— Feature, Musings —02.27.2019 04:06 PM
They fired an Indigenous woman because she wouldn’t break the law for them
There can’t help but be demands that Trudeau resign, now. This is extraordinary. #CDNPOLI #LavScam
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) February 27, 2019
That’s it. They fired an Indigenous woman because she wouldn’t break the law for them. #cdnpoli #lavscam
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) February 27, 2019
Why did Butts resign but not Telford? Her involvement appears far more serious. #LavScam #cdnpoli
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) February 27, 2019
“We don’t want to debate legalities any more.” Katie Telford, per @Puglaas. #LavScam #cdnpoli
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) February 27, 2019
“They were interfering.” “Clearly improper.” “Constituted political interference.” “Inappropriate.” @Puglaas now. #LavScam #cdnpoli #lpc #cpc #ndp
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) February 27, 2019
“Express statements of interference.” “Veiled threats.” @Puglaas just now. We could be witnessing the end of this government, folks. #LavScam #Cdnpoli #lpc #cpc #ndp pic.twitter.com/0aLF3335UN
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) February 27, 2019
Trudeau, Wernick, Butts, Telford, Chin: none are lawyers. It shows. Such stupidity. #cdnpoli #LavScam
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) February 27, 2019
What this is. #cdnpoli #lavscam pic.twitter.com/dxwHqeFZDV
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) February 27, 2019
“Bouchard said SNC-Lavalin could not fold six months before a federal election. ‘We can have the best policy in the world but we need to get re-elected,’ he said.”
Bam.
And hey, it turns out that Butts *did* pressure her – immediately after she’d said that the pressure had to stop.
“There is no solution here that does not involve *some* interference.” “We don’t want to continue debating *legalities*”
Holy crap.
“If Jody is nervous, we would line up all sorts of people to write Op-Eds…” Wow. Just… wow.
Okay, I’m going to try to stop doing a blow-by-blow. But if this doesn’t result in the fall of the government, so much for the rule of law in Canada.
Will someone ask who those people were that they wanted to “line-up”?
That question is already being asked…
Powerful. Riveting.
I found getting cover by arranging for op-eds very damaging.
Do stay clear of the blast radius sir.
The next Law School in Canada should be named after JWR.
Simple question:
Was what JT and the PMO et al did Illegal?
As I noted on this site awhile back, I see little difference between this and “tainted Tuna”.
I hope they are “convicted” at the polling stations in the fall at the very least.
two observations: the NDP and Conservatives preface comments with “We Believe You”. The Liberal inquisitors adopt a skeptical, accusatory prosecutorial tone and do not express that they “Believe You”. And, despite having access to Jody’s written remarks and taking notes as she speaks, somehow “misinterpret” and try to put words in Jody’s mouth, to which she easily swats aside with “That’s NOT what I said….”. And true to her character, JWR refuses to be lead down the path of DPAs and ‘job losses’. Her father is a proud man today. As is all of Canada who witnessed this. Anyone know a school in need of a drama teacher? (no disrespect to drama teachers).
They Liberals are clearly trying to discredit her – I just watched Boissonault trying to attack her. And I think it makes them look very, very bad.
I only hope the rest of the country sees it that way too.
No one could possibly comment with more authority than you on this.
How on earth can Justin Trudeau not resign?
How could you spin this? She has notes! I can’t imagine her staff wouldn’t back her up on this.
I know you are not impressed with what they have done BUT imagine for a minute you are the new Principle Secretary to the PM….what would you do?
If he has any decency, he will resign.
Resigning is so pre-Clinton.
So, no, then.
Decency?
Reminds me of a line from a movie.
Bueller?
Ferris Bueller?
Bueller?
After his comments tonight he has apparently decided to double down on the bullshit he’s been spewing the last couple weeks.
If someone asked 20 years ago if it is possible for a black man to be President of USA, the answer would be ‘Not likely”. If someone asked today if its possible for an Indigenous woman to be the Prime Minister of Canada…..?
So the Liberal attack dog (the Rat Pack is not what it used to be!) after having admitted that he is NOT a lawyer and has limited legal capacity, asks JWR to explain how she felt pressured “legally”! Somewhere on a beach in Latin American, Stephen Harper is pouring 2-fifths of Glenbreton whiskey with a slight smirk. And Jagmeet is feeling a bit more of a tailwind.
I want to hear their version before the committee: those four individuals need to be immediately added to the witness list.
But if they, in light of JWR’s testimony, refuse to appear, then Yes, I would second Warren’s resignation call.
I also want to hear Butts’ testimony.
When Trudeau says he COMPLETELY disagrees with JWR’s testimony, that’s all you need to know. He just gave this pressure-cooker type legs right up until the election, or his resignation, whichever comes first.
No way will he let anyone from his entourage testify.
My question: who was giving PMO legal advice before and after JWR made her decision?
I know of one LSUC lawyer there but he does not practise law presently.
“Disagrees”? What does that mean?
Either she’s telling the truth, or she is not. If she’s telling the truth, then there is *no* *way* that the constant harassment of her office can be considered anything other than inappropriate pressure. There’s no room for interpretation or shades of gray here.
