#LavScam echoes: in yesterday walks today

— 02.25.2019 03:03 PM

THEN: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Donald Trump told James Comey, “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”

NOW: “A lot of [your] colleagues and the Prime Minister are quite anxious,” the Clerk of the Privy Council told Jody Wilson-Raybould.  “There are a lot of people worried about what [will] happen, the consequences – not for [you] – the consequences for the (SNC-Lavalin) workers and the communities and the suppliers.”


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#LavScam legal: why I think some folks in Ottawa may have obstructed justice

— 02.25.2019 09:00 AM

A reporter and I went back and forth on the issue today.  He had written there was no chance of a criminal charge.  I disagreed.

I told him the actus reus of the offence of obstructing justice, under s. 139, is that the act simply needs “the tendency to defeat or obstruct the course of justice”.(See: R. v. Robinson, 2012 BCSC 430 at 21). “The tendency.” That’s a pretty low bar, no?

That’s not all, as they say: the accused need only have only created a risk that an injustice will occur. (See: R. v. Graham, (1985), 20 C.C.C. (3d) 210 (Ont. C.A.), which was affirmed before the Supremes at 1988 CanLII 94 (SCC), [1988] 1 S.C.R. 214).  And, anticipating what the likely accused may say, it’s no defence that the actions were an error in judgment or a mistake. (See R. v. Yazelle 2012 SKCA 91 (CanLII)).  Won’t work.  Neither will saying – as they’ve done, over and over – that jobs were at stake.  They’d get laughed out of the courtroom (no case law needed).

I’ve felt from the start that this thing will end up in Court.  Acquittal or not, R. v. Duffy demonstrates why that may be unhelpful in an election year.



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#LavScam latest: is Justin Trudeau SNC-Lavalin’s water boy?

— 02.25.2019 08:09 AM

Pretty much.

From today’s Globe. There is apparently no rule, no law, no principle that Justin Trudeau will not break to assist this sleazy multinational.  None.

The Trudeau government is considering changes to ethical procurement rules that stipulate how long a company can be banned from bidding on federal contracts, a revision of policy that one expert says could offer Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin another means of coping with the fraud and corruption charges it faces.

SNC-Lavalin, the Quebec engineering giant at the centre of the Wilson-Raybould affair, faces the charges stemming from an RCMP investigation into its business dealings in Libya. If convicted, it could be banned from bidding on federal contracts for 10 years.

Public Services and Procurement Canada is proposing granting itself more flexibility in deciding how long a company is banned from bidding when convicted.

SNC-Lavalin has been seeking a negotiated settlement in which a company admits wrongdoing and pays a fine, but avoids a trial. Last September, however, the federal director of public prosecutions rejected the request and informed the company the prosecution would continue.

Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office have denied putting inappropriate pressure on Jody Wilson-Raybould when she was justice minister and attorney-general on the case. In the ensuing fallout, she resigned from cabinet and Gerald Butts, principal secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, stepped down. Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has launched an inquiry into the matter.


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#LavScam latest: first Butts, now Telford

— 02.23.2019 12:11 PM

…and the Clerk of the Privy Council applying raw muscle, too. I’m sure it’s all nothing. Here.

Oh, and all the rich white people from Toronto didn’t like how the Indian girl had opinions about what should happen to her own people. How dare she! Here.


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What do you call two cases of obstruction of justice?

— 02.22.2019 04:36 PM

Well, some mean people would call it “Trudeau’s PMO standard operating procedure.” But I’m a nice guy, so I’d never say that.

So:

  • interference with prosecutions
  • allegations of obstruction of justice
  • involving all of the same people
  • don’t ever, ever fuck with our friend Marie Henein

That last one is free advice.

Anyway. Here’s some of the story. BOOM.

“Subpoenas have been issued to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his former and current top officials — including ex-principal secretary Gerald Butts — for any notes, emails or texts they may have related to the criminal case against Vice-Admiral Mark Norman.

The notes are being sought by the legal team defending the former vice chief of the defence staff against a single charge of breach of trust. Norman is accused of leaking cabinet secrets in relation to a shipbuilding deal.

The subpoenas were issued earlier this month as Toronto lawyer Marie Henein was preparing a motion to dismiss the case on the basis of alleged political interference.

The court order for notes includes both the prime minister and Butts, and also Trudeau’s Chief of Staff Katie Telford, Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick and Zita Astravas, chief of staff to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.”


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