Justin Trudeau's image of transparency threatened by scandal

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/21/political-scandal-poses-threat-justin-trudeau-image-of-transparency

Justin Trudeau’s image of transparency threatened by scandal

Leyland Cecco in Toronto

Thu 21 Feb 2019 06.00 GMT Last modified on Thu 21 Feb 2019 13.10 GMT

When Justin Trudeau embraced Canada’s attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, last year in the country’s House of Commons, it became a moment emblematic of the powerful friendship between the two, part of the government’s promise to mend the broken relationship between the government and indigenous peoples in Canada. Now, Wilson-Raybould is out of her job and Trudeau has found himself on the defensive, fending off accusations that members of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) – a powerful body staffed with hand-picked confidants – put pressure on Wilson-Raybould to not pursue criminal charges against a large Canadian engineering firm. The scandal has cast a shadow over Trudeau’s domestic image of commitment to transparent government, potentially harming his electoral prospects.
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According to claims first published in the Globe and Mail on 7 February, staff within the PMO allegedly put pressure on Wilson-Raybould, the attorney general at the time, to pursue a deferred prosecution agreement with the engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, meaning the company would avoid a trial and pay a fine in lieu of prosecution for allegations of bribery in Libya. Wilson-Raybould resisted, according to the Globe. In mid-January, Wilson-Raybould, the only Indigenous politician in cabinet, was shuffled from her role as top prosecutor to head of veterans affairs.

The allegations of bribery, used to secure lucrative construction contracts under the Muammar Gaddafi regime, mean the company faces the prospect of a decade-long ban on federal contracts if found guilty. Headquartered in Trudeau’s home province of Quebec, SNC-Lavalin employs 3,400 workers in the province – and its potential collapse could have deep political and economic reverberations for the region.

Trudeau has called the Globe story “false” and repeatedly denied that he or his office had “directed” Wilson-Raybould in any way, or that she had been put under undue pressure. “Her presence in cabinet should actually speak for itself,” Trudeau said. Hours after his comment, Wilson-Raybould resigned. She has so far remained silent, citing solicitor-client privilege. The ethics commissioner has opened an investigation into the matter.
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