So is he calling her a liar? Will he testify to that effect under oath?
There are rumors on another site that Trudeau is going to speak tonight at 8 p.m. Can anyone confirm this?
From groping B.C. reporter Rose Knight without her consent in 2000 to continually pressuring Jody Wilson-Reybould to change her position on SNC-Lavalin despite her repeated insistence not to interfere with prosecutorial discretion in 2018, will faux-feminist Justin Trudeau FINALLY understand that NO MEANS NO?
Wernick has to go as well. So much for a politically neutral civil service.
Again, procedure-wise why is the AG a partisan politicians if the role requires non-partisan decision-making? Split the roles.
#draftcarney
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Carney
I’d vote for him and I’ve never voted Liberal in my life.
The man who destroyed Canadian savers and inflated one of the biggest real estate gasbag bubbles in history?? God help us.
Warren is all over the place today: Evan Solomon, Ray Heard, Lorrie Goldstein and a bunch of others. As a legal expert, his comments carry weight.
An honourable man would resign. That’s why JT won’t.
An honourable man wouldn’t be in this position to begin with.
Trudeau disagrees with her “characterization” of what happened.
Isn’t that the kind of weasel word one sees in cases of sexual misconduct? Something JT has railed against?
I note, as others have, he does no deny that these things happened.
And finally, again JT puts political/economic expediency above ethics and the rule of law. IOW the ends justify the means. PaPa Fidel would be pleased.
Well, he did say that men and women perceive the same events differently (in response to the accusation that he groped a young BC reporter).
Sorry to post again Warren, but if JT says he didn’t think it was undue pressure and that the decision was hers alone, then why did he remove her from the ministry?
That means clearly she was removed because he/they wanted her to come to a different decision. Which means her options were: make the “right” decision or you are fired. If that’s not an unethical perhaps illegal level of pressure I don’t know what is.
Let’s face it, JWR did a great job of cataloging undue pressure. Let’s all face it that no law was broken, she didn’t resign at the time…only after she was demoted. Case closed. So the PM was trying to protect good jobs which are a rare commodity in Canada. Quebec seats +25 LPC. Quebec narrative is rock solid. Red Wave. Now for the ROC…
Rebuttal to Tories: Lavalin can survive but Scheer is against protecting Canadian industry so “he would likely put pressure on the AG prosecute SNC and no one would care because putting pressure is politics 101.” Another line of attack is that Scheer thinks Diefenbaker was right to shut down funding for the Avro Arrow. Calling for the PM to resign is just sooooo insider baseball. Point of order, Andy is clueless. Anyway, Andrew Scheer can’t lay pipe anyway.
Rebuttal to NDP: Economic nationalism is Liberal policy; protecting Canadian jobs is the rebuttal to Jagmeet Singh, on the incorrect claim that the Liberals are helping rich friends: “9,000 employees are rich with intellectual property which we risk losing”. Another line of attack is to hand Singh a undergrad economics text book and offer him a cabinet position if he can pass a mid-term. There are great aspects of socialism, economic reality is not one of those areas. Recall that NDP are supposed to be economic nationalists, unifor, so I guess he doesn’t know Tommy D.
“Lavalin can survive but Scheer is against protecting Canadian industry”
Except for the Quebec dairy industry, apparently.
Agree with everything you’ve written… except the fact that JWR is an Indigenous woman has nothing to do with the magnitude of the scandal. This would be exactly as bad if they’d fired a white man, or a one-legged Chinese trans person, or whatever. They fired someone because they wouldn’t play ball. That’s a scandal regardless of who was on the receiving end.
True dat.
True, but the PM has told us repeatedly, ad nauseam, that he is a feminist and supports indigenous rights, so it all looks hypocritical. Or perhaps he thought an indigenous woman could be pushed around more easily?
Hey Liberals, this is the former Attorney General of Canada, a Liberal, who got fired for resisting cronyism, incriminating her own party’s upper echelons.
A Quebec company gets a wink-wink, I do not believe you appreciate how furious the ROC is about this.
I am very sorry to see it’s as bad as this. JT last lost the moral authoriy to govern effectively. I hope he finds it within himself to step aside and let his party find a new leader. His judgement after three years on the job is sorely lacking, and that just won’t do.
An observation from a former journalist…
I was surprised to see JT address the scandal tonight, but after watching it I realized why.
He was in Montreal to privately meet with the winner of the by-election. I’m assuming there was no media availability planned, and all of the national media stuck around in Ottawa anyhow to watch the Jody show. This opened up an opportunity for JT.
The journos JT picked to ask questions in his media availability weren’t all stars. In fact, I would guess they were local Montreal scribes sent by their assignment editors on short notice… thus the fairly softball questions and unacceptable lack of follow ups (JT left himself open at least twice to serious damage had the journos aggressively followed up on his lack of clarity).
Frankly, a great call by JT’s staff. Had he dodged and not commented today, there would be ENORMOUS pressure to do so tomorrow… in front of the entire national press gallery. IE: they’d smell blood and rip him apart.
He dodged the bullet today, but his moment is coming.