Today, readers are responding to Margaret Wente’s column in response to the SNC-Lavalin and Jody Wilson-Raybould controversy in Ottawa, I’m ashamed of my country. They are also discussing The Globe’s in-depth look at the 11 people Wilson-Raybould said were involved in the SNC-Lavalin affair.
Excellent column Ms. Wente. It's obvious that Mr. Trudeau never learned the lesson that when you live in a glass house you shouldn't throw stones. And thank you to Jody Wilson-Raybould for upholding our legal system and democracy. Being a fellow British Columbian, I am very proud of her.
I am not ashamed of my country. For sure this is not its finest hour. But I have seen worse. A prime minister accepting cash in brown envelopes under the table comes to mind. You live long enough in any country on the globe I guaranty you will see this kind of thing and often worse, much worse. This does not mean we should not strife to do better but comparing it to the US under the Trump administration? Where is the personal enrichment angle in this story.
The good news is that we can vote people who behave badly out of office. Also, as was recently mentioned in The Globe, the position of Attorney General should be separate from other functions and be accountable to parliament as a whole. This would reduce its susceptibility to interference.
Trudeau is not a Leader. Leadership and Integrity are the core matters here and Trudeau failed on both counts.
I completely agree. Thanks to Jody Wilson-Raybould - and Jody Wilson-Raybould alone - the system held.
Adrian Jenko in response:
The new Attorney General will provide Trudeau with a deferred prosecution agreement for SNC-Lavalin. "The system held” - yes, only until she was removed from her job. Unfortunately, people with integrity are not well suited for politics.
Barbiedoll in response:
I’m not sure the new Attorney General David Lametti will be able to do that. He is under a microscope right now and is being watched very carefully by the media and the Canadian people. To go ahead with the deferred prosecution agreement for SNC-Lavalin would be political suicide for the Liberals.
It's a valuable lesson for students of political science: politicians have only two objectives, neither of which include the needs of the electorate - election and re-election. At any cost.
Sledder1205 in response:
I disagree. Jody Wilson-Raybould is an honest politician. They still exist. I consider her to be a Canadian heroine.
Let's replay this. If SNC-Lavalin is actually convicted of any criminal charges (and this is in no way assured), the company itself will not be going to jail. Nor will any of its officers, many of whom no longer even work there. The only available criminal penalties include fines and restrictions on bidding for public contracts. These sanctions are already available as a remediation/negotiating cudgel. Ms. Wilson-Raybould could have directed the prosecutor to pursue that alternative but for reasons unknown to us she rejected that more practical route. Dare I say that maybe she made a bad judgement call in the first place and was too proud and intransigent to admit that she was wrong? As for Trudeau, he should have displayed uncharacteristic toughness and asked for her resignation at the very outset when Ms. Wilson-Raybould announced her immutable decision. He would have taken heat for that but this is politics after all and sometimes it gets ugly. He would have avoided the mess he's in now.
Readers are also responding to The Globe’s in-depth look at the 11 people Wilson-Raybould said were involved in the SNC-Lavalin affair.
Michael WernickAdrian Wyld/The Globe and Mail
Of all the eleven people described in the article, only the Prime Minister was elected. The governance of this country has been hijacked by non-elected staffers and communications "specialists."
I cannot understand why asking someone to seek outside advise on such an important issue is considered pressure. Ms. Wilson Raybould said she made up her mind in September. She seems like a very stubborn person that in the next four months, she cannot even consider seeking some extra advise. Didn’t mean she had to change her mind, just get a different perspective.
The fact that there were 11 people she says were “hounding her” (half of whom are well credentialed lawyers and the other half extremely experienced politicos), tells me even more that everyone knew what they were doing was above board. This was not some back room, covert shady stuff, folks. And in my view, they were doing their jobs by acting in the immediate interests of the country. I feel Jody Wilson-Raybould likely felt she was doing her job too. However, it became personal when she was demoted (which I also understand), and then it became a vendetta. And, here we are.
Why do the Liberals believe they must go to great lengths to get SNC-Lavalin off the hook? What is it that the Liberals owe this construction giant? I truly do not believe this matter is about protecting SNC-Lavalin jobs and pensions. Not for a moment.
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