Is pipeline pressure also weighing on Wilson-Raybould?

Jody Wilson-Raybould and SNC-Lavalin are now inextricably entwined in the minds of Canadians.

It’s impossible to think of one without thinking of the other.

But is the SNC-Lavalin affair really the straw that broke the camel’s back? Or are there other pressure points that caused the former attorney general to eventually break rank and resign from cabinet?

Maybe she will let us in on some of these pressure points when she testifies before the House of Commons justice committee on Tuesday.

But it’s not hard to imagine that her two roles as a prominent member of the Trudeau cabinet and a formidable, determined trailblazer when it comes to Indigenous rights were not sitting together comfortably anymore.

This became particularly apparent last Friday, when the National Energy Board issued its “Reconsideration Report” on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion following a ruling by the Federal Court of Appeal last year that the Trudeau cabinet hadn’t fully con- sidered the effect of additional oil tankers on marine mammals, such as killer whales, when it gave the green light. Since the federal government now owns the pipeline and has pledged to see it built, no doubt the NEB recommendations will eventually be accepted.

The next step is completion of the consultations with Indigenous communities that would be affected by the proposed project, another bone of contention in the appeal court’s ruling.

Amarjeet Sohi, minister of natural resources and point man on the Trans Mountain project, said on Friday that the cabinet could have all the input it needs to make a decision on the pipeline within 90 days.

If Wilson-Raybould were still in cabinet, but even as backbench MP, final approval of the pipeline would put her in an untenable position.

As the MP for Vancouver Granville, she represents an area that is home to vehement Indigenous and environmental opposition to the pipeline.

If the pipeline gets the go-ahead, what position would she take? As attorney general, she never spoke out strongly for or against the pipeline, even though many B.C. Indigenous politicians and activists have vowed that it will never be built. One of Raybould-Wilson’s biggest backers has vowed to kill that pipeline, no matter what.

Last month Stewart Phillip, the president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, expressed his bitter disappointment after Wilson-Raybould was transferred from justice to veterans affairs. But he also showered her with praise.

“Her greatest strength is her deep sense of integrity and commitment to the people that she has served,” Phillip said during an interview with Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

When the NEB issued its Reconsideration Report, Stewart said it’s “ludicrous” that economic factors are more important than killer whales.

It doesn’t appear there would have been be much reconciliation between Stewart and Wilson-Raybould if she were in the cabinet that approved the pipeline.

That was certainly the case for some Indigenous groups when the Site C dam in northeastern B.C. was given the go ahead despite opposition by local, provincial and national Indigenous organizations.

As a B.C. regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, Wilson-Raybould once opposed construction of the $9 billion dam, the largest industrial project in B.C.’s history. But after she became a Liberal cabinet minister she concurred with both the federal and B.C. governments’ decisions to approve the project.

In his testimony to the Commons justice committee last week, Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick noted that Wilson-Raybould and Crown Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett have irreconcilable differences over the direction of a promised piece of legislation central to the government's agenda regarding First Nations.

Politics is all about compromise. Sometimes a politician has to give in on some issues so as to make strides on others she considers more important. Perhaps Wilson-Raybould felt she was giving more than she was getting when it came to the Indigenous issues she has worked so hard on for most of her career.

As we got closer to a final decision on the Trans Mountain pipeline WilsonRaybould must have been feeling enormous pressure to do the right thing.

Maybe too much pressure to bear.