Former Mountie tasked with protecting Trudeau may have leaked PM's schedule: police report

A former member of Justin Trudeau's security team may have leaked the prime minister's schedule, according to an intelligence document tabled before the inquiry investigating the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act last winter.

An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) "person of interest" profile citing the RCMP says a former RCMP officer is "believed to have leaked the prime minister's schedule a few months ago." The document is dated January 30, 2022.

The document said the individual — whose name is redacted — resigned from the RCMP in 2021 in response to the federal government's vaccine mandate for Mounties. The mandate went into effect on October 6, 2021.

The document — again citing the RCMP — said that the individual was also a sniper and intelligence officer. The document did not indicate who received the leaked information.

"[Redacted] has been very vocal on social media in his belief that the vaccine mandates are in violation of the Canadian Constitution," the document says.

The Public Order Emergency Commission inquiry is holding hearings in Ottawa to investigate the federal government's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to end an anti-vaccine mandate protest that gridlocked downtown Ottawa for weeks last winter.

The profile says the former RCMP officer is involved with the group "Mounties For Freedom," made up of current and former Mounties who oppose COVID-19 public health measures.

While the individual isn't named, their redacted photo is sourced from a YouTube interview with Daniel Bulford, a former RCMP officer whose professional background and post-RCMP activities align with the profile.

In that interview, posted November 9, 2021, Bulford told former philosophy professor Julie Ponesse that he had become disillusioned with protective policing — and that Trudeau's politics contributed to his disillusionment.

"I'll admit that I think it made a difference who was in office. I think it did," Bulford said in the video.

"Not that I don't care about his safety. It's just that I knew that my heart wasn't really in it anymore and I was lying to myself if I stayed in that role."

Bulford said he'd been on leave since around the time the mandate came into effect but added that he was still technically employed by the RCMP.

The person of interest profile says the RCMP officer who leaked the PM's schedule was the "self-proclaimed 'lead' in the command post for Freedom Convoy 2022."

Bulford hasn't responded to a request for comment from CBC News. He told the Globe and Mail last week that he's never revealed sensitive information or tradecraft that would be protected under the Security of Information Act.