Police in Quebec City are investigating the incidents. Law enforcement is saying it is not clear at this time what the white powder may be, but all precautions are in place. All the envelopes were delivered to different offices of members of Canada’s conservative government on Thursday.
It was confirmed by Louis Longchamps, communications director for International Aid Minister Christian Paradis, that Paradis Thetford Mines office received one of the envelopes, and a staffer who had opened the envelope has been taken to the hospital as a precaution. Paradis was not in the office which has now been closed due to the investigation.
Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel’s office staff in Roberval, about 250 kilometers north of Quebec City was also evacuated Thursday morning after one of the staff opened an envelope and found white powder. Two employees at this office have also been sent to the hospital as a precaution. Lebel was at an event in Drummondville when he received word of the incident. He is returning to his office.
Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney’s office also received an envelope with the white powder. An office staffer placed it into a plastic bag, sealed it and handed it over to police. Blaney is the one who has taken the lead on the government’s anti-terror omnibus bill C-51. Committee study is set to begin on Friday with a public screening of a cell phone video made on October 22, 2014 by the Parliament Hill attacker Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.
Small business and tourism minister Maxime Bernier, also had an envelope delivered to the minister’s office in St-Georges. As was the case in the other offices, Bernier was not present, but the envelope was placed inside a sealed plastic bag and turned over to police. No staff members were affected. Presently, federal officials are not linking the envelopes to the false bomb threat that was called into Quebec’s national assembly Thursday morning.