Re: SNC-Lavalin Scandal

by JAFO Thu 28 Mar 2019, 5:53 pm

Trooper wrote:What exactly is the objectives from Wilson & Philpott?

Both committees (justice - ethnic) are overruled, over-run by the Liberals so nothing will happen there, (nothing)!

Both have remain in the Liberal caucus?

To me staying in the party while quietly protesting the Prime Minister and some who surround him is just down right stupid.

If I was the leader of either the NDP OR Conservatives I would stick to condemning the PM for election points. I would ignore both Wilson & Phiipott as long as they both remain committed to the Liberals.

Two reasons for Phillpot and Wilson-Raybold staying in the Liberal caucaus

1. They are challenging Trudeau to be the feminist he says he is, which by his actions are far from the truth

2. One of Trudeau's biggest election promises was "transparency". Is he being transparent right now? Hell no!! So I encourage and appreciate both women doing this to hold a person they believed in when he recruited them to run for the Liberal party to be transparent.

Canadian citizens cannot force Trudeau to live up to his transparency gov't. But two caucus members THEY have the power to change politics.

Ask yourself this Trooper....if Trudeau kicks both women out of the Liberal party how is he going to look come election time to voters? Especially female voters.

by **Trooper** Thu 28 Mar 2019, 6:37 pm

JAFO wrote:
Trooper wrote:What exactly is the objectives from Wilson & Philpott?

Both committees (justice - ethnic) are overruled, over-run by the Liberals so nothing will happen there, (nothing)!

Both have remain in the Liberal caucus?

To me staying in the party while quietly protesting the Prime Minister and some who surround him is just down right stupid.

If I was the leader of either the NDP OR Conservatives I would stick to condemning the PM for election points. I would ignore both Wilson & Phiipott as long as they both remain committed to the Liberals.

Two reasons for Phillpot and Wilson-Raybold staying in the Liberal caucaus

1. They are challenging Trudeau to be the feminist he says he is, which by his actions are far from the truth

2. One of Trudeau's biggest election promises was "transparency". Is he being transparent right now? Hell no!! So I encourage and appreciate both women doing this to hold a person they believed in when he recruited them to run for the Liberal party to be transparent.

Canadian citizens cannot force Trudeau to live up to his transparency gov't. But two caucus members THEY have the power to change politics.

Ask yourself this Trooper....if Trudeau kicks both women out of the Liberal party how is he going to look come election time to voters? Especially female voters.

I did not look at it from that perspective, but yeah, well said!

by Terrarium Thu 28 Mar 2019, 7:52 pm

Anthony Housefather: Public will see documents Wilson-Raybould submitted to Justice Committee

CTV News
Published on Mar 28, 2019

by Terrarium Thu 28 Mar 2019, 8:04 pm

Wilson-Raybould's new evidence may address SNC-Lavalin contradictions

Published Thursday, March 28, 2019 2:37PM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, March 28, 2019 4:26PM EDT

OTTAWA – New and supplementary evidence from former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould regarding the SNC-Lavalin scandal is set to be made public Friday.

These additional documents include a new written statement, as well as copies of emails and text messages currently in the hands of the House Justice Committee that had been studying the SNC-Lavalin affair.

The Liberal MP is providing this evidence to further bolster the testimony she gave to the committee on Feb. 27. In that testimony Wilson-Raybould detailed what she considered to be high-level "veiled threats" and political interference in an effort to have her instruct federal prosecutors to drop the criminal prosecution of the Quebec construction and engineering giant and pursue a remediation agreement instead.

"For a period of approximately four months, between September and December of 2018, I experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role of Attorney General of Canada, in an inappropriate effort to secure a prosecution agreement with SNC-Lavalin," she testified.

Wilson-Raybould said she was consistently reminded of the potential political implications in Quebec, should SNC-Lavalin be found guilty in the case and therefore possibly no longer be able to apply for federal contracts, leading to the company moving out of Canada.

She offered an in-depth account of approximately 20 exchanges --10 phone calls and 10 meetings -- specifically on the SNC-Lavalin case while she was still attorney general and justice minister. She also worked through a chronology of communications, ranging from in-person meetings and phone calls, to text messages and emails, from 11 senior staffers from the Prime Minister's Office, Privy Council Office and the finance minister's office.

Since her testimony, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has faced calls to resign, the House of Commons agenda has been largely usurped by opposition-prompted procedural moves, and several other high-profile officials have resigned amid insistence that nothing improper occurred.

The opposition wanted to invite Wilson-Raybould back to testify again -- something she was open to -- but Liberal MPs on the House Justice Committee shut down the study saying that they’d heard all they needed to.

The evidence is expected to include physical copies of texts and emails she referenced during her initial testimony, as well as her rebuttal to the contradicting stories that others have offered since her appearance a month ago.

"I also have relevant facts and evidence in my possession that further clarify statements I made and elucidate the accuracy and nature of statements by witnesses in testimony that came after my Committee appearance," Wilson-Raybould wrote in her letter informing the committee that she’d be offering up more information.

