Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale has revealed that would-be suicide bomber Aaron Driver had planned to attack Toronto’s Union Station in the summer of 2016.

On Friday, during the formal appointment of Brenda Lucki as the RCMP commissioner in Ottawa, Goodale paid tribute to Mounties who have played key roles in thwarting terrorist attacks.

While urging attendees to think of what RCMP members mean to Canada, Goodale said: “Think of the officers who stopped Aaron Driver before he could attack Union Station in Toronto.”

This was the first time the federal government confirmed that the busy downtown commuter hub of Union Station had been Driver’s target.

At the time of the threatened attack, Toronto transit officials would only say they were informed of a “credible threat” but did not have specific details of the target.

Driver, 24, died during an encounter with RCMP in Strathroy, Ont., on Aug. 10, 2016. Hours before his death, he donned a mask and made a martyrdom video suggesting he was planning to detonate a homemade bomb in a Canadian urban centre during the morning or afternoon rush hour.

In the video, he railed against western "enemies of Islam" and warned that the only solution would be the "spilling of your blood."

The FBI in the U.S. tipped off Canadian authorities about the video, and RCMP officers tracked Driver down in Strathroy, Ont., about two-and-a-half hours away from Toronto.

Driver attempted to escape Mounties by jumping into a cab and detonating an improvised explosive device. When the device only partially detonated and Driver attempted to activate the bomb a second time, officers surrounded the cab and fatally shot him.