PM LOSES TOP AIDE
Resignation of Gerald Butts, Justin Trudeau’s right-hand man, fails to silence opposition calls for answers over alleged political interference in criminal case
OTTAWA— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top political aide and longtime friend Gerald Butts resigned Monday, while denying allegations that senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office applied political pressure on former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to settle criminal charges against SNC-Lavalin.
The abrupt move by Trudeau’s closest confidant since their student days at McGill University comes just days after the prime minister publicly defended actions by Butts and his staff in the growing controversy.
The resignation stunned political Ottawa on a holiday Monday.
On Twitter, Trudeau praised his friend. “Gerald Butts served this government — and our country — with integrity, sage advice and devotion. I want to thank him for his service and continued friendship,” he wrote.
Liberals shocked by Butts’s move said they respected his desire to defend the PMO against the accusations more freely from outside its official ranks.
But it did not quell the growing uproar over alleged political interference by the governing Liberals in a criminal prosecution. On Monday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called for a public inquiry.
The Conservative-led official Opposition did not go that far.
Leader Andrew Scheer, in a written release, said Butts’s “sudden resignation … is the clearest indication yet that there is much more to the SNC-Lavalin affair than the prime minister has so far admitted.”
The latest move settles nothing, said Scheer. He said Conservative MPs will pursue a “thorough and public investigation” at the Commons justice committee as it considers other options. Conservative justice critic Lisa Raitt said the committee will keep pressing to hear from Butts. Scheer called on Trudeau to waive solicitor-client privilege “so Jody Wilson-Raybould can tell her side of the story to Canadians.”
Singh said Butts’s resignation is “a shocking admission of potential wrongdoing on the part of the party.”
“More than ever, it bolsters our argument that we need to get to a public inquiry to have an independent investigation into what is going on,” Singh said.
In quitting, Butts insisted nobody in the PMO pressured Wilson-Raybould to offer any kind of deal to SNC-Lavalin, as was suggested by unnamed sources in a Globe and Mail report on Feb. 7.
That report said Wilson-Raybould was shuffled out of her job as justice minister into the Veterans Affairs Ministry — widely viewed as a demotion — because she resisted the PMO pressure. Trudeau later said he would never have moved Wilson-Raybould from her post if another cabinet minister hadn’t quit for personal reasons, forcing a shuffle.
Wilson-Raybould has maintained her silence, and quit Trudeau’s cabinet last week without specifying why.
“I categorically deny the accusation that I or anyone else in his office pressured Ms. Wilson-Raybould,” Butts wrote in a nearly 700-word statement the PMO released Monday.
“We honoured the unique role of the Attorney General. At all times, I and those around me acted with integrity and a singular focus on the best interests of all Canadians.”
Butts said the existence of the allegation, even if false, is an unwanted distraction.
“It cannot and should not take one moment away from the vital work the prime minister and his office is doing for all Canadians. My reputation is my responsibility and that is for me to defend. It is in the best interests of the office and its important work for me to step away.”
Butts made a point of highlighting the fact he encouraged Wilson-Raybould to run for the Liberal party under Trudeau’s banner in 2015, and said he “worked hard” to support her as a candidate and as a cabinet minister. He also wrote he believed their relationship “has always been defined by mutual respect, candour and an honest desire to work together.”
Wilson-Raybould’s lawyer, former Supreme Court justice Thomas Cromwell, declined to comment on Butts’s resignation or statement.
Longtime Liberal Scott Reid, a former aide in Paul Martin’s PMO, called Butts a “friend” and said on Twitter that it is “impossible to overstate his commitment to Trudeau and his importance to this government and today’s Liberal Party.”
Yet Reid wrote that Butts’s departure kills the “snide” speculation that Trudeau is trying to protect his office.
Reid said that “the inescapable conclusion is that Gerry believes there is incoming fire and a) he wants to take that hit as personally as possible and b) he is freeing himself to wage the pushback as fiercely as possible.”
Penny Collenette, a former senior director in the PMO under Jean Chrétien, said resigning from the PMO is a very difficult thing to do but given the circumstances of the past week, it is appropriate that someone in the office take accountability.
“Gerry Butts has done the right thing. Liberals need to take deep breath, and both cabinet and caucus need to have very forthright discussions and clear the air. This would not be the time for nerves, but for strength,” said Collenette, adding that the Liberal party has a great depth of talent and organizational ability that will serve it well in the months to come.
Trudeau’s office, through a spokesperson, had already admitted there were “robust” cabinet discussions around whether SNC-Lavalin could avail itself of a deferred prosecution agreement, and admitted that Butts and Wilson-Raybould spoke on Dec. 5 about the matter. Their meeting happened some two months after the director of public prosecutions, Kathleen Roussel, rejected SNC-Lavalin’s attempt to negotiate a deal. The PMO said Wilson-Raybould was the one who raised the company’s problems in that conversation with Butts, and that he referred her to Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick.
Trudeau told reporters he spoke to Wilson-Raybould on Sept. 17 about SNC-Lavalin, but did not detail the whole conversation, citing cabinet confidentiality.
“When she asked me if I was directing her or giving her instructions in relation to this decision, I told her, ‘No, assuredly not. It’s your decision to take,’” Trudeau told reporters.
Cameron Ahmad, a spokesperson for Trudeau, said in an interview that Butts offered his resignation Monday, adding the prime minister will be in the Commons on Tuesday and will answer questions about the matter.
He said Butts’s statement was “quite clear” about why he tendered his resignation — “because of anonymous sources that have alleged that he has done something wrong, and he continues to vigorously deny those accusations.”
Ahmad added, “Everything we’ve said thus far remains totally true and we stand by what we’ve said. We stand by our actions as a government.”
Jaime Watt, chair of Navigator, a crisis management and communication firm, said of Butts’s resignation statement: “What is interesting is while (he) is resigning, he is not admitting to any wrongdoing. It is reasonable to conclude from that he’s expecting more to come on this story, and he wants to be free and unfettered in his defence of both himself, his reputation and that of the prime minister.
“One of the things in politics is there always has to be someone’s fault. That’s one of the risks of being a political staffer. When someone has to take the hit, it’s not the leader, it’s the staffer. Mr. Butts has done what amongst his peers to be considered an honourable thing, which is to take responsibility for it and try to get the issue put behind the government.”
SNC-Lavalin has pleaded not guilty to bribery and fraud charges related to its work in Libya, saying any wrongdoing or illicit payments made to the regime of Moammar Gadhafi between 2001 and 2011 was done by rogue employees without its consent. It wants to enter a remediation agreement that could see it pay a heavy fine and comply with strict corporate reforms, but which would spare the company the costly fallout of a criminal conviction, which would include a ban on government contracts.
The departure of Butts from the PMO will not end the questions for the government.
The federal ethics commissioner, Mario Dion, is investigating whether any public office holder breached conflict rules in any efforts in the SNCLavalin affair.
SNC-Lavalin has been a big political donor to the Liberals, less so to the other political parties. But the parties returned donations once the company was found to have breached election financing laws.
On top of the ethics inquiry, the Commons justice committee will meet Tuesday behind closed doors to consider what witnesses they should hear from in a probe into whether there was undue influence. So far, the Liberals have succeeded in restricting the scope of that inquiry.