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Alleged PMO obstruction in SNC Lavalin case

Hamish Seggie said:
Demanding the PMs resignation. Demanding the Minister of Finance resign as well.

Their egos would never allow it.
 
I just watched her presentation, but cannot stick around for the questions. I'm hoping that the whole thing will be posted online somewhere, later.

Two words:

"Powerful".

"Damning".

I cannot see police investigations not being initiated.

I cannot see this government surviving.

It no longer has any shred of legitimacy.

I do not even know what should happen at this point.

http://www.gg.ca/en/role/responsibilities/constitutional-duties

As The Queen’s representative in Canada, the governor general has a number of responsibilities, one of the most important being to ensure that Canada always has a prime minister and a government in place that has the confidence of Parliament.  The governor general’s other constitutional duties include:

-  swearing into office the prime minister, Cabinet ministers and the chief justice of Canada;
-  summoning, proroguing and dissolving Parliament;
-  delivering the Speech from the Throne;
-  granting Royal Assent to acts of Parliament;
-  appointing members of the Privy Council, lieutenant governors and certain judges, on the advice of the prime minister; and
-  signing into effect official documents, such as orders-in-council.

Her Excellency may may be brushing up on her specific terms of reference.
 
This testimony makes us sound like a third world dictatorship instead of a G7 nation.
 
Does anyone else think that for a disinterested civil servant the Clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Wernick, seemed to be pretty party-political partisan in his involvement.

Is it his purview to worry about the Government of the Day getting re-elected?
 
When Lisa Raitt raised the Norman trial, my sense from JWR is that but for privileges she might slice and dice the PMO for that one as well.
Got to wonder how JT will survive the next few months as leader of the Liberal party.
 
Sharpen the pitchforks. Dip the torches in pitch.

Oh...and pop popcorn. This is getting good.
 
BurnDoctor said:
Sharpen the pitchforks. Dip the torches in pitch.

Oh...and pop popcorn. This is getting good.

From one BurnDoctor to another Burn Doctor ;D
 
Rifleman62 said:
A summation of some views from Quebec.

Going back to this post from February 14, if the PM spins this right in his home province (where he will be speaking this evening) JWR may have just handed the Liberals Québec on a platter in October.
 
I wonder how many serious NDP insiders are tearing their hair out now that Burnaby voters have removed the pretext to replace Singh, at the time when the Liberals are well on their way to being at their weakest since Adscam.  Opportunity missed.
 
As expected Scheer just call for the PM to resign and for the RCMP to open an investigation. 
 
Plus the Liberals on the Justice Committee defeated a motion to lift the restriction on JWR to speak to events after her resignation, etc, etc.



UPDATE: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will address reporters tonight at 8pm ET in Montreal, where he is scheduled to meet Liberal volunteers from Outremont's recent byelection.


7 minutes ago
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is calling on Justin Trudeau to resign as prime minister, and for the RCMP to open an immediate investigation if not already underway.


2 minutes ago
The text of Scheer's statement:
“Justin Trudeau simply cannot continue to govern this great nation now that Canadians know what he has done. That is why I am calling on Justin Trudeau to resign. Further, the RCMP must immediately open an investigation – if it has not already done so – into the numerous examples of obstruction of justice the former Attorney General detailed in her testimony.

“The testimony Canadians have just heard from the former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould tells the story of a Prime Minister who has lost the moral authority to govern. A Prime Minister who allows his partisan political motivations to overrule his duty to uphold the rule of law. A Prime Minister who doesn’t know where the Liberal Party ends and where the Government of Canada begins. And a Prime Minister who has allowed a systemic culture of corruption to take root in his office and those of his most senior cabinet and public service colleagues.

“I listened carefully to the testimony of the former Attorney General, and like Canadians, I was sickened and appalled by her story of inappropriate, and frankly illegal pressure brought to bear on her by the highest officials of Justin Trudeau’s government. All to let a Liberal-connected corporation off the hook on corruption charges.

“Before Ms. Wilson-Raybould’s testimony, Canadians knew Justin Trudeau had engineered an unwanted, sustained, and co-ordinated attempt to get Ms. Wilson-Raybould to change her mind and stop the criminal trial of SNC-Lavalin. Today, thanks to Ms. Wilson-Raybould’s testimony, we now know just how intense those efforts were: ten meetings and ten phone calls involving eleven senior government officials relentlessly targeting Ms. Wilson-Raybould over a four month period – with the sole objective of bullying her into bending the law to benefit a well-connected corporation.

“The details are as shocking as they are corrupt: multiple veiled threats to her job if she didn’t bow to their demands. Urgings to consider the consequences on election results and shareholder value above judicial due process. And reminders from Justin Trudeau to his Attorney General about his own electoral prospects should she allow SNC-Lavalin’s trial to proceed.

“As Ms. Wilson-Raybould has so clearly articulated, the people Canadians entrusted to protect the integrity of our very nation were instead only protecting themselves and their friends.

“Mr. Trudeau can no longer, in good standing and with a clear conscience, lead this great nation.

“Canada should be a country where we are all equal under the law. Where nobody – regardless of wealth, status, or political connections – is above the law. I believe we can be that country again.”
 
I don't think it is possible for JWR to continue in caucus.  It is too bad that her convictions won't allow her to join the PC's but I suspect that we will see a new independent member in the next few days.  But Kudos to her.  It has been a long time since Ottawa has hosted a truly honest politician.
 
I also suspect that the VAdm Norman prosecution will be the next subject JWR is called upon to comment about.  After all, it happened on her watch as AG and, therefore, she can speak publicly now that the PM's waiver OIC is out there.  It would be fascinating to hear what influence she was subjected to as the PM had situated the estimate regarding VAdm Norman's culpability back in February 2018
 
One of the best bits from JWR's testimony:

Katie Telford, PM chief of staff, offered to line up friendly media if Wilson-Raybould was worried about how abandoning prosecution of SNC might look. "If Jody is nervous, we would of course line up all kinds of people to write OpEds saying that what she is doing is proper.”
 
Haggis said:
I also suspect that the VAdm Norman prosecution will be the next subject JWR is called upon to comment about.  After all, it happened on her watch as AG and, therefore, she can speak publicly now that the PM's waiver OIC is out there.  It would be fascinating to hear what influence she was subjected to as the PM had situated the estimate regarding VAdm Norman's culpability back in February 2018.

The Order-in-Council is specific in that it only waives privilege and cabinet confidence in reference to the SNC-Lavalin issue, and only covers her time as AG, and nothing after the cabinet shuffle.

In the same vain, this waiver will not allow her to comment on the Norman prosecution.
 
In case you weren't able to watch/listen to the testimony, here's the opening comments, as shared by the National Post.

Here's also a copy available via scribd.com.
 

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