Justin Trudeau refuses to resign over claims officials interfered in bribery prosecution
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has rejected calls to resign over a scandal that is engulfing his administration, saying he and his staff always acted properly and that Canadians will get to have their say on the matter at the federal election in October.
His comments came after Canada’s former minister of justice and attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould described a consistent, sustained and inappropriate effort by senior officials close to the prime minister who were attempting to dissuade her from prosecuting a Canadian engineering company accused of bribery.
In searing testimony to the justice committee on Wednesday, Wilson-Raybould said the pressure on her included “veiled threats” if she did not acquiesce.
“I experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the attorney general of Canada in an inappropriate effort,” she said in her opening statement.
Wilson-Raybould’s appearance before the committee marked her first public comments on the scandal, which has become the biggest crisis of Trudeau’s administration.
In early February, the Globe and Mail reported that aides close to the prime minister had lobbied WilsonRaybould to abandon plans to prosecute Quebec-based engineering company SNC Lavalin over accusations of fraud and bribery. Instead, they requested she pursue a “deferred prosecution agreement”, which allowed the company to pay a fine.
Wilson-Raybould said she was “barraged” and subjected to “hounding” by members of the government. According to contemporaneous notes taken after each interaction, Wilson-Raybould recalled 10 phone calls and 10 meetings regarding the case.
Wilson-Raybould also detailed a meeting with Trudeau, in which the prime minister said that – as a member of parliament from Quebec – he was concerned by the issue of SNC Lavalin jobs in the province, and asked her to “help out” with the case.
“Are you politically interfering with my role as attorney general? I would strongly advise against it,” Wilson-Raybould recalled telling the prime minister.
“No, no, no, we just need to find a solution,” she said, recalling the prime minister’s answer.
On Wednesday night, Trudeau said it had been a “difficult few weeks” because of internal disagreements in his party, but rejected opposition calls to resign. He said he completely disagreed with Wilson-Raybould, saying that the decision to avoid prosecuting SNC-Lavalin was hers and hers alone.
Wilson-Raybould also described a conversation with the government’s top civil servant, Michael Wernick, who advised her the prime minister wanted to “find a way to get it done, one way or another.
She characterized the discussions as “treading on dangerous ground”. Last week, Wernick told the same committee that no improper pressure was applied to Wilson-Raybould.
Trudeau’s government has been on the defensive since the Globe and Mail newspaper reported on 7 February that Trudeau or his staff pressured her to try to avoid a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin over allegations of corruption involving government contracts in Libya.
Wilson-Raybould refused to abandon the prosecution, and four months later, she was abruptly demoted to the position of veteran affairs minister – a move which she saw as a direct consequence.
“I can’t help but think this ha[d] something to do with a decision I would not take,” she told the committee.
Following her demotion, she had “thoughts of the Saturday Night Massacre,” Wilson-Raybould testified, in a reference to Richard Nixon’s purge of US justice department officials during the Watergate scandal.
Under growing pressure, Trudeau denied that his office had “directed” Wilson-Raybould, and said her presence in his cabinet was proof of their amicable relationship. She resigned hours later and retained the former supreme court justice Thomas Cromwell as her counsel.
Opinion polls show the allegations are starting to hurt the Liberals ahead of what looks set to be a tightly contested federal election against the official opposition Conservative party in October.
Opposition lawmakers accuse Trudeau of trying to cover up an attempt by officials to help SNC-Lavalin, which could be banned from bidding for federal contracts for a decade if found guilty.
“Justin Trudeau can no longer hide the fact that he was at the center of an attempt to interfere in a criminal prosecution. He must come clean with Canadians,” Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said on Wednesday before the testimony.
Scheer called on Trudeau to stand down and demanded a police inquiry.
“He can no longer, with a clear conscience, continue to lead this nation,” he said.
The scandal has already cost Trudeau his closest adviser: Gerald Butts resigned earlier this month, but denied he had or others had improperly pressured Wilson-Raybould.
“What I hear today should make Canadians upset,” Murray Rankin, a member of the New Democratic party, told Wilson-Raybould during the committee hearing.
Wilson-Raybould was granted a partial waiver of solicitor-client privilege in order to testify on Wednesday, but remains unable to speak about the content of her communications with Trudeau.
Wilson-Raybould, a Kwakwaka’wakw lawyer from British Columbia, was Canada’s first indigenous attorney general, and her inclusion in the cabinet was initially seen as proof of Trudeau’s attempt to reset its relationship with indigenous peoples.
“I was taught to always hold true to your core values, principles and to act with integrity,” said Wilson-Raybould at the conclusion of her statement. “I come from a long line of matriarchs and I am a truth-teller in accordance with the laws and traditions of our big house. This is who I am and who I always will be.”