Alberta justice minister calls for RCMP commissioner to be removed

Alberta’s justice minister is calling for RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki to be removed, believing she hasn’t taken accountability in recent police matters.

Tyler Shandro said in a statement Wednesday that Lucki risked the integrity of the investigation into the April 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia that killed 22 people.

The federal conservative party called for Lucki to resign last month after audio was released of a conference call between Lucki and senior staff in Nova Scotia. In the call, she said she felt frustrated when she learned the speaking notes used for an RCMP news conference earlier that day did not include basic information about the killer’s weapons rampage.

She can be heard saying 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.

The Conservatives seized on these comments to suggest the Liberal government was interfering in the police investigation to further its pending gun control legislation.

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Shandro also took issue with Lucki’s actions leading up to the federal government invoking emergency powers during the Freedom Convoy protests and blockades in early 2022.

“As revealed last week, she failed to inform the federal cabinet of all law enforcement options available prior to the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act,” said Shandro.

On Feb. 14, the day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the never-before-used emergency powers, Lucki did inform Mendicino of law enforcement options.

Lucki had emailed Mendicino’s chief of staff a few hours before the…