Her testimony is the most extraordinary and compelling given at a Commons committee in a long time. It does not create a pretty picture of business as usual
My prior expectations for Wednesday’s House of Commons justice committee drama, starring ousted justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, were low. Much of the matter for discussion that has filled the newspapers and airwaves since the controversy came to public notice has, I think, consisted of red herrings.
It was not clear to me, anyway, that Wilson-Raybould would have anything besides colour to add to the basic sequence of known events. She received copious amounts of “advice” or “pressure,” depending on what word you find convenient, concerning the alleged effects of refusing to make a deferred-prosecution agreement with SNC-Lavalin over criminal corruption and fraud charges.
Well. Now we know. Wilson-Raybould’s testimony has added colour to the detail already outlined before the committee by Michael Wernick, the Clerk of the Privy Council. And that colour bears a strong resemblance to the blood of several Prime Minister’s Office staffers, plus arguably Wernick and others. Wilson-Raybould’s account describes “concerted and sustained” politically motivated interference with the SNC prosecution.
There was a pause in the PMO pressure after a Sept. 20 SNC board meeting blew over, but a month later the PM’s Quebec advisor Mathieu Bouchard was griping to her: “We can have the best policy in the world but we need to get re-elected.” The PMO started to pelt her with suggestions that some “independent” legal personage, perhaps a retired Supreme Court justice, could be brought in to give her convenient, fresh advice about overturning the prosecution service’s decision.
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