The House of Commons justice committee on Tuesday voted to have the name and words of the man who killed more than 50 Muslims in a double mosque shooting in New Zealand earlier this year expunged from its record.
That comes one week after Conservative MP Michael Cooper read an excerpt of the shooter’s 74-page manifesto into the record during a hearing as part of the committee’s study of online hate.
READ MORE: Liberal MP wants Cooper booted from Tory caucus over comments on online hate
In that hearing, Faisal Khan Suri, president of the Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council, pointed to reports that Brenton Tarrant, the accused Christchurch shooter, as well as Alexandre Bissonnette, convicted of killing six people in a Quebec City mosque shooting, were influenced by extremist alt-right hate online.
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Cooper told Suri he took “great umbrage” with what he perceived as an attempt “to link conservatism with violent extremist attacks.”
WATCH: Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer was forced to remove one of his MPs from a justice committee, over controversial comments made at Parliament last week.
In response, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer removed Cooper from the justice committee.
But the St. Albert MP remains in the Conservative caucus and is still the party’s deputy justice critic.
READ MORE: Witness says Conservative MP Cooper should be removed from caucus after hearing outlash
Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault moved the motion asking for the words and name of the shooter to be expunged right after the committee voted to make Lisa Raitt Conservative deputy leader and Cooper’s replacement on the committee, its first of two vice chairs.
The motion passed with Liberal and NDP support.
Conservative members abstained and did not support the motion, with Conservative MP John Brassard calling the move “nothing more than a stunt.”
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