Tories Call for Investigation Into Alleged Political Interference in Nova Scotia Mass Shooting Probe

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki appears at a House of Commons committee in Ottawa on May 7, 2018. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

The Conservative Party is calling for an investigation into allegations the Liberal government interfered with the probe into the mass shooting incident in Nova Scotia to further its gun control agenda.

“Will the government commit today to a full, open, and transparent investigation to get to the bottom of this?” asked interim party leader Candice Bergen during question period on June 22.

Bergen said her party believes RCMP Superintendent Darren Campbell, whose notes released this week said RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki had pressured him to reveal the types of firearms used in the shooting.

At the time, the Liberals were about to announce the banning of hundreds of types of firearms, which they refer to as “assault-style” weapons.

Bergen added her party also believes “that it is possible the commissioner was pressured by the PMO [Prime Minister’s Office] and the public safety minister’s office. These Liberals have a pattern of interfering in investigations to advance their political agenda, just as we saw in SNC-Lavalin.”

In response to Bergen, Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair, who was the minister of public safety at the time of the shooting, denied any interference at the government’s behest.

“The independence of law enforcement operations is a key principle of our democracy and it is one that our government deeply respects and one that I have always defended. At no point did our government pressure or interfere with the operational decisions of the RCMP,” he said.

Blair pointed to Lucki’s statement on the allegations released on June 21, which he said was the “truth.”

“I would never take actions or decisions that could jeopardize an investigation. I did not interfere in the ongoing investigations into the largest mass shooting in Canadian history,” Lucki wrote.

The controversy started earlier this week when the Mass Casualty Commission, which is looking into the April 2020 shooting in Nova Scotia that took the life of 22 people, published the document “Public Communications from the RCMP and Governments after the Mass Casualty.”

It contains the notes of Supt. Campbell, which detailed his concerns that releasing information on the types of firearms used in the event could “jeopardize” the investigation being carried out by the RCMP and U.S. law enforcement.

Campbell wrote that Lucki had “promised” the minister of public safety and the PMO that the RCMP would release that information.

When Campbell sought to defend his decision not to release the information, Lucki allegedly said that Nova Scotia RCMP “didn’t understand, that this was tied to pending gun control legislation that would make officers and public safer by or through this legislation.”

Conservatives requested an emergency meeting of the public safety committee today to address the issue, where committee members will debate who will be invited to testify.