Ottawa, ON – Raquel Dancho, Conservative Shadow Minister for Public Safety, released the following statement in response to new evidence submitted to the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC):

“From the beginning, Minister Bill Blair and RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki mislead Canadians – and they lied to a parliamentary committee.

“The newly released recording of RCMP Commissioner Lucki confirms that the Minister’s Office requested that the RCMP release sensitive information about the ongoing investigation into the worst mass killing in our history, and confirmation was given to the Minister this would occur.

“By requesting this information be released to further the Liberal political agenda, the Minister pressured the Commissioner and politically interfered in the RCMP investigation.

“This comes after the Minister and RCMP Commissioner Lucki both tried to cover up this scandal and prevent Canadians from getting to the truth about the Liberal government’s political pressuring of the RCMP to support the government’s political agenda.

“The Minister lied when he said he was not aware the Commissioner would release the sensitive information and he lied when he also said he never asked Commissioner Lucki to reveal that information. Both are now proven false based on the audio recording of the Commissioner.

“Worse yet, the Minister was advised that releasing this information would jeopardise the investigation, and he asked that it be done anyway – he put the government’s political agenda above Canadians, then he lied about it, and that is unforgivable.

“The Minister and the Commissioner lied and violated the independence of the RCMP and jeopardized the investigation into the worst mass killing in Canadian history. We do not have confidence in this Minister to hold any position in this government and he should resign immediately along with RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki.”