Unanswered questions in the SNC-Lavalin Corruption Scandal

 
Justin Trudeau’s SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal was a sad chapter in our
country’s history. The Prime Minister of Canada was found to have broken ethics
laws in order to try and get his corporate friends out of criminal corruption
charges.
 
The Ethics Commissioner provided many new details for Canadians concerned about
this corruption scandal, but there are now even more outstanding questions and
Canadians deserve answers.
 
Justin Trudeau promised to do politics differently. He promised to be open,
transparent, and honest, but throughout this corruption scandal he has proven
time and time again to be not as advertised. He has stonewalled the Ethics
Commissioner, shut-down committee investigations, and silenced Jody
Wilson-Raybould.
 
This week, Canada’s Conservatives have recalled the Ethics
Committee in the search of answers. Let’s hope the Liberal members on the
committee do the right-thing, put the interests of our country ahead of the
Liberal Party, and allow the committee to look into the matter.
 
Here are a few of the outstanding questions in Justin Trudeau’s SNC-Lavalin
corruption scandal:

1) On April 3, 2019, Justin Trudeau said “we put forward an unprecedented
waiver that suspended solicitor client privilege in this matter, that suspended
cabinet confidentiality so (Jody Wilson-Raybould) could speak fully to this
matter.” Yet the Ethics Commissioner found that 9 people were being gagged by
Justin Trudeau and were unable to talk. Why is he continuing the cover-up?
 
2) In a letter dated June 13, 2019, Justin Trudeau’s deputy minister sent a
letter to the Ethics Commissioner declining to provide additional
information.  Did Justin Trudeau or his close advisors instruct another
public servant to do his political dirty work?

3) The Table
of Public Statutes identifies the Minister of Justice as the responsible
Minister for the sections of the Criminal
Code related to remediation agreements. The Ethics
Commissioner revealed that Jody Wilson-Raybould did not sign the Memorandum to
Cabinet authorizing this legislative change.  Who did?

4) Why did
Justin Trudeau say after his September 17^th meeting with Jody
Wilson-Raybould that she was open to revisiting her position on interfering in
an ongoing criminal trial?

5) Why did
Scott Brison attempt to exert influence over Jody Wilson-Raybould to interfere
in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin?

6) Why did
Scott Brison send SNC-Lavalin’s legal strategy to senior advisors to Justin
Trudeau two weeks after SNC-Lavalin launched a judicial review of the Director
of Public Prosecutions’ decision to not negotiate a deferred prosecution
agreement?

7) Why did
senior advisors to Justin Trudeau brief SNC-Lavalin that Gerald Butts would
advocate for their issues with Jody Wilson-Raybould as the two of them met at
the Chateau Laurier?

8) Why did
Gerald Butts tell Jody Wilson-Raybould’s Chief of Staff that “the government
had set up the remediation agreement regime to allow SNC-Lavalin to benefit
from the tool”.

9) Does
Justin Trudeau agree with his legal counsel that he is not “vicariously liable”
for the actions of his staff?  How does this equate to “taking full
responsibility”?

10) In the Trudeau II Report, the
Ethics Commissioner writes “Mr. Trudeau’s legal counsel also wrote that Ms.
Wilson-Raybould’s anger at being moved from the office of the Minister of
Justice and Attorney General coloured her perception of prior events…Ms.
Wilson-Raybould failed in her duty, as Attorney General, to acquaint herself
with all the relevant facts.  Rather than making a meaningful, independent
decision of her own, Ms. Wilson-Raybould reflexively deferred to the Director
of Public Prosecutions’ decision.”  Does Justin Trudeau agree with his
legal counsel’s apparent assessment that Jody Wilson-Raybould was emotional and
couldn’t be reasoned with?
 

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For more information, please contact:

Daniel Schow
Daniel.Schow@parl.gc.ca
(613) 286-1050

Virginie Bonneau
Virginie.Bonneau@parl.gc.ca
(613) 294-8150

The post Unanswered questions in the SNC-Lavalin Corruption Scandal appeared first on Canada's Official Opposition.

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Unanswered questions in the SNC-Lavalin Corruption Scandal