Throughout her testimony, she cautioned there were limitations in her ability to speak broadly about the case because of the specifics of the waiver of solicitor-client privilege and cabinet confidence that Trudeau had issued. Whatever she has handed over to the committee is expected to stay within the lines of what is permitted in the waiver, which includes any relevant information related to the case against SNC-Lavalin over her years-long tenure as attorney general.

Chair of the committee Anthony Housefather has said that the evidence will be made public at 3 p.m. on Friday, after it is translated and redacted for any personal information, like phone numbers or private email addresses.

In advance of this new evidence, here's CTVNews.ca's summary of the key aspects of what Wilson-Raybould said during her hours-long Feb. 27 testimony, and subsequent counter testimonies or statements that offer the government’s perspective on these interactions or situations.

Wilson-Raybould said she took issue with government officials suggesting that she should seek an external review by a legal expert to weigh in on whether or not the government should pursue a deferred prosecution agreement in the SNC-Lavalin case. She alleged that senior officials told her they would provide cover for her, such as favorable op-eds from friendly legal voices, if she went ahead with it.

Gerald Butts, the former principal secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, defended the idea of an external review during his two-hour follow-up testimony, saying that it would have been appropriate because it would have been the first time ever an agreement of this type was pursued in Canada.

"We felt that outside advice was appropriate because of the extraordinary consequences of a conviction. The fact that the company involved employs so many people across the country heightened the public importance of the matter," Butts said.

When she had made up her mind

Wilson-Raybould said that "everyone was fully aware that I had made my decision," including the prime minister, in the fall.

"I told Trudeau that I had done my due diligence and made up my mind on SNC and that I was not going to interfere with the decision of the DPP," she said.

She also said that she had told Butts during a December meeting at the Chateau Laurier that she "needed everyone to stop talking to me about SNC as I had made up my mind and the engagements were inappropriate."

Butts disputed this version of events during his March 6 testimony.

"I learned for the first time while watching the former attorney-general's testimony that she had made a final decision on the 16th of September. My understanding is that nobody in the PMO or PCO knew that at the time either."

He also said as far as he was aware she had not communicated to anyone that the pressure was improper.

More broadly, Butts also stated: "We did what any responsible government would, of any political stripe. We worked as hard as we could, strictly within the laws and conventions of the country, to protect thousands and thousands of Canadian jobs... I am firmly convinced that nothing happened here beyond the normal operations of government."

Text exchange, meeting with chief-of-staff

Speaking about a text conversation she had with her then-chief of staff Jessica Prince about a meeting Prince had with Butts and Trudeau's Chief of Staff Katie Telford, Wilson-Raybould quoted her staffer as telling her that Butts had allegedly said: "Jess, there is no solution here that doesn't involve some interference."

She said this exchange came after Prince was "urgently summoned" to meet with the pair.

Butts disputed this characterization, saying that "there was no urgency to attend that meeting. … In any case, it was a brief meeting between staff, the kind which happens dozens of times a day, every day on Parliament Hill."

He also said that the recounting of the exchange with Prince was taken out of context and that he had a "very different recollection of that meeting."

PM references being MP from Papineau

During one conversation she had with the prime minister, Wilson-Raybould said she looked him "in the eye" and directly asked if he was politically interfering in her role, after he allegedly referenced being the MP for Papineau, Que.

"The prime minister said, 'No, no, no, we just need to find a solution,'" Wilson-Raybould said.

At a press conference 20 days later, Trudeau said that he did mention that he was the MP from Papineau, but that "it is our job as Parliamentarians to defend the interests of the communities we were elected to represent, to be the voice of those communities in Ottawa."

Morneau staffer's alleged involvement

In another exchange, Wilson-Raybould named Ben Chin, who is Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s chief of staff. She said that he spoke with Prince to say that extending a deferred prosecution agreement to SNC-Lavalin needed to happen out of fear the company would relocate.

"In my view, these events constituted pressure," she told the committee.

Morneau later defended his staff, saying they acted entirely appropriately and out of interest of jobs.

"My staff, appropriately, would make her staff aware of the economic consequences of decisions," Morneau said. "I can't speak to her views, she has her opinion."

'Veiled threats' from PCO clerk?

Wilson-Raybould referred to more "veiled threats" that came around Dec. 18 and 19, when she had a phone call with Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick in which he sought to know whether her thinking had changed about pursuing a deferred prosecution agreement.

She alleges that Wernick told her: "I think he is gonna find a way to get it done one way or another. So, he is in that kinda mood and I wanted you to be aware of that."

In his second appearance before the House Justice Committee, Wernick denied ever making any threats in relation to Wilson-Raybould's handling of the criminal case.

"The minister experienced lawful advocacy to consider doing something lawful in the public interest. I made no threats, veiled or otherwise, that the minister's decision would lead to consequences for her…It is my contention the minister was doing her job and I was doing mine," Wernick said.

