Ex-minister silent on SNC-Lavalin issue
Trudeau government can free Wilson-Raybould to address allegations
OTTAWA— Jody Wilson-Raybould is sticking by her refusal to speak about allegations that she was pressured by the prime minister’s top aides to seek mediation instead of pursuing criminal charges against Quebec construction giant SNCLavalin.
As opposition Conservatives and New Democrats called for emergency parliamentary committee hearings into the allegations, Wilson-Raybould issued a statement Friday that offered no comment on — or denial of — the allegations, for the second day in a row.
“As the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, I am bound by solicitor-client privilege in this matter,” she said in the statement released by her office.
Wilson-Raybould’s decision to remain silent came after Conservatives and New Democrats announced they will try to summon Justin Trudeau’s top officials and cabinet ministers — including the former justice minister, who for now remains in cabinet — before an emergency meeting of a parliamentary committee.
They say they want to get answers into allegations the PMO tried to politically interfere in a case in order to lift the threat of a criminal conviction facing the Quebec engineering and construction giant, one that could hobble its ability to bid on future contracts.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said the allegation “calls into serious question the ethics and conduct of those at the highest levels.”
“Today we’re taking the next step in pressing for answers,” he said.
The opposition parties want to call nine people as witnesses, including Katie Telford, Trudeau’s chief of staff; Gerald Butts, his principal secretary; Justice Minister David Lametti; Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick; and WilsonRaybould.
The next moves now lie with the prime minister. The government can block the opposition request for a parliamentary study because it holds a majority. It can also free WilsonRaybould to speak.
Although Wilson-Raybould has turned aside all interview requests and claims to be bound by confidentiality around her role as past minister, several legal experts say the privilege belongs to the client, in this case the government, and it is within the government’s power or choice to waive it, in order to allow the air to be cleared on damning allegations.
Writing on Twitter, lawyer Paul Champ said the government can waive the privilege, “and if this was a court of law, I would say that they already did waive by Trudeau commenting on it.”
UBC assistant law professor Andrew Flavelle Martin, who teaches ethics and professional responsibility, said in an interview that if the former minister believed the prime minister or his staff was putting political pressure on her, “then the appropriate course, almost the mandatory course would have been for her to resign and, I would say, for her to announce publicly why she was resigning.”
“Interference in a criminal matter is such a serious case that it warrants protection of the public interest by commenting on it instead of saying nothing.”
PMO staffers know “this is one of those absolute, no go, forbidden things you do not do” — attempt to influence the jus- tice minister’s decision, Martin said. “PMO staffers wield the power of the prime minister and they should know that. If they don’t know that, they should be fired.”
On Thursday, the Globe and Mail reported that senior PMO officials pressed the former justice minister to seek mediation instead of pursuing criminal charges against SNC-Lavalin.
Trudeau adamantly denied the story that Wilson-Raybould was shuffled out of the justice portfolio after she refused pressure from his office to direct the public prosecutor pursue a remediation agreement with the Quebec company.
Those agreements are a brand new tool, brought in by the Liberal government last year. The law provides for “deferred prosecution agreements,” they allow a court to approve an agreement that could see SNC-Lavalin pay a stiff fine and agree to a range of corporate reforms but not saddle it with a criminal conviction that would bar it from bidding on federal or in- ternational government contracts.
Trudeau said the allegations that anyone in his office “directed” Wilson-Raybould to take a particular decision on SNCLavalin’s criminal case are “false.” However, the newspaper report citing unnamed sources did not claim the justice minister was directed or instructed by PMO, but that she faced pressure from unidentified senior aides in Trudeau’s office.
The attorney-general can direct the independent prosecutor’s office but reasons must be given in writing, which are then published in the Canada Gazette, the government’s official record of decisions. In the 12year history of the public prosecutors office, a minister has never directed the public prosecutions office on a prosecution.
However an overriding principle in Canada’s justice system is that nobody — not the prime minister, his delegates, or anyone else — should influence, pressure or direct the justice minister to do anything when it comes to prosecutorial decisions.
RCMP spokesperson Dan Brien said Friday: “The RCMP is aware of this matter but will not further comment at this point.” The justice department said Friday it had not referred the case to the RCMP for consideration.
Opposition MPs continued Friday to attack the prime minister’s response as tightly scripted legalese. Scheer said that Trudeau fell short of “full transparency,” prompting the call for a committee investigation.
“If the prime minister has nothing to hide, as he has suggested, then should have no reason to fear these individuals appearing before the justice committee,” Scheer said.