02.26.2019 09:05 PM

#LetHerSpeak: part of the truth isn’t the whole truth

From the Globe (natch):

Former attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould has agreed to testify in televised parliamentary hearings on Wednesday, but is expressing disappointment that a cabinet order permitting her to speak without violating solicitor-client privilege and cabinet confidentiality does not apply to conversations that took place while she was veterans affairs minister or in relation to her resignation from cabinet.

Ms. Wilson-Raybould takes centre stage Wednesday on Parliament Hill in an extraordinary session of the Commons justice committee in which MPs and the public will hear the former justice minister and attorney-general testify about pressure from her own government to abandon the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.

In a letter on Tuesday to Liberal MP Anthony Housefather – chair of the justice committee, which is probing the matter – Ms. Wilson-Raybould said the removal of some of the constraints on what she can say is a “step in the right direction” but “falls far short of what is required” for Canadians to learn all the facts.

The cabinet order “addresses only my time as attorney-general of Canada and therefore does nothing to release me from any restrictions that apply to communications while I served as minister of veterans affairs and in relation to my resignation from that post or my presentation to cabinet after I had resigned,” she wrote.

Ms. Wilson-Raybould noted she is in fact being restricted from speaking about “communications on topics that some members of the committee have explored with other witnesses and about which there have been public statements by others.”

6 Comments

  1. Des says:

    So if she can only talk about things while she was the AG and not afterward, can’t she still talk about why she resigned from cabinet? I can most certainly assume why, however, I don’t see why she can’t do that. Wouldn’t resigning from cabinet be a personal decision which, despite having to do with this specific case, is a free and voluntary decision made on her part. Wouldn’t she be allowed to at least discuss that?

  2. the salamander says:

    .. deary me ! The Globe reports a factual fact !
    To whit.. a letter from Ms Wilson-Reybould !

    Thanks mr Kinsella, we missed that

  3. Sheri Ewing says:

    It’s unfortunate for our democracy that the Liberals are allowing an unbalanced report of what occurred in their “contribution” to the SNC-Lavalin events. Democracies don’t silence any portion of their population – and to so obviously gag a member of cabinet demonstrates a belief that our Prime Minister can interpret Canadian law to suit himself for the purpose of preserving his supporters. Let Jody Wilson-Raybould speak freely, as all Canadians have the right to do. If Trudeau chooses to attempt to limit her ability to speak, I believe she doesn’t have to be as respectful as she has chosen to be and can speak on her own as a Canadian citizen. And as a Canadian citizen, I can then choose to listen to all sides and thus have the ability to make up my own mind and vote accordingly in the next election.

  4. Linda Middleton says:

    Let her speak freely.

  5. Dale Middleton says:

    Let her tell the whole truth.

  6. Paul says:

    Let’s hear all of it

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