Bomb Damages Historic Canada Legislature

A bomb explosion rocked the historic legislature building in this tiny Canadian province on Thursday, injuring one man and raising fears of copycat attacks after the Oklahoma City blast.

“It was a pipe bomb placed under the wheelchair ramp leading up to the legislature building,” a police spokeswoman said.

A man sitting nearby when the bomb exploded was taken to hospital with cuts on his lower legs.

Police said they had no suspects in the incident, nor was there any warning before the blast outside the building where Canadian confederation was negotiated in 1864.

“You have a pretty shocked populace here right now. Obviously, everybody is thinking that this may be a copycat thing after the Oklahoma City bombing,” Charlottetown Mayor Ian MacDonald said.

Prince Edward Island, which has a population of about 150,000, is known as the setting for Anne Montgomery’s classic novel “Anne of Green Gables” and attracts hordes of tourists.

Witnesses who were inside the legislature of Canada’s smallest province said the noise of the explosion was deafening.

The legislature was in session at the time of the blast, which hurled glass and debris for at least three blocks from Province House, a sandstone landmark on the island between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The force of the explosion blew glass, dust and bits of wood into the chamber, forcing lawmakers to duck under their desks. Some legislators believed that someone was shooting at the building.

The last bomb blast in Charlottetown occurred at the city’s courthouse seven years ago. No one was injured in that explosion.