Trouble grows for Trudeau

Canada’s former attorney general made public a conversation that she secretly recorded with Canada’s top civil servant, which she took as a veiled threat that she would lose her job if she didn’t intervene to avoid criminal prosecution of a Canadian company.

Background

Justin Trudeau s a Canadian politician serving as the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada since 2015 and Leader of the Liberal Party since 2013. Trudeau is the second-youngest Canadian Prime Minister after Joe Clark; he is also the first to be related to a previous holder of the post, as the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau.

The SNC-Lavalin scandal is an ongoing political scandal in Canada involving alleged political interference and obstruction of justice by personnel in the Prime Minister's Office. The allegations centre around purported pressure put on Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canada's Minister of Justice and Attorney General at the time, to intervene in an ongoing criminal prosecution case against Quebec construction giant SNC-Lavalin.

Jody Wilson-Raybould is a Canadian politician and the Liberal Member of Parliament for the British Columbia riding of Vancouver Granville. She served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada in the cabinet of Justin Trudeau from 2015 until January 2019 and then as Minister of Veterans Affairs of Canada from January 14, 2019, until resigning on February 12, 2019.

Analysis

The recording shows Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s aide Michael Wernick telling Jody Wilson-Raybould, who was then the attorney general and justice minister, that Trudeau “is determined, quite firm,” in finding a way to avoid a prosecution that could put 9,000 jobs at risk. It also shows Wilson-Raybould saying she regards the pressure as “inappropriate.”

The furore over the case has threatened Trudeau’s chances in the fall election and led to the resignation of two Cabinet ministers as well as Trudeau’s top aide, Gerry Butts, and the early retirement of Wernick.

In the tape released via a Parliament justice committee, Wernick is heard saying it is not good for Wilson-Raybould to be at “loggerheads” with the prime minister, who was urging a legal option known as deferred prosecution under which the company would pay a fine but avoid a possible criminal conviction.

“I think he is going to find a way to get it done one way or another. He’s in that kind of mood. I wanted you to be aware of that,” Wernick is heard saying. He also says Trudeau feels the government has to do everything it can to save 9,000 jobs at a signature Canadian firm. A conviction would bar the company from government contracts. Wilson-Raybould is heard saying the conversation is “entirely inappropriate and it is political interference.” Wernick is heard saying Trudeau is thinking about bringing in a former chief justice to consult with her on the issue. He also says it is not interference.

Wilson-Raybould was demoted from her role as attorney general and justice minister in January as part of a Cabinet shuffle by Trudeau. She has testified that she believes she lost the justice job because she did not give in to “sustained” pressure to instruct the director of public prosecutions to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin.

Wilson-Raybould said in a written submission that she took the “extraordinary and otherwise inappropriate step” of secretly recording a phone call with the country’s top public servant in December because she feared the conversation would cross ethical lines and she wanted an exact account. “This is something that I have never done before this phone call and have not done since,” she wrote.

Trudeau, who discussed the matter with Wilson-Raybould on Sept. 17, said: “I stressed the importance of protecting Canadian jobs and reiterated that this issue was one of significant national importance.” The crisis has prompted the resignations of Wilson-Raybould, Treasury Board President Jane Philpott and Trudeau’s closest political aide, Gerald Butts.

Assessment

Our assessment is that PM Trudeau’s credibility stands to be damaged beyond repair if Wilson-Raybould’s statements are investigated by the courts as grounds for mismanagement of authority. We believe that it is morally unacceptable for a PM to accept commercial favours from a company in exchange for immunity from the law.