Gerald Butts’ complicated legacy

Now departed principal secretary leaves major problems for Liberals

The old political axiom that it is not the crime that kills you, it’s the coverup, has always had a corollary among political hacks. It is how well you frame and control the narrative around your defence against accusations. On that test, this government has not succeeded. It has had an overly tactical approach to criticisms and miniscandals from its earliest days.

But there is an earlier question that trumps all: why did this government not grasp the nettle about the SNCLavalin mess earlier? By failing to realize they had only a binary choice — instruct the justice minister to negotiate a heavy fine and no trial, or allow the trial to go ahead and let the political chips fall where they may — they laid this very dangerous hostage to fortune themselves.

But that is not the reason Gerald Butts stepped down as Trudeau’s principal secretary. After all he had weathered plenty of bad stories before — the Aga Khan fling or the Bollywood family holiday?

No, Butts probably offered his head for two other reasons principally. One, he wants to be free to defend himself publicly. Two, he understood he was becoming a lightning rod internally for many in cabinet and caucus unhappy about his gatekeeping role in the PMO.

Every PMO has someone in that chair, and with it comes the job of taking bullets for the boss. But when you become the target, not merely the shield, it’s time to go.

Jim Coutts played a similar role for Pierre Trudeau and Eddie Goldenberg for Jean Chrétien. Like them, Butts became an object of regular complaint — that comes with the role. He may have understood that he might be more useful as an external campaign guru and strategic communications adviser than playing such an all-consuming role central to the government.

But his departure leaves two very serious problems in his wake. The first is what to do about the SNCLavalin problem itself. Its future as a Canadian company is at risk. This would be a game-changer for the upcoming federal election in Quebec — potentially placing the Trudeau government’s very survival at risk.

Secondly, what’s next for the structure of the PMO/PCO and political staff teams around the PM and senior ministers? Some of the best staffers will need to be poached from ministers’ offices to help fill the gaping hole that Butts’ departure has created — that may lead to other knock-on problems, now only a few months before an election.

It is early days to write Butts’ political obituary. He has already a legacy of achievement that few can match: engineering a far from inevitable leadership victory, whipping the Tories and the NDP soundly with a creative youth-focused campaign, and then playing a central role in a government that until recently appeared unbeatable. Not bad for seven year’s work.

Was he too high-profile and too partisan? Yes. Yet is it also true that he understood, as he said in explaining his decision to leave that, “public institutions are bigger and more important than any of their temporary occupants.” And it seems unlikely that anyone else could have engineered Trudeau’s success on his behalf. Their personal relationship may have been a weakness in times when the boss needed tough love and serious course correction, but it also

Some of the best staffers will need to be poached from ministers’ offices to help fill the gaping hole that Butts’ departure has created — that may lead to other knock-on problems.

created an incredibly powerful political partnership.

So now our latest political scandal will reach its crescendo, far too close to the election for comfort. There may be duelling narratives from the former minister and the former PMO boss. There may well be an inquiry into how the government got itself in this mess. There will at least be stormy days in committee and question period ahead.

It should have, could have, been avoided if this government had less of a propensity to think and operate tactically, worrying about today’s headline or tomorrow’s nasty question period. If they had cared more about endgames strategically.

They knew that the former justice minister was a difficult minister to move when she had made up her mind. Why didn’t they anticipate that and make the tough political choice either in favour of SNC-Lavalin, or the even tougher one of letting the prosecution roll? There never was a middle ground.

So, Gerald Butts leaves a complicated political legacy for his leader and his government. But we will hear from him again, probably soon.

Robin V. Sears is a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and was an NDP strategist for 20 years. He is a freelance contributor for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robinvsears