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 central bank hiked its policy interest rate by half a percentage point to one per cent on Wednesday. Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem said inflation is too high and is expected to stay elevated for longer than the bank previously thought.
A statement from police says it happened just after 5 p.m. Tuesday on Marine Way in southeast Vancouver. They say the victim was alone in a sedan when the tree toppled across all three westbound lanes, crushing the vehicle's passenger compartment.
Police say they were called Monday evening to a report that a woman had fallen overboard and a vessel from the Nanaimo Port Authority found her clinging to a rope tied to an anchored sailboat. But police say the man, who is believed to be the woman's 59-year-old partner, has not been seen.
The man arrested is 39 years old Richard Jonathan Edwin, who was also charged with another homicide last Saturday. He is described as a Black male who is about 5'6 to 5'7 feet tall with a medium build.
The head of the Canadian Labour Congress expressed worries on Tuesday that labour groups could be left out of talks over a federal pledge to let workers access skills training programs before they become unemployed.
The data from the Canadian Housing Statistics Program, which includes both residential and recreational holdings, reveals multiple-property ownership accounted for 41 per cent of Nova Scotia's housing stock, 39 per cent of New Brunswick's, 31 per cent of Ontario's and 29 per cent of British Columbia's.
