Ex-justice minister’s testimony a game-changer
“There was a sustained effort and attempt to interfere with my discretion as attorney general of Canada and it was inappropriate.”
— Hon. Jody Wilson-raybould, former minister of justice and attorney general
As the wait grew to 20 days for former attorney general Jody Wilson-raybould to respond to allegations that she had been improperly pressured to interfere with a criminal prosecution of Quebec engineering firm Snc-lavalin, pundits like me began to speculate that her testimony would be anticlimactic, more like “nothing wrong here, move along,” all to save the governing Liberals. How wrong we were. Ms. Wilson-raybould’s testimony to the Commons Justice Committee didn’t just drop a bombshell; it carpet-bombed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his government and the clerk of the Privy Council. She named 11 people — including the prime minister, his chief of staff, principal secretary, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Morneau’s chief of staff and others — who she alleges attempted to inappropriately influence her, and she laid out details of numerous meetings and phone calls, relying on texts, emails and contemporaneously made notes.
The former AG testified that there were “veiled threats and a consistent and sustained effort to politically interfere” in the criminal case against Snc-lavalin.
She spoke of raising her concerns about interference with the prime minister and his principal secretary, Gerry Butts, and being “denied”; she believes she lost her job as attorney general and minister of justice because she would not interfere in the Snc-lavalin case.
While Butts abruptly quit nearly two weeks ago, the next casualty is certain to be Michael Wernick, the PM’S deputy minister and clerk of the Privy Council.
Already living on borrowed time after his histrionics and alarmism last week before the justice committee, Wernick was relentless, according to Wilson-raybould’s testimony, even invoking the prime minister’s name in trying to press her inappropriately — and highly unethically — to actively interfere in the SNC matter.
The former AG testified that Wernick, along with certain senior named PMO staff, kept pressing the matter even after Snc-lavalin had gone to court to appeal the decision of the director of public prosecutions not to stop the criminal prosecution of the company in favour of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA). Like the Crown prosecutor she once was, Wilson-raybould was clinical, building the case fact by damning fact. The turning point came when she related, in detail, a meeting on Sept. 17 with Wernick and the prime minister. Trudeau pointed out his concerns that if a DPA was not entered into there could be jobs lost and Snc-lavalin possibly moving out of Quebec. Wilson-raybould relates that Trudeau asked her to “help out,” something she did not regard as more than a policy discussion.
But then Wernick doubled down, restating his arguments for a DPA and reminding her that an election was coming in Quebec. Wilson-raybould stated “at that point, the prime minister jumped in, stressing that there is an election in Quebec, and that, ‘I am an MP in Quebec, the MP for Papineau.’ ” She testified “I was quite taken aback.”
When she challenged Trudeau by asking if he was politically interfering with her independence and decision-making as the attorney general, something she said “I would strongly advise against,” the PM apparently replied “No, no, no, we just need to find a solution.”
Although Trudeau did not personally involve himself again, she documented many other increasingly aggressive attempts by PMO senior staff and Wernick to interfere with her decision making. With calls for the prime minister’s resignation and the convening of a judicial inquiry, there is now pressure on the RCMP to start a criminal investigation into attempted obstruction of justice (if one isn’t already underway).
Wilson-raybould’s testimony was a game changer. And it damns this prime minister and his closest inner circle.