Trudeau's Government In Turmoil After Top Aide Resigns Over Corruption Allegations

[Swordsmyth]

When he swept into office back in 2015, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised supporters of a Liberal Party reinvigorated by a decade of conservative rule that he would bring about "real change" - both in Ottawa, and for a Liberal Party marred by allegations of corruption.
So far, he has largely failed at both, cozying up to the country's energy industry while masking his maintenance of the pro-business status quo with legalized marijuana and a "progressive" agenda that has included banning misgendering and hiring the first cabinet in Canada's history with an equal number of men and women.
Yet as Canada's leader braces for what promises to be a bruising reelection campaign ahead of a vote in October, his office has been marred by a blossoming scandal surrounding reports that it pressured the former attorney general into dropping years-old corruption charges against Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin, a Canadian construction company with close ties to Trudeau's party.

In a sign that this scandal won't easily disappear, no matter how many times Trudeau stands in front of a gaggle of reporters and breezily denies the allegations, one of his closest aids resigned on Monday over allegations that he or his staff pressured the former AG, who was abruptly demoted last month.
The aide, Principal Secretary Gerald Butts, denied the allegations, and said he was resigning to avoid distracting Trudeau from the hard work ahead. It's unclear whether he will have any role on the Trudeau campaign. He is considered the second most influential official in Trudeau's government after Chief of Staff Katie Telford.

Principal Secretary Gerald Butts issued a statement Monday, during a long weekend in much of Canada, announcing his resignation in order to prevent the issue from distracting “from the vital work the Prime Minister and his office is doing for all Canadians.”
A report this month by the Globe and Mail newspaper raised allegations the prime minister’s office pressured Trudeau’s former attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, to settle fraud and corruption charges against construction company SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. The controversy escalated last week after Wilson-Raybould, who had been moved into a new ministry recently, quit cabinet.
In his statement, Butts said he “categorically” denied the allegation that he or any of his staff pressured her.
"My reputation is my responsibility and that is for me to defend," Butts said in the statement. "It is in the best interests of the office and its important work for me to step away."

In his statement to the Globe and Mail, Butts said he and Trudeau's office "honored the role" of the attorney general.

“I categorically deny the accusation that I or anyone else in this office pressured Ms. Wilson-Raybould,” Mr. Butts said in a statement on Monday. “We honoured the unique role of the Attorney General. At all times, I and those around me acted with integrity and a singular focus on the best interests of all Canadians.”
A Globe and Mail story on Feb. 7 said Ms. Wilson-Raybould came under pressure from the Prime Minister’s Office to instruct prosecutors to offer SNC-Lavalin a deferred prosecution deal when she was justice minister and attorney-general.

Trudeau also tweeted the full statement:

Gerald Butts served this government - and our country - with integrity, sage advice and devotion. I want to thank him for his service and continued friendship. Please read his statement today: pic.twitter.com/VIaEHJMMe4
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 18, 2019

He also said his decision to resign shouldn't detract from Trudeau's work. Trudeau has said that he spoke with the former AG, Jody Wilson-Raybould, in September about the SNC-Lavalin Group scandal, but claims he told her at the time that it was "her decision to make."
But some of the government's maneuvering that - incidentally or not - helped clear the way for the charges to be dropped would suggest that Trudeau may have been actively pushing for such a resolution. For example, Trudeau's government successfully changed a law to allow for a deferred prosecution agreement for SNC-Lavalin. And many observers were surprised when Wilson-Raybould was demoted during a seemingly arbitrary reshuffle. She has since resigned and hired attorneys to advise her about what she can and cannot say about the affair.
Trudeau acknowledged last week that his government had discussed the issue of a resolution to the charges in an effort to avoid job losses at the company, which employs about 9,000 people in Canada.
But the timing of the firing is difficult to ignore. And as the scandal widens, many are beginning to wonder if Trudeau will even make it to October.

It's not too late for Trudeau to resign, with a yet a little dignity. Soon that window may close too.
— (((H.Kiliaan))) (@hkiliaan) February 18, 2019

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...ver-corruption

[Swordsmyth]

Update: Trudeau has named Carla Qualtrough, currently the minister of public works and government service, and will make a comment about Philpott's decision to leave the cabinet Monday night.
* * *
So much for "circling the wagons".
One of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's most trusted ministers announced on Monday that she planned to resign from his cabinet following damning testimony last week from her close friend, former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, with whom she was closely allied when the two served in the cabinet together.
Jane Philpott, Trudeau's now-former president of the Treasury board, tweeted a statement announcing her resignation Monday afternoon. In it, she said that, after "serious reflection", she had decided to do the right thing and resign from the government, in keeping with her "ethical responsibilities and constitutional obligations."


