By Canadian Press

Blair insists he ‘did not ask’ RCMP to release information about N.S. shooting guns

Oct 31, 2022 | 1:48 PM

OTTAWA — Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair isn’t budging from his stance that he did not interfere in a police investigation into the Nova Scotia mass shooting of April 2020.

Blair, who was public safety minister at the time, is telling a House of Commons committee today he has never directed police to release information pertaining to an investigation, nor did he in this case.

The Opposition Conservatives have called for the resignation of Blair and RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki following the release of recordings of a tense conference call between Lucki and senior staff in Nova Scotia.

During that April 28, 2020, meeting, Lucki said she understood the police force couldn’t release certain details about the investigation into how a gunman killed 22 people during a 13-hour rampage.

However, she told officers in Halifax she was frustrated upon learning the speaking notes used for an RCMP news conference earlier that day did not include basic information about the killer’s firearms.

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She says during the call that her desire to publicly share these basic facts was in response to a request she received from a minister’s office, though she did not specify which minister or the exact nature of the request.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2022.

The Canadian Press