Indigenous issue sideshow
Re: SNC-Lavalin a sideshow to the JWR issue, Conrad Black, March 16
Finally someone with the knowledge and fortitude to shine light on the black hole swirling around the SNCLavalin, Jody Wilson-Raybould pantomime. Mr. Black is quit right in observing that this tempest is certainly immersed in a tea pot of contradictions that has left the general population reduced to reading tea leaves to try to divine the truth. Grant Morrison, Ocean Park, B.C. For all Conrad Black’s criticism of Jody Wilson-Raybould’s positions on Indigenous issues, surely he can admit that the mere fact that she ran for federal office under the Liberal banner must prove that the system can’t be all that bad if she’s willing to reform it from within. The SNC affair is about the independence of criminal prosecution from political interference, not about one woman’s beliefs about Indigenous self-governance. Bruce Heringa, Edmonton Mr. Black may be correct when he says that Ms. Wilson-Raybould was under qualified to be the AG. That argument could also be made for many other members of the Cabinet. Ms. Wilson-Raybould was not thrust on this government by an outside force. The PM appointed her. So we must assume that the PM and the Cabinet thought that she could do the job. The issue that has been absorbing the media and coffee-shop conversations is not whether or not she was qualified. It is whether or not the PM and other government officials broke the law by continually suggesting that she change her mind on the DPA. The discussions are not about whether a DPA is a good piece of legislation.
Canadians are not discussing whether or not Ms. Wilson-Raybould was a good Minister of Justice and AG in her time on the job. She may not have been. The fact that she was the first Indigenous person to hold this position does not guarantee that she performed well. The concern that Canadians have surrounds the pressure put on her for purely political gain. The jobs of Liberal government MPs were at stake.
A topic for further discussion may be the presence of Indigenous individuals in government if they are negotiating with First Nations to which they also belong. Is there a conflict of interest here? Possibly. Mr. Black should write about that and not try to use this issue as a way to let the PM off the hook. Rick Hird, Whitby Ont.