Article content continued

“They’re clearly related because the government was saying they were related,” Garrison told the Citizen Wednesday.

“It’s part of a pattern around C-51 where everything becomes hyper-political rather than a policy question.”

Cabinet ministers, when asked about the timing of the video’s release, said no one in the government had directed the RCMP to release the video just ahead of the C-51 hearings.

“Certainly not. Never. Absolutely not,” Justice Minister Peter MacKay told reporters. “We certainly don’t direct the RCMP.”

In the House of Commons, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said he has “full confidence in the judgment of the RCMP” and respected the “operational independence” of the force.

The Mounties made public the video months after the shootings, and just before the Commons national security committee delved into C-51, which is now in the Senate and should receive royal assent by the summer.

Zehaf-Bibeau recorded the cell phone video minutes before he killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, then stormed Parliament Hill. Paulson first talked of the video a few days after the shooting, saying he wanted to release it as soon as possible, but was dissuaded by investigators until they could be sure it wouldn’t compromise their work.

According to the documents, officials advised RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson that, should he be asked why he was releasing the video just before hearings on the legislation, he should say the decision was based on when he could answer parliamentarians’ invitation to him to come to a committee and air the video.

At the March 6 committee, Paulson released 55 seconds of the video, retaining 18 seconds for operational reasons.

jpress@ottawacitizen.com

Twitter.com/jpress