Good morning,
A mid-October letter from SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. CEO Neil Bruce to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reveals new details about the company’s concerns and appeals to Ottawa in the weeks after the opportunity to negotiate a settlement was denied.
In the letter, dated Oct. 15 (the same date Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick said this week that he took a call from the company’s chairman), Mr. Bruce pushed for a meeting with Mr. Trudeau and said SNC "had not been treated very well.” The meeting never happened.
Mr. Bruce said not only SNC-Lavalin was hurt by the decision.
“The [recent] erosion in stock price … impacted many innocent Canadians who are saving for the future,” the CEO wrote. “Surely this is not a fair or just outcome for Canadian savers," he added.
The letter to Mr. Trudeau was submitted recently to the Commons justice committee, which called hearings into the matter after The Globe and Mail reported on Feb. 7 that officials in the Prime Minister’s Office put pressure on Jody Wilson-Raybould when she was justice minister and attorney-general to order a settlement with the Montreal construction and engineering giant.
On Thursday, Mr. Trudeau addressed the affair at a press conference. While many had expected words of contrition, that’s not what we got. He did say that he should have recognized an “erosion of trust” between his office and the attorney-general’s.
He also addressed the Jan. 14 cabinet shuffle – a key moment in the political controversy, which saw Ms. Wilson-Raybould demoted to Veterans Affairs.
Ms. Wilson-Raybould testified that she felt she was removed from her job in Justice because of her refusal to order the federal director of prosecutions to negotiate a deferred prosecution agreement with SNC.
Mr. Trudeau’s former principal secretary, Gerald Butts, testified this week that she was first offered the Indigenous Services portfolio but that she turned it down. Mr. Wernick said in February testimony that it was common knowledge in Ottawa that Ms. Wilson-Raybould would balk at that job.
Mr. Trudeau said Thursday that he believed Ms. Wilson-Raybould would have been a great fit in Indigenous Services.
Meanwhile, the House of Commons justice committee will hold an emergency meeting next week to discuss inviting Ms. Wilson-Raybould back to speak further.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s apology for how past governments mistreated Inuit who went south for tuberculosis care was delayed when his plane was diverted by a blizzard in Iqaluit.
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate foreign relations committee introduced legislation on Thursday backing Canada’s handling of Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, as the United States seeks her extradition.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced on Thursday to just less than four years in prison.
Mr. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen is suing the Trump Organization.
Mr. Trump says he is optimistic that a landmark trade deal with China is close. Chinese officials are not so sure.
The annual celebration of Carnaval was drawing to a close in Brazil on Tuesday night – people were nursing hangovers – when President Jair Bolsonaro jolted many into sobriety, with a tweet.
Konrad Yakabuski (The Globe and Mail) on Mr. Trudeau’s reputation around the world: “What Mr. Trudeau’s somewhat perplexed foreign admirers need to understand is that he was never the great moral hope they built him up to be.”
Margaret Wente (The Globe and Mail) on the SNC-Lavalin affair: “There are lots of things we don’t yet know yet about this story, but I suspect the main damage has already been done. There are no smoking guns, no victims, no fraud, no suitcases full of illegal cash, not even villains – just politicians and their operatives doing what they always do to gain advantage.”
Martha Hall Findlay (The Globe and Mail) on women in politics: “Our society will only benefit from having more female representation in all fields, not because women are ‘better’ than men, are more ‘consensus-driven,’ are ‘nicer,’ are more willing to stand on principle, or can otherwise claim some higher moral ground. We will all benefit because the different experiences and different perspectives they bring permit better, broader analysis and decision-making.”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on Mr. Trudeau’s news conference: “... this was mostly a failure by a Prime Minister to lead. Mr. Trudeau assures us he has learned a lesson from that failure. The rest of us have learned a lesson, too.”
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on Mr. Trudeau’s appearance: “Canadians were waiting to hear the Prime Minister’s full explanation of what happened, and they didn’t get it.”
Christie Blatchford (National Post) on Mr. Trudeau’s explanation: “The PM’s insistence, in the face of this simple proposition, that what really mattered were the jobs of SNC workers, pensioners and suppliers shows his failure to grasp the meaning of prosecutorial independence and the proper separation of powers.”
Anne Kingston (Maclean’s) on Mr. Trudeau’s appearance: “If the presser was intended to quell the controversy, it failed. Maybe it was assumed that Trudeau’s physical presence equals transparent and accountable government.”
Brad Wall (National Post) on the SNC-Lavalin affair: “The efforts of the prime minister and his inner circle to protect a Quebec institution stands in starkest contrast to the neglect or outright hostility his government has shown the reeling energy sector.”
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