Why Jodie Wilson-Raybould Resigned As Canada's Minister of Veterans Affairs

Jodie Wilson-Raybould (JWR) was fired as Canada's Justice Minister and Attorney General after refusing to abort the prosecution of Québec-based engineering multi-national, SNC-Lavalin on charges of bribery and corruption abroad.

She was subjected to political pressure to provide SNC with relief from Prosecution by the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, both in person and by letter, by members of the Prime Minister's staff, by Finance Ministry staff, and by David Wernick, Clerk of the Privy Council, Canada's most senior civil servant.

Specifically, it was expected that she would override the judgement of the independent Director of Public Prosecutions, by ordering that SNC-Lavalin be granted a so-called remediation agreement, under the terms of which penalties would be negotiated without criminal liability.

By way of pressure, JWR was given to understand that cabinet post was in jeopardy unless she submitted to the Prime Minister's wishes in the matter of the SNC-Lavalin prosecution.

JWR rejected these demands on the grounds that they amounted to interference in Canada's constitutionally protected traditions of prosecutorial independence and rule of law. Shortly afterwards, Prime Minister Trudeau fired JWR as Justice Minister and Attorney General.

Following her dismissal, JWR was offered the cabinet post of Minister of Veterans Affairs, which she accepted. However, following meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on January 14th of this year, JWR resigned her new cabinet appointment. The trigger for this decision was a statement by the Prime Minister that with reference to the propriety of the Government's action in relation to SNC-Lavelin, JWR's ongoing presence in Cabinet spoke for itself. With reference to her resignation from Cabinet the following day JWR said: "I trust that my resignation also speaks for itself."

The recording of the telephone conversation between JWR and the Clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Wernick, is here.

JWR's 21-page written submission of supplementary information for the Parliamentary Justice Committee relating to political pressure under which she was placed during her tenure as Canada's Attorney General is here.

Related:
Toronto Sun: Lilley — Trudeau's lies
CBC: Wilson-Raybould: 'no regrets'
CBC:Feast hosted for Jody Wilson-Raybould on Vancouver Island
Global News: Phone call leaves Liberals’ SNC-Lavalin narrative — and excuses — in complete tatters
Global News:Michael Wernick never briefed Trudeau on Wilson-Raybould phone call — says PMO
NaPo: Christie Blatchford: The Jody Wilson-Raybould solution
NaPo: Andrew Coyne: Wilson-Raybould recording brings SNC-Lavalin affair crashing back to reality
The Tyee: Jody Wilson-Raybould: Cassandra of the Trudeau Government

LavScam and the Trudeau Doctrine

Better dirty hands than empty bellies

"Better dirty hands than empty bellies" is the Trudeau doctrine as enunciated, not by Justin Trudeau, but by Pierre Elliot Trudeau, speaking about the delivery of lethal military equipment to the US during the Vietnam war.

It now appears that, during the fall, Justin Trudeau acted in accordance with the Trudeau doctrine by bringing pressure to bear on his now ex Justice Minister and Attorney General, Jodie Wilson-Raybould, urging her to scotch the prosecution of Quebec-based global engineering firm SNC Lavalin on charges of bribery and corruption. In so doing, he presumably resorted to the argument he has made repeatedly in public that prosecution of SNC Lavelin would put many Canadian jobs at risk.

The trouble for Trudeau with this line of action and logic is two-fold.

First, under the law, a company guilty of corruption cannot be granted a "remediation agreement" instead of prosecution on the grounds of "national economic interest," , as Trudeau may have urged.

Second, when Trudeau discussed the prosecution of SNC Lavalin with the Attorney General on September 17, a prosecution had already been launched, which gives the Prime Minister's intervention the appearance of an attempt to pervert the course of justice.

To an adherent of the Trudeau doctrine, obstruction of justice for the sake national economic interest might well be considered a reasonable trade-off. But if so, it proved to be a mistake to demote the  Attorney General to the lowly cabinet portfolio of Veterans Affairs so soon after she apparently refused to join the Prime Minister in a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in the Lavalin case.

As a consequence of her demotion, Ms. Wilson-Raybould seems not to have been chastened, but rather embittered, giving rise to vilification by some cabinet colleagues and senior officials who reported her behavior in Cabinet to be self-centered and confrontational.

In response, it seems, to that further humiliation, the former Attorney General resigned her new cabinet post, while giving no reason since, so she claimed, as the former Attorney General, what she had to say was subject to solicitor-client privilege that only the Prime Minister can waive.

It is now reported that Ms. Wilson-Raybould will appear next week to testify before a Parliamentary committee. Whether she will speak freely remains to be seen. In the meantime, young Justin may be wishing he'd kept his hands clean.