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.
The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear a case that hinges on the time police took to arrange a breath test for a Quebec man. Asked if he had been drinking, Breault said he'd had one beer, but insisted he had not been driving the vehicle, contradicting trail patrollers who had contacted the police.
Members of Citizens Supportive of Crowsnest Coal have been writing letters to Premier Jason Kenney and Energy Minister Sonya Savage that suggest the panel's report is likely to be skewed and one-sided.
Statistics Canada says about 84 per cent of completed census questionnaires were filled out online. The agency beat its goal to of having 80 per cent of census questionnaires completed online — an option made available for the first time to all regions of the country.
Canada and Mexico both are worried that the tax credit proposal, which if implemented as it stands would be worth up to $12,500 to a new car buyer, is too heavily geared toward U.S.-made vehicles.
The mayor of a city heavily impacted by flooding in southern British Columbia says farmers who stayed with their animals desperately need water for livestock. Henry Braun said Thursday that water levels in Abbotsford continue to fluctuate in the Sumas Prairie area two days after an evacuation order was issued.
A late-night evacuation passenger train carrying about 200 people stranded for days by British Columbia's mudslides and floods left Hope for Vancouver Wednesday. Jonathan Abecassis, a spokesman for Canadian National, said the emergency evacuation train was expected to arrive in Vancouver shortly after 10 p.m.
