Category: Saint John

There was more testimony yesterday at the labour code trial of the RCMP about a reluctance by top management of the force to issued carbine rifles to front line Mounties.

Superintendant Troy Lightfoot testified Mounties felt outgunned after shootings like the one in Alberta in 2005 in which four officers were killed. He testified that he told his superiors he was concerned about the lack of firepower in cruisers long before the 2014 Moncton rampage. But he said top brass were concerned about public backlash after the Tasering death of a man at the Vancouver airport in 2007…so the rollout of the carbines was slowed.

Premier Brian Gallant says an independent report on the property tax scandal will be made public once it’s ready. Until now it was unclear if the report by a retired judge would be made public.

Gallant told Brunswick News it will be released without modification. He’s looking forward to the report due to be finished in August so they can fix the problems once and for all.

Conservative leader Blaine Higgs, however, says the review isn’t truly independent because it will be delivered to cabinet, not the legislature.

Green Party leader David Coon had questions about why the retired judge hasn’t been given the power to subpoena witnesses and documents.