PM Insists that he did nothing wrong and did not exert undue pressure on Jody Wilson-Raybould; Second Minister also quits amid talk of ‘erosion of trust’
OTTAWA: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dropped his insistence that his government has done nothing wrong in the SNC-Lavalin affair after a second cabinet minister in less than a month resigned Monday.
Treasury Board president Jane Philpott handed in her resignation on Monday afternoon, saying she’s lost confidence in the way the government has dealt with criminal charges against the Montreal engineering giant.
Her resignation came after former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet amid allegations that the Prime Minister’s Office improperly pressured her to stop a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.
At a rally Monday night in Toronto, Trudeau did not repeat the same message he’s delivered since the controversy erupted a month ago, that no undue pressure was exerted, that the government was balancing its concern for the fate of 9,000 SNC-Lavalin employees with respect for the independence of the justice system.
Rather, he adopted a more conciliatory tone that appeared to allow for the possibility that a line may have been crossed.
In her resignation letter to Trudeau, Philpott pointed out that a cabinet minister must be able “speak in support of the government and its policies’’ at all times.
“Given this convention and the current circumstances, it is untenable for me to continue to serve as a cabinet minister,’’ she wrote.
Trudeau named Carla Qualtrough, the minister of public services and procurement, as acting president of the Treasury Board.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said Philpott’s resignation proves he was correct when he asserted last week that Trudeau has “lost the moral authority to govern.’’
New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh reiterated his call for a public inquiry into the affair.
On Thursday,Trudeau said he should have been aware trust had broken down between his office and Jody Wilson-Raybould over the SNC-Lavalin controversy, but stopped short of apologizing to her.
“Over the past months, there was an erosion of trust between my office and specifically my former principal secretary and the former minister of justice and attorney general,’’ Trudeau said during a morning news conference in Ottawa on Thursday.
“I was not aware of that erosion of trust. As prime minister and leader of the federal ministry, I should have been.’’
He said he continues to believe there was “no inappropriate pressure’’ put on Wilson-Raybould to relent and offer SNC-Lavalin a remediation agreement rather than proceeding to a criminal trial for bribery and fraud. “I’m obviously reflecting on lessons learned through this,’’ Trudeau said.
“I think Canadians expect that of us that in any time we go through periods of internal disagreement and indeed challenges to internal trust as we have, there are things we have to reflect on and understand and do better next time.’’
Liberal backbencher Celina Caesar-Chavannes, who announced last week she won’t seek re-election, tweeted her support Monday for Philpott, as she has done repeatedly for Wilson-Raybould.
“When you add women, please do not expect the status quo. Expect us to make correct decisions, stand for what is right and exit when values are compromised. Thank you ?janephilpott for articulating this beautifully,’’ Caesar-Chavannes wrote.
Trudeau’s former principal secretary Gerald Butts, who also resigned, told the House of Commons justice committee Wednesday that he wanted Wilson-Raybould to seek a second opinion so the government could show it had seriously considered all legal options. Butts provided the committee with a different view on those meetings, saying Wilson-Raybould never told Butts or Trudeau she was unhappy about their meetings.