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.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth, along with the ministers of transportation and agriculture, are set to host a morning news conference. It comes after a weekend that saw soldiers arrive to help farmers save livestock and lend a hand in sandbagging efforts.
There are currently 3,420 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C. That total includes 358 infectious patients in hospital, 109 of them in intensive care units.
This order, effective immediately, until Dec. 1, 2021, applies to all fuel suppliers in the Lower Mainland-to-Hope region, the Sea-to-Sky region, Sunshine Coast, the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island.
In a letter to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, the NDP critic on the file notes that federal officials in the spring looked into which families would lose the most in benefits this year.
In a landmark 2013 decision, the Supreme Court declared the provision against living on the avails of sex work to be overbroad and in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. For instance, the law criminalized actions, such as working as a bodyguard, that could enhance the safety of sex workers.
Henry Braun said Friday that ultimately, the entire dam may have to be rebuilt to a higher standard to protect a major farming area called Sumas Prairie, which suffered extensive flooding as water gushed in from the Nooksack River from neighbouring Washington state.
