PM’s comments not sufficient

Dear Editor:

Is the prime minister’s half-baked public non-apology sufficient?

We all have heard how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Finance Minister Bill Morneau and several other senior government officials tried for several weeks to coerce former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to secretly change her decision to not defer an ongoing criminal investigation involving corruption by chief executives of SNC-Lavalin.

If found guilty of the current charges, the company could be barred from bidding on federal contracts for 10 years. An estimated 9,000 jobs could be affected, over 3,500 in Quebec.

Shutdown of SNC-Lavalin could be politically devastating for Trudeau and his Liberal government. Therefore, he and several of his top advisers, according to Wilson-Raybould’s sworn testimony, tried to coerce her to change her mind and defer the charges against the corrupt SNCLavalin executives.

Such interference, if perpetrated by the PM, Morneau and others, is a criminal offence in Canada.

Wilson-Raybould refused to capitulate to the pressure from the PM and members of his cabinet. Suddenly, she was removed as attorney general.

After being removed from office, WilsonRaybould was severely criticized by Liberal cabinet members in an attempt to discredit anything she might have to say. In fact, she was not allowed to speak about the matter for several weeks. Only after much public outcry did the prime minister allow her voice to be heard.

In a national announcement after her explanation of the matter, the PM claimed that Raybould’s move to a new cabinet post was planned prior to this incident and had nothing to do with her decision to not defer the criminal investigation of LNC-Lavalin. Canadians with half a brain know that is a lie.

The PM did not admit any wrongdoing, even though Wilson-Raybould detailed every action of possible criminal coercion that took place. Rather, he passed off what appears to be the criminality of himself and his cabinet members as a non-event, claiming a “misunderstanding” between himself and Wilson-Raybould. He and oth- ers involved in this scandalous action were only trying to “save jobs.”

Is the PM’s half-baked public non-apology sufficient? No.

This matter needs to be fully investigated and, if convicted, those who coerced Wilson-Raybould need to be jailed for corruption while they were in the highest public offices in the land. Garry Rayner, West Kelowna