The affair has cost Trudeau two cabinet ministers and his most trusted adviser
OTTAWA — Liberals are hoping they’ll get some ammunition today to fight back against accusations of political interference in the justice system when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s former principal secretary tells his side of the SNC-Lavalin saga.
The two senior bureaucrats testified two weeks ago, but that was before Wilson-Raybould accused Wernick, clerk of the Privy Council, of issuing veiled threats that she would lose her post as justice minister and attorney general if she didn’t intervene in the SNC-Lavalin case. Wilson-Raybould was moved to the veterans affairs post in a small cabinet shuffle in mid-January — a move she believes was punishment for not acquiescing to the pressure.
Wilson-Raybould also revealed that she didn’t agree with legal advice given her by Drouin about her options after the director of public prosecutions decided last September not to invite the Montreal engineering giant to negotiate a remediation agreement. In her first appearance at committee, Drouin refused to reveal what advice she gave Wilson-Raybould, citing solicitor-client privilege.
Within a few days of today’s testimony, Trudeau is expected to weigh in with his take on the affair, giving the most comprehensive accounting of how the SNC-Lavalin matter was handled that he has given yet. His statement could come as early as tonight, but more likely Friday or early next week. He sounded a somewhat more conciliatory note at a partisan rally Monday night, a few hours after Treasury Board president Jane Philpott handed in her resignation, citing her loss of confidence in the government’s handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair. He acknowledged that concerns about the way staff and officials conducted themselves “must be taken very seriously and I can assure you that I am.
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