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 review agency looked at how CSIS and the Mounties worked together on investigating certain extremists based in Canada, though details of the specific threat were stripped from the report.
The mudslides rolled over the highway during an "atmospheric river" that brought a deluge of rain and flooding to the southwest and central parts of the province.
Alberta has signed on to Ottawa’s $10-a-day child-care program, but not before Premier Jason Kenney dismissed the federal contribution as recycled provincial money and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of playing favourites.
Jashanpreet Singh and his wife, Harleen Kaur, were also caught between the two slides Sunday and came upon a vehicle that had been partially crushed by a slide. A nine-year-old boy had been injured and had blood coming out of his nose and ears, Kaur said. Firefighters who were first to the scene on Sunday were able to take the boy to care, she said.
A Conservative senator has begun a petition pushing for a review of Erin O'Toole's leadership of the party within six months — the latest rumbling of discontent over losing the recent federal election.
Representatives of 22 UCP constituencies have sent a letter to the party's executive saying they have met the required threshold required for a vote on Kenney’s performance at a special meeting before March 1.
