Conservative leader Andrew Scheer is calling up Justin Trudeau to resign following an explosive testimony by former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould on tactics used by ministers and senior officials to deter her from prosecute SNC-Lavalin on corruption charges.
He also urged the RCMP to immediately open an investigation into what he called numerous examples of ‘obstruction of justice’ that Wilson-Raybould detailed in her testimony.
In a bombshell testimony to the House of Commons Justice Committee, Wilson-Raybould said she was pressurised by top officials and warned directly by Trudeau to fall in line on letting SNC-Lavalin lightly.
Scheer issued the following statement:
“The testimony Canadians have just heard from the former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould tells the story of a Prime Minister who has lost the moral authority to govern. A Prime Minister who allows his partisan political motivations to overrule his duty to uphold the rule of law. A Prime Minister who doesn’t know where the Liberal Party ends and where the Government of Canada begins. And a Prime Minister who has allowed a systemic culture of corruption to take root in his office and those of his most senior cabinet and public service colleagues.
“I listened carefully to the testimony of the former Attorney General, and like Canadians, I was sickened and appalled by her story of inappropriate, and frankly illegal pressure brought to bear on her by the highest officials of Justin Trudeau’s government. All to let a Liberal-connected corporation off the hook on corruption charges.
“Before Ms. Wilson-Raybould’s testimony, Canadians knew Justin Trudeau had engineered an unwanted, sustained, and co-ordinated attempt to get Ms. Wilson-Raybould to change her mind and stop the criminal trial of SNC-Lavalin. Today, thanks to Ms. Wilson-Raybould’s testimony, we now know just how intense those efforts were: ten meetings and ten phone calls involving eleven senior government officials relentlessly targeting Ms. Wilson-Raybould over a four month period – with the sole objective of bullying her into bending the law to benefit a well-connected corporation.
“The details are as shocking as they are corrupt: multiple veiled threats to her job if she didn’t bow to their demands. Urgings to consider the consequences on election results and shareholder value above judicial due process. And reminders from Justin Trudeau to his Attorney General about his own electoral prospects should she allow SNC-Lavalin’s trial to proceed.
“As Ms. Wilson-Raybould has so clearly articulated, the people Canadians entrusted to protect the integrity of our very nation were instead only protecting themselves and their friends.
“Mr. Trudeau can no longer, in good standing and with a clear conscience, lead this great nation.
“Canada should be a country where we are all equal under the law. Where nobody – regardless of wealth, status, or political connections – is above the law. I believe we can be that country again.
Patricia Marini says
This young lady is a day late and a dollar short! Why now? Why not when she had the authority? She held the highest position in the land as Attorney General! She should have been talking to the head of the Privy Council! To LATE to call foul now!
Peter Legere says
Really, Gagendeep! Is this your idea of balanced news coverage? OK, here’s what I think. SNC Lavalin bribed officials in Lybia to get a contract. While this is standard practice in much of the world, we “holier than thou” Canadians have a law against it, but we also have a sort of plea bargaining protocol to mitigate the effect on Canadian companies using the practice. The Quebec prosecutor refused, for some reason, to allow the protocol. This put the Attorney-General in a bad position. She couldn’t dictate to her independent prosecutor.
I am disappointed that the PMO so stridently pressured her, but I can understand it. Our system is hoist by it’s own petard. It should be more pragmatic in the rules it makes for Canadian companies dealing with corrupt regimes.