Trudeau concedes only to ‘erosion of trust’

A HINT OF HUMILITY, BUT PRIME MINISTER REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE

Justin Trudeau offered up a mea culpa over the SNC Lavalin affair that was more mea than culpa. The prime minister visited the National Press Theatre early Thursday before leaving for Iqaluit, where he was to apologize to northern Inuit residents for the federal government’s behaviour during the tuberculosis epidemics of the 1940s and ’50s, when many were separated from their families.

But a snow storm diverted his plane to Happy Valley-goose Bay, N.L., and the ceremony was cancelled. If it ever comes off, it will be an opportunity for more images of the kind in which Tru-

deau and his spin doctors have specialized over the past three years — a chance to highlight his compassion, empathy and sensitivity, while apologizing for historic wrongs that he personally had nothing to do with.

Yet when it comes to accounting for his own mistakes, he is less demonstrative. His advisers had previously suggested his appearance to answer questions on SNC would involve a display of contrition — perhaps conjuring up the image of life in Stornoway, the residence of the leader of the Official Opposition, to coax a tear.

But when he was asked directly whether he was apologizing for anything, he doubled down on his talking point that the government was merely protecting jobs while respecting the integrity of the rule of law. “I continue to say there was no inappropriate pressure,” he said.

He had just made a statement in which he had hinted at humility — that he asked his staff to follow up with Jody Wilson-raybould on the prospect of her intervening in the SNC case, even though she had told him she had made her mind up not to during their meeting on Sept. 17 last year. He said he had asked her to revisit her decision and thought she was open to doing so, but he now understood she was not. He said that fact was not clear to him because of an “erosion of trust” between Wilson-raybould and his then-principal secretary, Gerald Butts. “I was not aware of that erosion of trust but I should have been,” he said. “I acknowledge we need to make adjustments.”

But this was the enactment of humility, not the true embodiment of it.

Beyond a commitment to consult outside experts on the dual role of the attorney general and the justice minister, and the interaction with political staff on judicial matters, there was nothing to see here. Trudeau added no new information and there was no admission that lines were crossed. There were multiple references to the government’s agenda — “growing the middle class” and Indigenous reconciliation — as the things that are important to Canadians, as if the potential obstruction of justice is not.

The case for the defence is that Trudeau said what he believed — that he would have done things differently, if he had a do-over but that there was no inappropriate pressure put on the attorney general. One source suggested that he decided himself not to apologize, rather than take the easy communications route of expressing contrition he did not feel.

The case for the prosecution is that the prime minister is so convinced of the righteousness of his agenda, he discounts behaviour he would not have tolerated from his political opponents.

Butts’s testimony before the House of Commons justice committee on Wednesday made clear there were concerns in the PMO that Wilson-raybould had made her decision not to intervene and negotiate a remediation deal with SNC in haste.

Trudeau said the continued pressure to get Wilson-raybould to accept an outside opinion on SNC, even after she had said she’d made up her mind, came down to a “difference in perception.” The former justice minister thought she had made it clear her decision was final and any future reference to SNC was inappropriate; for Trudeau, continuing to press for a revision was “part of our jobs.”

Many Canadians will view that pressure as undue, unacceptable and grounds for resignation. Trudeau said it is a lesson learned as he turns the page and moves forward.

“There is always room for improvement,” he said, which is in itself an improvement for a prime minister addicted to annoying catch phrases.

Not so long ago, he would have said: “Better is always possible” — and half the country would have reached for their revolvers. It is curious that so many people, including current Liberal MPS, are now experiencing gastrointestinal distress whenever Trudeau falls back on such stale slogans.

The prime minister made clear his desire to “move forward, not backward” — and he may get his wish. But he had better be as good as his word when it comes to creating a more responsive environment for his caucus, or he may not even make it to an October election in which the odds of another Liberal majority are growing ever longer.