POINT, COUNTER POINT

Jody Wilson-raybould’s testimony Wednesday obliterated the defence senior Liberals had mounted against her. Here are some of the assertions she knocked down:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claim that no pressure had been placed on her to stop the prosecution of Snc-lavalin on corruption charges.

Wilson-raybould’s revelations, backed up by notes, timelines and concurrent discussions, make clear that intense, repeated pressures were exerted, even after she insisted they stop.

Trudeau’ s assertion that Wilson-raybould should have come to him with her concerns.

Wilson-raybould did exactly that at their September meeting when she pointedly asked him whether he was ordering her to comply. He insisted he wasn’t, but when the barrage continued she repeatedly demanded it stop, including to Gerald Butts, Trudeau’s principal secretary. Trudeau had informed fellow Liberals any word from Butts should be treated as coming from him.

Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick’s alarmist testimony, including his statement: “I am deeply concerned about my country right now, and its politics, and where it’s headed.”

The real rot in this scandal comes from within the government, including those senior officials who supported and implemented the prime minister’s attempt to weaken WilsonRaybould’s principled stand on behalf of the law.

Gerald Butts’s insistence that, despite his resignation, neither he nor anyone else within the Prime Minister’s Office did anything inappropriate.

The whole campaign against Wilson-raybould was self-evidently inappropriate. It was Butts who told one of her staff that “there is no solution here that does not involve some interference.” (Butts may prove fortunate to have resigned ahead of Wednesday’s justice committee meeting, saving him from prolonged exposure to months of fallout in its aftermath. He has now successfully evaded two political crises he helped launch, having similarly left the government of Ontario premier Dalton Mcguinty before the stuff hit the fan.)

Liberal assertions that they were merely concerned about the jobs involved should SNCLavalin leave Montreal.

While jobs were indeed involved, the concern repeatedly raised by top Liberals was over the approach of an election in Quebec, and the potential political damage. The Liberals’ determination to rescue Snc-lavalin contrasted starkly with their failure to mount any similar attempt on behalf of Alberta’s beleaguered, and much bigger, oil and gas industry. The political reality is that there are few Liberal votes in the West, while Quebec is key to the government’s re-election hopes.

Trudeau’s statement that Wilson-raybould wasn’t shuffled out of her jobs as justice minister and attorney-general over the Lavalin affair.

Then why was she moved? WilsonRaybould made clear she believes the decision resulted from her refusal to compromise. Trudeau and Butts deny it, but offer no other explanation.