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Justin Trudeau Receives RCMP Security Detail At Edmonton Rally

Trudeau Receives RCMP Security Detail
Althia Raj/HuffPost Canada

EDMONTON — The Mounties have decided Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau needs protecting after all.

Following an incident over the weekend at his Ottawa home, where someone broke in, laid out knives in the back room with a note warning them to lock their doors, Trudeau’s office said it had asked the RMCP to do a risk assessment.

On Tuesday evening, the results of that risk assessment seemed to be on display as Trudeau addressed a crowd of a few hundred at the Louise McKinney Riverfront Park in Edmonton. For the first time, Trudeau was watched over by at least two plainclothes officers.

The Huffington Post Canada has learned the Alberta section of the VIP & Protective Security Operations division of the RCMP received a call on Tuesday morning asking them to attend the Liberals’ rally.

Several of Trudeau’s staff who were at the event expressed their thanks and relief their boss was being looked after. His spokeswomen Kate Purchase and Mylène Dupéré had pleaded with the media not to broadcast pictures of Trudeau’s home or his street address after Liberal and Conservative sources confirmed the third party leader had no security.

Mounties are now patrolling the family’s home, where his wife, Sophie, and their three children live, HuffPost has learned.

The RCMP are charged with providing security for the prime minister and his family. The Mounties are also tasked with providing foreign dignitaries, MPs and Supreme Court justices with protection, based on need.

They also provide party leaders with RCMP detail during federal election campaigns.

Trudeau told reporters earlier Tuesday that he was looking forward to hearing the RCMP’s recommendation around his security and his family’s security.

“I look forward to having conversations with them about what that would look like,” he said. “I am certainly not going to second guess the RCMP’s expertise and look forward to the results of their investigation.”

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Justin Trudeau Family Photos

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