TIMELINE: How the saga unfolded
Feb. 19, 2015: RCMP charges SNC-Lavalin and two of its subsidiaries — SNC-Lavalin Construction Inc. and SNCLavalin International Inc. — with one count of fraud and one count of corruption. Police allege that, between 2001 and 2011, SNC-Lavalin bribed officials in Libya to the tune of nearly $47.7 million, and that the company defrauded various Libyan organizations of about $129.8 million. SNC-Lavalin later pleads not guilty.
Feb. 11, 2016: Less than four months after the Liberals win power, SNC-Lavalin starts lobbying Justin Trudeau’s Prime Minister’s Office on the subject of “justice and law enforcement.” There were 18 interactions between PMO staff and SNC-Lavalin on the subject over the next three years, according to the federal lobbyist registry. The company also lobbied six Liberal cabinet ministers and dozens more government officials on the subject over that timespan.
Sept. 25, 2017: The federal government starts public consultations about introducing remediation agreements — also called “deferred prosecution agreements” — to the Canadian justice system. Like plea deals involving individuals, these agreements suspend criminal prosecutions if the corporation agrees to pay fines and cooperate with authorities. A criminal conviction would bar SNC-Lavalin from bidding on Canadian federal contracts for 10 years.
March 27, 2018: The Liberal government tables a 582-page omnibus bill that includes the introduction of remediation agreements. After the agreements are briefly discussed at the House of Commons finance committee, the bill passes and becomes law as Parliament breaks for the summer.
Sept. 17: Trudeau speaks with Jody Wilson-Raybould about SNC-Lavalin. Trudeau later says most of their discussion is a matter of cabinet confidentiality but she asked him “if I was directing her or giving her instructions in relation to this decision” about the company’s criminal case. The prime minister denies he was pushing her to offer SNC a remediation deal. “I told her, ‘No, assuredly not. It’s your decision to take.’ ”
Oct. 9: The federal public prosecutor’s office decides not to offer SNC-Lavalin a remediation agreement. In a press release the next day, SNC-Lavalin says it “strongly disagrees” with the decision and vows to keep pushing for remediation. The company later asks a Federal Court judge to force prosecutors to reconsider.
Oct. 10: Quebec Premier François Legault raises his concerns with Trudeau at the Francophonie summit in Armenia, asking Trudeau “to make sure this situation is settled as quickly as possible,” according to Legault’s office.
Dec. 5: Gerald Butts, Trudeau’s principal secretary, meets with Wilson-Raybould. She brings up SNC-Lavalin and Butts tells her to discuss the matter with Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick, according to Trudeau’s spokesperson, Cameron Ahmad.
Jan. 10, 2019: Treasury Board President Scott Brison quits cabinet, having flagged his pending departure to the prime minister over the Christmas holidays.
Jan. 14: Trudeau shuffles his cabinet. He moves WilsonRaybould out of justice and into veterans affairs, an assignment widely seen as a demotion. Later in the day, the Vancouver MP publishes an unusual 2,000-word statement underscoring her achievements and how she strove to be independent from partisan considerations as Canada’s attorney general. “It is a pillar of democracy that our system of justice be free from even the perception of political interfer- ence,” she writes.
Feb. 1: SNC’s appeal seeking a remediation deal is heard in a Montreal courtroom.
Feb. 7: The Globe and Mail publishes a bombshell report citing unnamed sources who allege officials in Trudeau’s office pressured Wilson-Raybould to overrule federal prosecutors by offering a remediation agreement to SNC-Lavalin. Trudeau denies any political interference whatsoever. Wilson-Raybould refuses to confirm or deny the allegations, and refuses to publicly back the prime minister’s version, citing solicitor-client privilege.
Feb. 10 and Feb. 11: Trudeau speaks to Wilson-Raybould twice, but she fails to accompany him to a public Vancouver event on Feb. 11 attended by other B.C. MPs and ministers.
Feb. 11: Federal ethics commissioner Mario Dion launches an investigation into whether discussions on the SNC-Lavalin case breached Canada’s con- flict of interest law. Dion says he has “reason to believe” Section 9 of that law could have been broken. That section prohibits a public office holder from trying to influence a decision to improperly advance another person’s private interests.
Feb. 11: Trudeau tells reporters he has full confidence in Wilson-Raybould and her presence in cabinet “should speak for itself.” Within hours, WilsonRaybould informs Trudeau she is tendering her resignation from cabinet, and retains former Supreme Court justice Thomas Cromwell as counsel.
Feb. 12: After her resignation becomes public, Trudeau says he is “surprised and disappointed” and says if she had concerns about any undue pressure or political interference, she had an obligation as attorney general to raise it with him but never did, choosing instead to remain in his cabinet. Trudeau holds a conference call to reassure his MPs that no political pressure was put on Wilson-Raybould.
Feb. 13: Liberal MPs block the opposition effort to call WilsonRaybould to testify about the affair at the House of Commons justice committee.
Feb. 15: Trudeau says that when he spoke to Wilson-Raybould about SNC-Lavalin on Sept. 17, 2018, “There were many discussions going on, which is why Jody Wilson-Raybould asked me if I was directing her or going to direct her to take a particular decision. I of course said no, it was her decision to make and I expected her to make it. I had full confidence in her role as attorney general to make the decision.”
Feb. 18: Trudeau’s principal secretary, Butts, resigns from the PMO. He denies that he or anyone in the PMO “pressured Ms. Wilson-Raybould” to make a decision about prosecution.
Feb. 19: One week after she resigns from cabinet, WilsonRaybould attends the Liberal government’s cabinet meeting in Ottawa. Hours later, the Liberal-controlled justice committee agrees to invite WilsonRaybould to testify at the committee. She tells reporters she is still working with her lawyer to determine what she can say publicly.
Feb. 20: Almost all Liberal MPs in the House of Commons defeat an NDP motion to launch a public inquiry and call on Trudeau to waive solicitor-client privilege so that Wilson-Raybould is free to speak publicly. During the vote, Wilson-Raybould tells the Commons that she wants the chance to “speak my truth.”
Feb. 21: Wernick, the clerk of the Privy Council, strongly denies allegations that WilsonRaybould was improperly pressured to intervene in the SNCLavalin prosecution. “There was no inappropriate pressure put on the minister at any time,” he says. Wernick also says he does not believe she is prevented telling her side of the story by any solicitor-client privilege.
Feb. 25: Trudeau’s cabinet issues an order-in-council to waive cabinet confidence and solicitor-client privilege for Wilson-Raybould in relation to discussions she had on SNCLavalin. This frees her to speak publicly about what happened, even though it doesn’t waive privilege that covers conversations Wilson-Raybould had with Kathleen Roussel, director of public prosecutions, concerning SNC-Lavalin.
Feb. 26: Wilson-Raybould sends a letter to justice committee chair Anthony Housefather, in which she says the Trudeau cabinet’s order-in-council that allows her to speak about the SNC-Lavalin affair “falls short of what is required.” She says it only covers conversations that occurred when she was attorney general, and does not free her to speak about “communications” while she was veterans’ affairs minister “and in relation to my resignation from that post or my presentation to cabinet after I had resigned.” Nevertheless, she agrees to testify at the committee the next day.
Feb. 27: Trudeau defends the remaining restrictions on Wilson-Raybould and says she’ll be able to tell her story to the ethics committee and the justice committee which are looking into “whether or not the attorney general underwent pressure or inappropriate pressure.” Wilson-Raybould testifies at the justice committee.