Canadian security uses ‘heightened vigilance’ after shooting at Trump rally: LeBlanc

Canada’s security apparatus is “exerting increased vigilance” following this weekend’s fatal shooting at former US President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania, the federal public safety minister said Sunday.

Dominic LeBlanc published a series of posts on social media platform X, saying he had been briefed by officials from Public Safety Canada, the RCMP commissioner and the director of CSIS, adding that these organizations were in contact with their American partners.

“I have every confidence that they will continue to keep Canadians safe,” Leblanc wrote.

Pennsylvania’s governor said one rally attendee, Corey Comperatore, was killed while shielding his family from bullets, while two others were seriously wounded.

The gunman, later identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, PA, also died. US law enforcement officials said the shooting was being investigated as a possible assassination attempt.

“The information we have to date does not show any connection to Canada,” LeBlanc added. “However, our security agencies and law enforcement organizations stand ready to assist our US counterparts in any way possible.”

A retired RCMP officer said Sunday he doesn’t expect any major repercussions for security for Canadian politicians after the shooting.

Chris Mathers, now a private consultant, said he believed the security provided to the Prime Minister and opposition leaders was commensurate with the threat levels against them and adjusted accordingly.

“I don’t think there will be any real repercussions in the end, security is always heightened after an incident, that’s just human nature,” Mathers said in an interview.

Mathers said security experts will study what happened to see where things went wrong Saturday and apply changes to their own procedures as needed. In a Sunday address to the American public, President Joe Biden also ordered an independent security review of the events leading up to the attack on his political rival.

But in this case, Mathers said, it’s clear people shouldn’t be on the roof next to a VIP, as Crooks would have been.

“So there’s not a lot to learn from that except, you know, maybe you should make sure people are doing their jobs,” he said.

None of the main opposition parties or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office wanted to comment beyond their initial statements of condemnation of the US shooting when contacted by security on Sunday.

But the leaders of all three major federal parties unequivocally denounced the shooting in the immediate aftermath, and LeBlanc echoed those sentiments Sunday.

“Violence is corrosive to democracy – and we will always be against it. Regardless of our political disagreements, violence is never the answer,” he wrote.

“Such actions are an attack on all of us.”

Canada’s politicians have not been immune to escalating threats in recent years, with increased security for some members of parliament, including several cabinet ministers.

In a high-profile case, a gunman shot and killed a lighting technician on September 4, 2012, while the Parti Québécois and former leader Pauline Marois were celebrating victory in the provincial election.

While the prime minister and governor general are given permanent protective details, other parliamentarians, cabinet ministers, senators and party leaders receive protection on a “case-by-case basis,” the RCMP told The Canadian Press earlier this year .

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme said in May that he would like to see a new law that would make it easier for the Crown to charge people who threaten elected officials.

Canada’s premiers also denounced Saturday’s shooting. They are gathering in Halifax this week for a Federation Council meeting.

“In a democracy, it’s important — it’s a requirement — it’s an ingredient, an essential ingredient to have differences of opinion and robust debate,” Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey said Sunday at an unrelated news conference.

“But there is no place and (there) can never be a place for violence.”

Mathers said the United States is a different political beast than Canada, given the prolific number of guns among the general public.

“It’s a completely different playing field in the United States is the gun culture, Canada is not so much,” Mathers said. “You know, people have access to guns everywhere in the United States.”

Mathers added that lone wolf attacks are not always predictable to security details, unless the perpetrators publish material online and are reported to authorities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 14, 2024.

— With files from The Associated Press and Lyndsay Armstrong in Halifax.

Sidhartha Banerjee, Canadian Press