Public Safety Committee on July 25th, 2022

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Thank you, sir. Those facts are well known. I really appreciate that.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

On a point of order, Chair, can we allow the minister to answer the question asked of him?

[The Chair, Liberal, Jim Carr]

Yes. I think we have to have a little smoother flow here.

Minister, you have the floor.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Thank you.

We worked very carefully to ensure that when we established initially what was to be a review, but we heard very clearly from the families that they were very concerned about the ability of the commission of inquiry to subpoena witnesses, in response to that we did declare a public inquiry to give them those tools. But from the very beginning, in the immediate days following, it was very clear to us....

I'll happily provide the committee with the proposed terms of reference that were developed on April 27, 2020, only a week after this terrible tragic event, recognizing that the people of Nova Scotia, the people of your community, needed answers. We wanted to make sure they got those answers as quickly as possible.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Thank you, sir. It's obvious that we see the choices made politically somewhat differently. I would suggest to you, sir, that the members of the families who are affected, the grieving families of people like Lisa McCully and Greg and Jamie Blair and Kristen Beaton and Heather O'Brien, see this very, very differently from what you do, sir.

One of the other things that I think is important is that quite clearly, with the back-and-forth we've had now with our NDP member, our Bloc member and our team here as well, sir, someone is not telling the truth here. That's the unusual thing. There's a conflicting level of evidence that my Bloc colleague clearly pointed out. There's a contrary nature to what was said through the notes of Mr. Campbell, who you said is also an exemplary officer.

That being said, sir, who from the PMO was your staff communicating with in the days following the attacks?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Sorry. Who...?

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Who from the PMO was your staff, or you, communicating with during the days after the attack?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

I don't know. I can tell you that there were regular briefings taking place between the RCMP, and I was also briefing my cabinet colleagues on the events—

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Did you speak directly to the Prime Minister, sir?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Again, I was briefing the entire cabinet on the events—

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Did you speak directly to the Prime Minister, sir? I think it's a pretty simple question.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

And I've just said that I was speaking to the entire cabinet on that matter.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Did you speak directly to the Prime Minister, sir? Please answer a simple yes or no.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

The Prime Minister is president in the cabinet. He's the head of our government.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Did you have a direct conversation with him, sir?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Not a separate conversation on these events; it was in the context of a cabinet discussion.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Very good, sir.

Mr. Stewart, do you remember any meetings with the Prime Minister that you, the chief of staff or the minister may have had?

[Rob Stewart]

I did not attend any meetings with the Prime Minister, and I'm not sure.... I'd have to check my schedule. As Ms. Dancho has asked, we will give you the schedules.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Sir, obviously you were present at multiple briefings during all of this. Someone's not telling the truth again, sir. Do you have an opinion on that?

[Rob Stewart]

You're asking me?

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Yes, sir.

[The Chair, Liberal, Jim Carr]

You have 10 seconds, please.

[Rob Stewart]

I don't believe that to be the case.

I'm sorry, I think this answer will take more than 10 seconds.

There was a great deal of desire to have the RCMP tell the public what happened, because in the days following the tragic event the story was very unclear. There was a great deal of desire for that to be the case, and that—in the commissioner's mind, I believe—included the guns.

[The Chair, Liberal, Jim Carr]

Thank you very much.

I would now call upon Mr. Hardie to take his five-minute slot.

Whenever you're ready, Mr. Hardie, the floor is yours.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's almost impossible to get your mind around what happened in Nova Scotia and the impact on the families and on the force.

I spent a short time as the director of communication for the Vancouver police department, and I know full well that the police quite often have seconds—milliseconds—to make a decision, and everybody else has the rest of time to second-guess what they decided to do.

In your case, Minister Blair, you had a mandate letter from December 13, 2019, directing you to implement the government's firearms policy. First on the list was to deal with military-style assault weapons. Does this item in your mandate reflect the will of Canadians, do you think, as expressed in the 2019 election?