Minister Blair Says He Is Unaware if His Chief of Staff Asked RCMP About NS Tragedy Gun Details

President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair speaks with reporters as he arrives for a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 22, 2022. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press)

Federal cabinet minister Bill Blair says he is unaware of whether his chief of staff asked RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki if details about the guns used in the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shootings would be made public.

Blair, now the minister of emergency preparedness, appeared before the House of Commons public safety committee on Oct. 31 to address allegations that he politically interfered in the RCMP’s investigation of the mass shootings near the village of Portapique, Nova Scotia, where a gunman killed 22 people on April 18 and 19, 2020.

Blair, who was then public safety minister, denied accusations that either he or his staff pressured Lucki into releasing details about what weapons the shooter used. However, he said he was unsure if his chief of staff asked Lucki whether she planned on releasing the information at a press conference on April 28, 2020.

“So you’re not denying that your chief of staff asked her this?” questioned Conservative public safety critic Raquel Dancho during the committee meeting.

“Frankly, I don’t know,” Blair replied. “You’re talking about a conversation [to which] I was not party.”

Testifying after Blair, Lucki confirmed that his chief of staff had asked her if the information would be released.

“[It was] just simply a question if, in fact, the information of that press conference would include information about the weapons,” Lucki said.

“So [Blair’s chief of staff] asks you whether it would be, is what you’re saying?” asked Dancho.

“If it would be, yes,” said Lucki.

In recordings of an Oct. 28, 2020, phone call between Lucki and her communications staff, Lucki said she had received a “request” from Blair’s office to make the gun details public in a news release.

However, Blair denied his chief of staff ever coerced Lucki to do so.

“I do not believe that my chief of staff asked the commissioner to release that information,” he said.

The recordings were made public by the Mass Casualty Commission, the joint federal-provincial body established to inquire into the incident and make findings on what gave rise to it and on the police response and steps taken to support those affected.

“There has been a great deal of speculation, conjecture, innuendo, and even fabrication,” Blair later added, referring to the political interference allegations.

“That’s why I’ve worked so hard in the House and before this committee to simply provide the truth.”

‘Provide Context’

At the time of the shootings, the Liberal government had pending gun-restriction legislation. Less than two weeks later, the government announced a ban on 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms.

During the Oct. 31 committee meeting, Dancho asked Blair if his chief of staff “acted solely on her own” in asking the RCMP if the weapons details would be released.

“My understanding subsequently is that the commissioner had indicated to both my chief of staff and the deputy minister that she'd made a decision to release that information,” Blair replied.

Lucki later said she “didn’t deal a lot directly with the minister” during the investigation.

“More so, I was dealing with various people in his staff,” Lucki said. “There was a lot of back and forth.”

“It was crazy times. There was a lot of phone calls, a lot of different talks.”

In the recorded April 28 phone call, Lucki told her staff that the federal government was “in the middle of trying to get a legislation going,” which she said was “supposed to actually help police.”

“The very little information I asked to be put in speaking notes at around 11:30 this morning … could not be accommodated,” she said during the call, referring to the weapons information. “Does anybody wonder why I feel frustrated?”

Lucki told the public safety committee that her reference to legislation on the phone call was simply to “provide context” for her staff.

“I was not suggesting that the weapons information was needed to inform or support the pending [gun-control] legislation,” she said.

“The desire to keep the public informed was part of the reason why I wanted the information released.”