Quebec City Tragedy Hits Home For MP

A Laval University student has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder after the mosque shootings in Quebec City.

27 year old Alexandre Bissonnette was in court Monday.

North Okanagan Shuswap Conservative MP Mel Arnold says the three main party leaders commented on the tragedy in the House of Commons.

“It was a combination of sorrow for the victims. There was questions of how do we deal with this moving forward, how do we prevent it?”

Arnold says the killing hit close to home for him.

“I was shocked. We just came back from the beautiful city of Quebec and left with a beautiful image of that city, and then when we got home and saw the news, it was a real shock,” Arnold told Kiss FM

Arnold says despite the Prime Minister calling it an act of terror, he feels we should wait until more facts are known before declaring that.

“I don’t know if we can declare it that. (It may be) religious based or internal based. Let’s wait until we hear the facts.”

Canada has also seen protests over the US ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Arnold says it’s too soon to say if President Trump went too far with that.

“It does seem extreme. We’re a little surprised by it. Obviously their administration has some reasoning to support this. We haven’t seen all of that so I don’t want to judge if it’s too strong or not,” adds Arnold.

Arnold says Canada should support refugees denied access by the US, as long as they are safely vetted.

Photo: Mosque shooting suspect Alexandre Bissonnette