House Committee Votes to Re-Question RCMP Commissioner, Former Minister Over Political Interference Allegations

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki is seen during a news conference in Ottawa on April 20, 2020. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

The House of Commons public safety committee voted 6–5 Monday to re-question both RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and former Public Safety Minister Bill Blair over allegations of political interference in the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting investigation.

The allegations resurfaced last week after the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) made public a phone-call recording of Lucki telling RCMP staff that Blair had requested for investigation details regarding which guns were used in the mass shooting to be publicly released.

“It’s very clear based on the audio recording and what was said in committee that someone is not telling the truth, and that would be either the head of our RCMP or the former minister of public safety,” said Conservative MP and public safety critic Raquel Dancho during a public safety committee meeting on Oct. 24.

“I would be pretty shocked if the minister was not willing to make time in his schedule to come defend himself,” she added. “The same for the RCMP.”

The phone call, which took place on April 28, 2020, about 10 days after a gunman shot and killed 22 people in the area of Portapique, Nova Scotia, Lucki told staff she had to “apologize” to both Blair and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau because the gun details were not included in a same-day press conference and news release.

At the same time, the federal government had pending gun-restriction legislation. On May 1, 2020, the government announced a ban on 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms.

‘Powerful People’

Both Lucki and Blair have previously denied allegations of interference in the mass shootings investigation in past appearances before the public safety committee.

“At no time did I ask Commissioner Lucki to reveal that information. At no time did I direct her in any way on communications,” Blair told Dancho during a committee meeting on July 25.

During the same meeting, Lucki said, “I was not interfered with, I was not directed, and I did not cross any line.”

Several Liberal MPs during Monday’s public safety committee meeting voiced opposition to re-questioning Blair and Lucki, with MP Pam Damoff saying the newly released phone-call recordings change “nothing.”

“I would think a written explanation from the [RCMP] commissioner would suffice,” Damoff said.

Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed said re-questioning Lucki and Blair is simply a case of “political opportunism.”

“It is ultimately, I don’t think, in the interest of the country to waste time by bringing in the commissioner of the RCMP to rehash exactly what we already know,” he said.

On Oct. 21, the Conservatives called for both Lucki and Blair to resign from their respective positions, following the release of the phone-call recordings.

On Monday, Dancho said both Lucki and Blair appear to have “misled” the committee in July.

“These are powerful people,” she said, adding, “They need to be held accountable by this committee on behalf of Canadians.”

“The idea that the minister of public safety at the time saw the death of 22 people, including a pregnant woman, as an opportunity to get his legislation passed is disgusting.”