Philpott went on to explain that the constitutional convention of cabinet solidarity means ministers must defend all cabinet decisions and other ministers publicly, and must speak in support of the government and its policies.
But given the preponderance of evidence supporting Wilson-Raybould's allegations about a concerted campaign of political pressure and veiled threats orchestrated by Trudeau and senior members of his office, Philpott said she could no longer abide by this prinicple.

"Sadly, I have lost confidence in how the government has dealt with this matter and in how it has responded to the issues raised," Philpott said in the statement.

Political analysts in Canada have argued that presenting a united front about Trudeau's innocence would be critical if the Liberals hoped to retain control of government during October's general election.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...on-allegations

[Swordsmyth]

Since it was exposed by a report in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper earlier this month, the scandal that's become known as the SNC-Lavalin affair has already led to the firing of several of Trudeau's close advisors and raised serious questions about whether the prime minister was complicit in pressuring the attorney general to offer a deferred prosecution agreement with a large, Quebec-based engineering firm.

And according to the first round of polls released since the affair exploded into public view...

...it could cost Trudeau his position as prime minister and return control to the conservatives, according to the CBC.

Campaign Research showed the Conservatives ahead with 37% to 32% for the Liberals, while both Ipsos and Léger put the margin at 36% to 34% in the Conservatives' favour. Since December, when both polling firms were last in the field, the Liberals have lost one point in Campaign Research's polling and four percentage points in the Ipsos poll, while the party is down five points since November in the Léger poll.

Meanwhile, as the noose tightens around Trudeau, on Monday another of the key Canadian government officials at the center of the SNC-Lavalin scandal has quit his post.
Michael Wernick, clerk of the privy council, the highest-ranking position in Canada’s civil service and a key aide to Justin Trudeau, announced his retirement Monday. Trudeau named Ian Shugart, currently deputy minister of foreign affairs, to replace him.
In a scathing letter to Trudeau, Wernick said that “recent events” led him to conclude he couldn’t hold his post during the election campaign this fall.
"It is now apparent that there is no path for me to have a relationship of mutual trust and respect with the leaders of the opposition parties,” he said, citing the need for impartiality on the issue of potential foreign interference. According to Bloomberg, the exact date of his departure is unclear.


More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...uption-scandal

[AngryCanadian]

I can confirm eh Trudeau's Government is finished, i mean even all the Canadian media are going agaisnt him.
There is no way for Trudeau survive this one.

[Swordsmyth]

In a fresh blow to the embattled government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a legislator quit his ruling Liberal Party to sit as an independent on Wednesday after defending a former minister at the center of a political scandal.

The prime minister told reporters that parliamentarian Celina Caesar-Chavannes, who has publicly backed Wilson-Raybould several times and earlier this month attacked Trudeau on Twitter, had left the Liberal parliamentary caucus.
"I want to thank her for her service to the Liberal Party and to her constituents and wish her the best," Trudeau said in brief remarks.
Caesar-Chavannes, who represents a parliamentary constituency in the province of Ontario, had already announced she would not run again in this October's federal election.
Although her departure has little immediate political effect - the Liberals still have a majority in the House of Commons - it underlines the staying power of an affair that has already cost Trudeau two high-profile female cabinet ministers, his closest aide and the head of the federal bureaucracy.
It is also awkward for a prime minister who came to power in late 2015 promising to boost the role of women in politics.

The legislator told the Globe and Mail newspaper earlier this month that Trudeau had shouted at her after she called him to say she would not contest her seat in this year's election.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/fresh-blow-ca...4--sector.html

[Swordsmyth]

A former cabinet member at the heart of a crisis that could cost Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau his job on Friday released documents to back up her case that she had been pressured to help a large corporation avoid a corruption trial.

Wilson-Raybould made public around 40 pages of documents revealing more details of what she said were attempts by officials to force her change her mind even after she insisted they desist.

Wilson-Raybould included a recording of a phone call with Wernick last December in which he told her he was worried about “a collision” between her and Trudeau “because he is pretty firm about this.”
Wilson-Raybould, who stressed she thought the call was inappropriate, told Wernick she was waiting “for the other shoe to drop” because she was under no illusion about how Trudeau “gets things that he wants.”
Opposition legislators said the documents reinforced their demand for a public inquiry into the matter, something Trudeau says is not necessary.
“She is actually trying to speak truth to power, trying to say, ‘You can’t do this,’ ... and it keeps happening,” New Democratic Party parliamentarian Nathan Cullen told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-c...-idUSKCN1RA2LA

[Swordsmyth]

Trudeau Broke The Law When He Expelled Critics From Liberal Caucus, MP Says