The SNC–Lavalian saga continues to haunt Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Government like a never ending nightmare.
On Monday, the same day as Trudeau made his third Cabinet shuffle in as many months, Michael Wernick, the Clerk of the Privy Council and the top Canadian Civil Servant, announced his intention to retire ahead of schedule.
Wernick’s resignation is the fourth high profile one to come in the wake of what has become known as the SNC–Lavalian scandal, and follows those of former Veteran Affairs Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould (who had been moved from the post of Justice Minister and Attorney General), Gerald Butts, Trudeau’s principal secretary and long-time buddy, and Treasury Board president Jane Philpott.
In a letter to Trudeau, Wernick stated that following recent events that, “It was now apparent that there is no path for me to have a relationship of mutual trust and respect with the Opposition Leaders.” Wernick, a federal Civil Servant of thirty-eight years standing who had previously worked with the transition teams of three prime ministers, signaled his intentions to leave before the October Federal elections.
“Furthermore, it is essential that during the writ period the clerk be seen by all political parties as an impartial arbiter of whether serious foreign influence has occurred.” Wernick added that it was essential for Canadians “to continue to see their world leading public service as non-partisan.”
Wernick was among those named by Wilson-Raybould, in her testimony before the House of Commons justice committee on February 27, who had tried to influence her to halt the criminal prosecution of SNC–Laval, the giant Quebec-based engineering firm which had been charged, following a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigation, with paying bribes of $47.5 million (Canadian) to Libyan officials between 2001 and 2011, to win Government contracts.
“For a period of approximately four months, between September and December of 2018, I experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the attorney general of Canada,” the former Justice Minister and Attorney General told the committee, to whom she provided a detailed account of meetings and phone calls to back up her accusations.
In his appearance before the justice committee Wernick had steadfastly defended the government and made the rather controversial statement that someone could be ”assassinated” because of intense rhetoric.
On Monday, the five Liberal members of the justice committee, seeking to terminate this nightmare, wrote to the committee chair suggesting that their work was done and any further examination of the SNC-Lavalian affair should be left to the conflict of interest and ethics affairs commissioner.
“As committee members, we have achieved our objectives with respect to these meetings,” the letter stated. “Following the testimony of all witnesses, we believe that all the rules and laws were followed.”
Conservative leader Anthony Scheer condemned the move via social media, quickly accusing Trudeau of “lawyering up” and engaging in a massive cover-up.
Trudeau, who has been in full damage control for several weeks now, held an early morning press conference on March 7th, where he acknowledged that there had been an “erosion of trust” between his office and Wilson-Raybould, a development which he had not been aware of but should have been. Trudeau stopped short of an apology to his former justice minister.
On Monday, Trudeau further incurred the wrath of the opposition by announcing plans to appoint former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister and justice minister Anne McLellan as a special adviser to explore what he called “important questions” about the relationship between the federal government and the Justice Department.
In a statement, Trudeau stated that McLellan “will assess the structure that has been in place since Confederation, of a single minister holding the positions of minister of justice and attorney general of Canada. The release added that “She will consider whether machinery of government or legislative changes may or may not be recommended.”
The opposition parties immediately viewed this development as another sleight of hand manoeuvre by Trudeau to quell this scandal. As Scheer summed it up, “Well, there you have it, Mr. Speaker. Liberals will investigate Liberals to get to the bottom of this.”
Trudeau has found himself in the embarrassing position of a jogger who has ventured into a Canadian park in a pair of brand new running shoes where one lazy dog walker has failed to observe the posted signs advising persons to “pick up after their dogs.” Despite several tries at cleaning the shoes the jogger discovers that the disgusting scent lingers.
Will the smoke of this scandal still hang in the air come October? The Canadian electorate will decide.
