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 Trudeau government is promising to resettle 20,000 refugees who have already fled Afghanistan even as months of frustration turn to outright fear over the fate of hundreds of former interpreters and their families still stuck in the country.
82.4% (3,818,952) of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 72.0% (3,337,348) received their second dose.
“This was a large scale marijuana grow-op,” he says. “The 7,400 plants that were seized were in various stages of growth. Officers secured about 100 pounds of dried marijuana that was being packaged for further distribution.”
Along the Granville Entertainment District, officers report a 607 per cent increase in liquor pour outs since June 1, compared to the same period last year, and an 84 per cent increase since 2019.
An extreme heat alert has been issued by health authorities in Metro Vancouver as temperatures, coupled with humidity, are expected to reach the high 30s today, with little relief expected before late Sunday.
Canada is among those preparing to leave, with revelations late Thursday that the government is deploying special forces troops to help evacuate the embassy in Kabul.
