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.
Trudeau says the two countries have been building cars together for more than 50 years — an alliance threatened by President Joe Biden's efforts to boost sales of vehicles made in the U.S. with union labour.
British Columbia health officials say 10 cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 have now been identified in the province. The Health Ministry said in a news release Friday the variant of concern has been found in the Vancouver Coastal, Fraser and Island Health regions.
In a letter to key members of the U.S. Senate, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Trade Minister Mary Ng are promising retaliatory tariffs on American products if the tax credit proposal becomes law.
Popham says the devastation has stressed the need and importance of a federal partnership to ensure support for the farmers who have fed Canadians for years. She says visiting the area gave them a first-hand understanding of the situation and priorities.
The BC Prosecution Service says the charge comes after Mayor Doug McCallum complained to the RCMP that he was verbally assaulted and hit by a car. There were public discussions at the time about Surrey replacing the RCMP with a municipal police force and McCallum said he was attacked during a "Keep the RCMP in Surrey" gathering at a grocery store.
The federal Liberals are under increasing pressure to fix an issue in the pandemic safety net that has rolled back or cut off benefits to low-income seniors. About 83,000 seniors lost a key income support this year because they received emergency aid last year, money that bumped their earnings above the threshold to qualify for the guaranteed income supplement.
