Scheer vows probe into SNC-Lavalin affair
Trudeau unfit to lead country, Tory leader says
MONTREAL • A Conservative government would launch a judicial inquiry to find out what happened during the SNC-Lavalin affair and introduce legislation to investigate “sleazy” politicians, leader Andrew Scheer said Thursday.
Scheer stopped in Justin Trudeau’s Montreal riding of Papineau for the announcement and addressed the Liberal leader directly.
“Mr. Trudeau, you are unfit to lead.”
Scheer said both measures are necessary to provide Canadians the answers they deserve about the government’s involvement in SNC Lavalin’s criminal prosecution.
“No longer will a corrupt prime minister be able to be the gatekeeper of his own misconduct,” said Scheer. “These measures will safeguard our democracy against the whims of sleazy and unscrupulous politicians.”
The federal ethics commissioner concluded earlier this year that Trudeau broke the Conflict of Interest Act by pressuring former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to allow the Quebec-based engineering firm to avoid prosecution on corruption charges related to contracts in Libya. The company itself is being prosecuted and has been seeking a plea-bargain-type arrangement.
The commissioner also said he was unable to get all the information he needed to assess what happened.
The RCMP have since said they too are being stymied in a preliminary examination of whether any criminal laws were broken for the same reason: the Trudeau government has refused to fully waive cabinet confidence to allow blanket access to documents, and for involved individuals to fully disclose what they know. Discussions and communications among cabinet members are typically not open to public scrutiny so that ministers can have free debates.
Scheer, speaking at Jarry Park north of Montreal’s downtown, committed to also introduce legislation that would let the RCMP ask the Supreme Court of Canada for access to information protected by cabinet confidence.
The Conservatives have repeatedly invoked the SNC Lavalin affair on the campaign trail.
The scandal doesn’t appear to have shaken many voters away from the Liberals in Quebec, home to SNC-Lavalin, who may have accepted Trudeau’s explanation that he was trying to defend Canadian jobs.
The Scheer campaign also stopped at a bagel shop in Mount Royal, Pierre Trudeau’s former riding and a Liberal stronghold.
Scheer promised a SNC Lavalin inquiry to around 30 supporters there.
The Conservative leader also stopped briefly at a pizza shop in the riding of Saint-Leonard-Saint-Michel, which has been red since it was created in the 1980s.
Scheer said he was not worried about alienating possible supporters in Quebec by doggedly pursuing the scandal around the engineering giant.
“I know that Quebecers are tired of being used as the excuse of Justin Trudeau’s scandal.”
Scheer has spent two days in Quebec before the campaign moves on to British Columbia Friday morning.