Probe offers pride in Canada
Re Trudeau’s former senior aide Gerald Butts offers much different version of events in the SNC-Lavalin scandal, online, March 6
After the testimony given by Jody Wilson-Raybould, someone wrote that they were ashamed to be a Canadian. Continuing to watch these justice committee hearings, in all their intricacy and in both official languages, convinces me that the degradation in public discourse that has occurred to the south of us has not yet happened here, though it is arguably starting to occur at the level of the Ontario government.
All in all, these investigations into trust and probity make me proud to be a Canadian and more than a little surprised that Wilson-Raybould was offered the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs as part of the cabinet shuffle, yet turned it down. Gerald Butts’s characterization of his working relationship with Wilson-Raybould as being anything but a smooth sail on choppy seas is worthy of his Maritime roots. Ron Charach, Toronto
I must agree with Gerald Butts here.
Let me just say that if this was the Conservatives, like, say, Stephen Harper’s government, there would be no controversy. Harper would dictate and no one would demur. It was Harper who introduced the mediation act (PPSC) allowing a company such as Lavalin to pay a fine rather than go to court.
If anything, Justin Trudeau is a victim of his own righteous and highfalutin ideas about such issues as Native and women’s rights and his promotion thereof.
Wilson-Raybould was, at best, a marginal performer, riding her woman/ Indigenous background to the hilt. It became necessary to move her to another portfolio in the cabinet shuffle due to Minister Bryson’s resignation. Trudeau wanted a person in Indigenous Services who would send a strong signal that the work would keep going at the same pace and that the file would have the same personal prominence. He also wanted to move someone who could be replaced from outside of cabinet, to keep the shuffle small and contained.
The right person who could do that, being a woman as well as “Indigenous,” was Minister Wilson-Raybould. She was offered the position, but turned it down; despite her professed and avowed wish to promote Indigenous issues. I assume it was not “senior” enough for her inflated ego. Sigmund Roseth, Mississauga
It’s clear that Jody Wilson-Raybould and Gerald Butts should have talked more often about SNC-Lavalin, because they have different concepts of what was said and intimated.
Butts was talking to the justice minister and Wilson-Raybould was listening as the attorney general. I conclude that the two functions must be separated. Charles Hooker, East Garafraxa, Ont.
I am sick of this so-called scandal. If the two women have lost confidence in the prime minister, why don’t they just quit the Liberal party. I think this is a coup attempt. Just think of Andrew Scheer as PM and the harm the Conservative Party will do to the country. I still have confidence in Justin Trudeau and wish the opposition parties would stop it already. There are more important things going on in the world than the fact that Trudeau was trying to save jobs. Enid Kammin, Toronto
So Gerald Butts now can peer into Jody Wilson-Raybould’s brain and divine that it was not possible for her mind to be made up? Who knew? Butts is a psychiatrist and a constitutional lawyer! Wow. So many talents and he was so humble. Sigmund Krajden, Toronto
The Liberal dominated standing committee on justice and human rights voted no to having Gerald Butts give testimony under oath. They as well did not want to entertain a motion to ask Butts whether he would voluntarily testify under oath. Further, they voted no to having the Office of the Privy Council produce to the committee all of the communications including emails, written notes and texts between Butts and the various parties involved in the SNC-Lavalin affair. In light of conflicting testimony between Butts and Jody Wilson-Raybould, I am wondering why the Liberal party is afraid of more transparency on this matter? Canadians will continue to be suspicious of the Liberal government and their motives unless and until they agree to full transparency on this file. Randy Gillis, Calgary
Re Who broke the law in the SNC-Lavalin scandal?, Opinion, March 6
Thank you for publishing a very sound article by Duff Conacher. This piece should be on your front page. Remember there is always the “other side to every story!” Mimi Khan, Scarborough
Two ministers have resigned from the federal cabinet citing their willingness to stand by their principles and accept the consequences.
With all sincerity, I accept their decisions and applaud their courage to take a principled stand. Their actions, however, raise a troubling thought. Are we to assume that the members of the cabinet who do not concur with their former colleagues are less principled? Should we rate them in order of “principledness?” Hmmm? Frederic Wieler, Oakville
Oh what a tangled web we weave. When I heard Gerald Butts claim the removal of Jody Wilson-Raybould from her position as justice minister and attorney general had nothing to do with the SNC-Lavalin affair and that that was a fact, it was very hard not to conjure up a vision of Kellyanne Conway claiming an alternative facts solution.
I think it is sad that the Liberal party in general, and our prime minister specifically, believes many Canadians will swallow that line.
We were promised honesty in government. Let’s hear some. Maybe we can even “handle the truth.” Rochelle Hatton, Sudbury
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