A retired RCMP officer says he doesn’t expect major repercussions on security provided for Canadian politicians in the aftermath of a deadly shooting at former U.S. president Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Chris Mathers, now a private consultant, says he believes the security provided to the prime minister and opposition leaders is in line with the threat levels against them and adjusted accordingly.
Mathers says the United States is a very different playing field given the gun culture that exists there.
But he he says security experts will be studying what happened to see where things went wrong on Saturday and apply changes to their own procedures as needed.
Mathers adds that if someone is carrying out a lone wolf-style attack, it’s not always foreseeable for protective personnel.
Meanwhile, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he has been briefed by the RCMP and CSIS in the wake of the Trump attempt.
“They went through the threat landscape. They talked to me about the additional vigilance that they’ve put in place since the assassination attempt,” he said.
LeBlanc said the government won’t talk about specific security measures.
“But I am confident that the RCMP will do what’s necessary to protect elected leaders in Canada,” he added.
LeBlanc also said he exchanged text messages with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Sunday to assure him that measures were in place.
The minister took questions from reporters in New Brunswick on Monday morning, with the shadow of violence in the United States hanging heavy over Canada’s political scene.
The shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday left one attendee dead and two others critically injured. Officials said the gunman was killed by Secret Service personnel.
Following the shooting Trump said that he was fine. He is now in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.
Canadian politicians have condemned the act of violence and called for unity.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Sunday that Justin Trudeau spoke with the former president, reiterating there’s no place for political violence and expressing condolences for the victims.
President Joe Biden said Sunday he had ordered an independent security review of the events leading up to the attack on his political rival.
On Monday, LeBlanc acknowledged there have been threats of violence against Canadian politicians, but he wouldn’t share the specifics about how many, to whom they are directed and where they are coming from.
“It can in fact encourage other people to behave and to do things that are obviously unacceptable in a democracy,” he said.
LeBlanc said Ottawa has extended additional funding to the RCMP over the past couple of years to make sure they have “all the tools necessary and the people necessary.”
He added that ensuring politicians are safe is also important when it comes to attracting people to public life.
“If you see discussions about threats of violence, about intimidation, about attacks on social media, it’s going to be harder to get good people to come forward and offer themselves to the service of their communities.”
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