, 02.21.2019 10:43 AM

#LavScam Globe stunner: what JWR told cabinet

…and, as she almost certainly expected, they’re leaking it. They’re waiving the privilege all on their own. And thereby helping her to get her story out.

Man, she is smart. They’re playing checkers – and she always plays chess.

Story here.

Former attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould told federal cabinet ministers she believed it was improper for officials in the Prime Minister’s Office to press her to help SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. out of its legal difficulties, sources say…

On Tuesday, Ms. Wilson-Raybould privately outlined her concerns about the handling of the SNC-Lavalin prosecution to her former colleagues within the confidentiality of cabinet, freed from the bounds of solicitor-client privilege that have restricted her public statements so far.

According to a source with knowledge of the cabinet discussions, Ms. Wilson-Raybould said the director of the prosecution service rejected a negotiated settlement with SNC-Lavalin based on how the law applies to the company’s case. The Liberal government had changed the Criminal Code to allow for deferred prosecutions in which a company admits wrongdoing and pays a fine, but avoids a trial. Under Canada’s new deferred-prosecution agreement law, prosecutors are not allowed to consider national economic interests when deciding whether to settle with a company.

Once prosecutors decided in early September to move to trial, Ms. Wilson-Raybould told cabinet she felt it was wrong for anyone – including the Prime Minister, members of his staff and other government officials – to raise the issue with her, the source said. Another source added that Ms. Wilson-Raybould would not budge from her position at the cabinet meeting.

The Liberal source said government officials had also proposed an outside panel of legal experts to recommend a solution to the SNC-Lavalin issue, but Ms. Wilson-Raybould rejected the suggestion.

16 Comments

  1. Sunny Waze says:

    I see no proof they are playing checkers. Trudeau looks like he would be happy just getting the square block to fit into the square hole.

    • Karl Milton Marx Friedman says:

      Since the DPA does not accommodate economic reasons (financial, shareholder considerations…) then what other reasons should it have been granted for SNC Lavalin? Try, undue distribution of punishment amongst 9,000 employees for a few sneaky top performing sales managers!

      You get the inpression that most politico/legal hacks have never held jobs with aggressive targets. (Some) successful companies expect employees to bend the rules to meet targets. This should not be a revelation, wow. What to do about it? Punish with precision, obviously.

  2. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    It’s my impression that it’s not really in their interest to leak this, which only reinforces JWR’s argument.

    They are all over the place on this one.

    (Remember when Jean made Harper wait several hours? Didn’t end well. It should have been decided long before JWR got there whether she could speak with cabinet…)

  3. Bob says:

    Will Trudeau call in the RCMP to investigate this latest leak?

    • Housevader says:

      If the leak is accurate, then we have a case of someone enduring pressure (which she did). But for many reasons, she was shuffled including but not limited to: lack of French, bungling the Inquiry into Missing First Nations and not being a team player on SNC Lavalin…

      Cause and effect is a cruel mistress. JWR has her theory but there is more than one variable at play.

      Meanwhile,
      Hudson Bay Company: deal weilding
      The big Five Banks: deal weilding
      The big 3 Telecoms: deal weilding
      Name a successful Canadian company and I will name you “cultural” entity, protected against market forces from our American cousins. If anything, this scandal helps to clarify the inherent bubbles of inefficiency which create the moldy basis of the Family Compact ‘19.

  4. Sean says:

    I was worried even though you told a a responder not to be. Justin will never admit wrongdoing- it’s the nature of his narcissism. We can expect more denial, rationalization and outward lies from him. In JWR a hard rain is about to fall. Are there enough Trudeautards to keep him in power?

  5. Lyn says:

    Bingo!! How long is this PM going to continue to lie. The Liberals need to hold a non confident vote and get Trudeau to step down.

  6. Joseph says:

    Seems to suggest that in their haste to get the law on the books that the “smart” people that came up with this brilliant plan neglected to read it.
    That would also suggest there was an expected outcome that everyone at the cabinet table, including PMO staff, believed there was concurrence on.
    So when the expectations where not happening the AG was pressed as to why, not once, but on numerous occasions by just about everyone that had the ability to make life difficult for her.
    So she walked into cabinet and without pointing a finger explained why it would be wrong if anyone even talked to her about it.
    Basically then, anyone that has talked to her about it knows they just got a big bullseye drawn on them.

    Warren, got any predictions on who might suddenly decide they need to spend more time with their family?

  7. Gord says:

    Reading between the lines, my takeaway is that the PM himself didn’t pressure her. He’s probably telling the truth when he says that in his discussions with her, he told her the choice was “hers to make”. She says that it would be “inappropriate” for him to pressure her but apparently stopped short of saying the PM pressured her but rather it was “officials in the Prime Minister’s Office”.

    My guess is that, in the interest of keeping up appearances, the PM sent his henchman Butts to do the actual dirty work. Butts then resigns in hopes he won’t be called to testify before a Committee and have to discuss whether the PM essentially ordered him to put pressure on JWR to change her mind.

    Sadly, unless the Liberal MPs decide to turn on him, I think the PM is going to wiggle out from under this one.

  8. I think we might be reading into this here. Parsing the graph presented here, JWR doesn’t say that these actors DID “raise the issue” with her; she expresses how wrong it WOULD BE if they did. I still expect JT to wriggle out of this. She got her pound of flesh with Butts’ firing. The Cabinet and caucus doesn’t want more drama eight months away from an election. Better to use this as a way to make their opposition look bad by over-reaching.

    Anyway, I suspect no more pissing inside the tent from here on out.

  9. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    I don’t think those in the know, outside the PMO, will accept a modified limited hangout. And that means continuing trouble for the government ahead. Otherwise, why would push back be ongoing, day in and day out?

  10. the salamander says:

    .. In our nimble lowly n humble view.. its a vast stretch to presume or speculate that ms Wilson-Reybould desired a trophy retribution victim a la Gerald Butts or other. (their head on a pike) That implies she needs a personal vanity stroke job.. oh deary me .. eye for an eye y’think ? This fandangle must play out.. or be slid under the carpet, stashed in a caucus broom cabinet a la Stephen Harper.. a bogeyman or woman to frighten short pants n skirts foolish wannabe transgressors in the future p’raps ?

    Well well.. maybe the lens can be moved or the forensic specimen glass slide of viral pneumo-bloviation-enormenous can be slid to the microscopic lens.. So far they Rhe Globe claim Pulitzer status.. but may deserve the dunce’s pointy headed hat for uncovering via anonymous sources more business as usual.. by captured governments dependant on – or addicted to donor dollars.. caloo callay .. huzzah

  11. Yank in Buffalo says:

    As for the rest of the story, it apparently goes much, much deeper than SNC-Lavalin:

    https://buffalochronicle.com/2019/02/19/scheer-wants-bmo-and-treasury-official-questioned-in-snc-lavalin-probe/

    Grab the popcorn folks……

  12. Vancouverois says:

    “government officials had also proposed an outside panel of legal experts to recommend a solution to the SNC-Lavalin issue”

    Wow. Just… wow.

    Am I the only one who’s appalled at this?

  13. Shoot the moon says:

    What nobody mentions is the harper era CPC 2006 DPP Act that authorizes the AG to assume the conduct of a prosecution or to direct the DPP to, for example, invite SNC to negotiate a DPA. These authorities persist until a verdict, which could be a year or more from now. No AG decision is “final” until a verdict has been rendered.

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