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 Conservative climate plan in 2019 was widely panned as lacking in both detail and ambition, something Erin O'Toole acknowledged was a weakness. He made a climate plan a priority after he took over the leadership in 2020, releasing a climate plan months ahead of the election that included a form of carbon pricing, reversing more than a decade of Conservative policy that carbon pricing was "a tax on everything."
Mary Rose Amaral says she wanted to participate in democracy by working at a Toronto voting station, despite being immunocompromised with asthma, and she expected Elections Canada to take more precautions to protect its employees.
In the leadership race, O'Toole campaigned as the "true blue" conservative, making promises like axing the Liberals' carbon price, only to introduce one of his own after winning.
A statement from the Center for Whale Research in Washington state says a 47-year-old female identified as L47 has not been seen for nearly seven months and is likely dead.
The Vancouver Park Board says a small number of coyotes are still believed to be in the park but they are not an immediate threat to the public. The park has been reopened to 24-hours a day.
Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday that parents and teachers from across the province have let it be known they need to be informed about the transmission of the virus and that a new system is expected to be in place by the end of the week.
