his leader-level meetings get underway, Biden is sitting down to tape an appearance with talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel. Trudeau, who arrived in Los Angeles late Tuesday, is getting down to work on environmental priorities with Barbados counterpart Mia Mottley.
