SNC-Lavalin discussions ‘lawful, legal’
Nation’s top civil servant insists chat with minister and PM didn’t cross line
Jody Wilson-Raybould was under pressure to make the “right” decision on the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin but at no time did she face undue influence, says Canada’s top civil servant, insisting all discussions with the former attorney general were legal and appropriate.
In a remarkable appearance before the justice committee, Michael Wernick, the clerk of the privy council, denied the allegation at the heart of a controversy that has rocked Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government: that Wilson-Raybould was improperly pressured to use a deferred prosecution agreement on the Quebec company.
Opposition MPs have charged that Wilson-Raybould’s refusal to bow to that pressure cost her cabinet post as justice minister in a January cabinet shuffle. Wilson-Raybould has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations, but pointedly told the Commons Wednesday that she hopes she has an opportunity to “speak my truth.”
Wernick speculated that Wilson-Raybould’s concerns may centre on three meetings held last year — including one where he conveyed “context” about the “consequences” a criminal prosecution of the company might have.
He said that Wilson-Raybould likely felt pressure to “get it right” but he bluntly told MPs Thursday that there were no grounds for the suggestions that she was the focus of improper pressure on a court case that has political and economic overtones for the government.
“It is my conclusion and my assertion, based on all the information I have, that there was no inappropriate pressure on the minister of justice in this matter,” Wernick said.
Still he conceded that impressions of improper influence are subjective and that federal ethics commissioner Mario Dion — who has launched his own probe of the affair — will have to decide whether those interactions crossed the line.
Wernick’s testimony had Ottawa spellbound, as he tackled head-on the controversy that has consumed the nation’s capital for the last two weeks and did it in a blunt-spoken manner not usually used by public servants.
The 37-year public servant grabbed attention from the moment he sat down at the microphone, with an eyebrow raising opening statement expressing concerns about the direction of the country and the “rising tide of incitements to violence” and his fear of political assassination in the coming federal election.
Then Wernick got to the manner at hand as he batted aside the suggestions that the former justice minister was subject to undue influence on the SNCLavalin file and if she felt she was, she had ample opportunities to report it but did not.
And he said that Wilson-Raybould is not bound by solicitorclient privilege, undermining the reason that she herself has cited for not telling her version of events.
Wernick predicted that when Wilson-Raybould appears before the committee next week, she will “express concern” about three events, all of which “were entirely appropriate, lawful, legal,” he said.
The first was a meeting on Sept. 17 between himself, the prime minister and WilsonRaybould. Wernick said that, at the time, Trudeau and his top advisers were consumed with NAFTA negotiations, and that he was assigned to help mediate “a very serious policy difference” on the government’s Indigenous rights framework between Wilson-Raybould and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett. The Sept. 17 meeting with WilsonRaybould and Trudeau was held to discuss that matter, Wernick said.
Just two weeks earlier, the director of public prosecutions had decided not to proceed with a deferred prosecution in the SNC-Lavalin case. But Wilson-Raybould had the power to overturn that decision.
Wilson-Raybould told the prime minister that a deferred prosecution agreement “was not a good course and she had no intention of intervening,” Wernick recalled. In turn, the prime minister told WilsonRaybould the decision to intervene in the case was hers alone, he said.
“That is a message that the prime minister conveyed to the minister on every situation that I am aware of when it came up.”
The next event he predicted Wilson-Raybould would raise was a conversation between her chief of staff and officials from the Prime Minister’s Office on Dec. 18. Wernick, however, said he was not there and is not aware of what transpired.
Finally, Wernick highlighted his own conversation with Wilson-Raybould on Dec. 19. Wer- nick said he wanted to “check in” with her on SNC-Lavalin and the possibility of mediating the criminal charges against the company, as well as other legal issues before the government.
“I conveyed to her that a lot of her colleagues and the prime minister were quite anxious about what they were hearing and reading in the business press about the future of the company, the options that were being openly discussed in the business press about the company moving or closing,” Wernick said.
Asked later if he pressured Wilson-Raybould to intervene in the case and halt the SNCLavalin prosecution, Wernick said no — he doesn’t believe he improperly pressured her.
“There’s pressure to get it right on every decision, to approve, to not approve, to act, to not act. I am quite sure the minister felt pressure to get it right,” he said.
“Part of my conversation,” he added, “was conveying context that there were a lot of people worried about what would happen, the consequences — not for her — the consequences for the workers in the communities and the suppliers.”
But he insisted that his conversation was within the “boundaries” and did not cross any line.
And if Wilson-Raybould truly had concerns about any of these interactions, Wernick said there were “multiple, multiple, multiple” occasions when she could have raised it with Trudeau — at cabinet meetings or by telephone — or she could have gone directly to the ethics commissioner herself.
Wilson-Raybould declined to speak with the Star Thursday, saying she had to attend a meeting.
The MP for Vancouver-Granville has said little so far, citing solicitor-client privilege. Wilson-Raybould has sought advice from former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell on how much she can say while respecting the bounds of cabinet confidentiality and solicitor-client privilege. The government is also weighing whether to waive that privilege.
During his own appearance at the committee earlier in the morning, Justice Minister David Lametti said that discussions between the prime minister, cabinet ministers and the attorney general on the issue would be routine and appropriate.
“The attorney general can’t be an island,” Lametti told the committee Thursday morning, while stressing that the final decision about prosecutions rest with the attorney general.
Lametti, who took over as attorney general and justice minister last month, was the first witness as the justice committee began its own investigation into the controversy, one opposition MPs charge is limited because the Liberals refuse to call Trudeau’s own aides.
He walked a cautious line, refusing to comment on the meetings that Trudeau and his officials had with Wilson-Raybould, saying he wouldn’t “speculate” on those discussions or even whether they took place.
Lametti said while he had a general understanding of the issue as a Quebec MP, he had no conversations with the prime minister on the file prior to taking on the role of justice minister. Asked whether he has come under pressure since taking the post, Lametti responded, “I have not.”
Trudeau himself conceded Thursday that Canadians want to know about the allegations swirling around his government but getting those answers will depend on legal advice on how much can be said on the matter.