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Prime minister won’t apologize for his actions, which he says were in the best interest of the country
To a smattering of applause under a midday sun in Niagara-onthe-Lake, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accepted “full responsibility” Wednesday for mistakes he made during the SNC-Lavalin affair which has dogged his government for months, but stopped short of apologizing.
“The buck stops with the prime minister and I assume full responsibility for everything in my office,” Trudeau said during a news conference at the Niagaraon-the-Lake community centre. “I recognize there are lessons to be learned, and I take them very seriously.
“My job as a prime minister is to stand up for Canadians and defend their interests. Yes, it’s essential we do that in a way that defends our institutions, that upholds prosecutorial independence, but we need to be able to talk about the impacts on Canadians right across the country about decisions being made,” he said.
Trudeau was in Niagara to talk about the doubling of the “gas tax” — federal funding earmarked for infrastructure projects — but faced a flurry of questions from reporters about a damning report from the federal ethics commissioner that found the prime minister broke ethics rules by pressuring then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in the criminal case against SNC-Lavalin.
In his report, ethics commissioner Mario Dion ruled Trudeau’s actions — directly and through his senior staff — violated a section of the Conflict of Interest Act that prevents the prime minister from using his position to influence a decision in a way that would improperly advance “another person’s private interests,” in this case SNC-Lavalin. The report said in placing pressure on Wilson-Raybould to grant the Quebec firm a reprieve from a criminal conviction in a fraud cause, Trudeau acted “contrary to the constitutional principles of prosecutorial independence and the rule of law.”
Trudeau is the only sitting prime minister to have been found to have violated federal ethics rules by a commissioner.
Trudeau has said he was trying to defend Canadians under the rationale that if SNC-Lavalin is criminally convicted — it could cut the firm off from lucrative public sector contracts — thousands of jobs are at stake. In his report, Dion concluded that Trudeau did not fundamentally understand the underlying principles of the prosecutorial independence of the attorney general.
“In my view, Mr. Trudeau misunderstood this important distinction — the dual role of minister of justice and attorney general. Mr. Trudeau and several other witnesses testified that they viewed Ms. Wilson-Raybould, in her capacity as attorney general, as a member of cabinet on an equal footing with other ministers.”
The report found that Trudeau’s staff continued to have talks with SNC-Lavalin officials about the case, even though it was before the courts and without the knowledge of the attorney general.
Trudeau said he recognized “the way this happened shouldn’t have happened.” But while he said changes must be made in Ottawa to prevent a similar incident by this or future governments, Trudeau said he disagreed with some of Dion’s findings and defended his actions as being in the interest of Canadians.
He also deflected questions about whether or not key staff members involved in the SNC-Lavalin affair — including his former top adviser and close friend Gerald Butts, now working for Trudeau’s re-election campaign — would be fired. Instead, he said Canadians will have the opportunity to pass judgment on his government in the October election.