On her leaving cabinet

Wilson-Raybould told the committee that she believes she was shuffled out of her role as justice minister and attorney general because of her refusal to change her mind about the case, something she says Trudeau denied when she floated that view.

She also alleged that days before the January cabinet shuffle, Wernick called her former deputy minister and said that one of the first conversations the new justice minister -- later named as Quebec MP David Lametti -- would be having in his new role was on the SNC-Lavalin file. Wilson-Raybould said that if he had gone through with a remediation agreement early in his mandate, she would have resigned from cabinet at that point.

In contrast, Butts offered a different narrative around the January shuffle.

"Neither her move from justice nor minister Lametti's move into it had anything whatsoever to do with SNC-Lavalin. So the plan was a simple one. Philpott to Treasury Board, Wilson-Raybould to Indigenous Services. … Then minister Wilson-Raybould did something I didn't expect. I had never seen anyone do it before, in many shuffles, over many years. The former Attorney-General turned down a Cabinet portfolio."

Butts said that she couldn’t take the Indigenous services portfolio because she was opposed to the Indian Act, which ultimately prompted her being moved to veterans affairs instead.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/wilson-raybould-s-new-evidence-may-address-snc-lavalin-contradictions-1.4356163

by Terrarium Thu 28 Mar 2019, 8:08 pm

SNC warned of U.S. move, slashing workforce if no plea deal, documents show

Jordan Press and Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, March 28, 2019 4:24PM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, March 28, 2019 5:43PM EDT

OTTAWA -- SNC-Lavalin warned federal prosecutors last fall about a possible plan to split the company in two, move its offices to the United States and eliminate its Canadian workforce if it didn't get a deal to avoid criminal prosecution, newly obtained documents show.

The documents, part of a PowerPoint presentation obtained by The Canadian Press, describe something called "Plan B" -- what Montreal-based SNC might have to do if it can't convince the government to grant a so-called remediation agreement to avoid criminal proceedings in a fraud and corruption case related to projects in Libya.

Under that plan, SNC would move its Montreal headquarters and corporate offices in Ontario and Quebec to the U.S. within a year, cutting its workforce to just 3,500 from 8,717, before eventually winding up its Canadian operations.

"The government of Canada needs to weigh the public interest impact of the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin," the presentation reads.

"We must humbly ask whether the public interest is served to prosecute SNC-Lavalin, and to try to achieve a guilty verdict. Such a decision would effectively lead to the end of SNC-Lavalin as we know it today and has been for more than 100 years."

Of all the options for the future of the company, the plan in the presentation was the "most obvious" to follow and "well advanced" in terms of planning, say the documents, which the Privy Council Office confirmed receiving late last year.

The company's board and senior management were prepared to quickly bundle parts of the business that had no role in the Libya case into a new entity, putting the "trio of possibly convicted entities" into another organization that would operate "on a reduced business level in Canada or heading into eventual wind-up," they read.

The details appear to contradict public statements by chief executive officer Neil Bruce, who has denied both that the company threatened to move its headquarters, and that the company cited its some 9,000 Canadian jobs as a reason the construction giant should be granted a remediation agreement.

The company walked back the comments days later in a statement, saying a remediation deal was the best path to protect its Canadian workforce.

SNC-Lavalin spokesman Nicolas Ryan confirmed the authenticity Thursday of what he called a "confidential document" that was submitted to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada to allow the director of public prosecutions to consider the company's request for an agreement.

"We have always been transparent with our various stakeholders about the importance of the public interest argument/case for Canada in having a globally competitive SNC-Lavalin as part of Canada, headquartered in Montreal," Ryan said in a statement.

A remediation agreement remains "the best way to protect and grow the almost 9,000 direct Canadian SNC-Lavalin jobs, as well as thousands of indirect jobs," the statement continues.

"We have also said that we have a fiduciary duty to our shareholders and employees, and as such is our responsibility to look at all our options available.... this does not mean that we have chosen one option or that a decision has been taken on which option we will pursue, simply that there are various possibilities we must consider."

The presentation, which was delivered by mail to The Canadian Press anonymously and without a return address, also suggests the end of seven-figure donations and sponsorships for various community causes, hundreds of millions more in lost tax revenues, and the loss of spending on research positions at universities.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has held up the threat of job losses as the main reason he and others pressed former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to look into the prosecutor's decision.

Wilson-Raybould told the Commons justice committee last month she came under "consistent and sustained" pressure -- including veiled threats -- from Trudeau, his office, the Privy Council Office and Finance Minister Bill Morneau's office to halt the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.

The ensuing political fallout has cost Trudeau two cabinet ministers -- Wilson-Raybould and former Treasury Board president Jane Philpott, who said she had lost confidence in the government's handling of the affair -- as well as one of his top aides, Gerald Butts, and Michael Wernick, clerk of the Privy Council, who will leave his post as the top federal civil servant before the fall election.

Bruce and Wernick met on Sept. 18 about the company's legal troubles.

Notes taken at the meeting, tabled as evidence with the House of Commons justice committee, show that Wernick told Bruce to take the public interest argument to the director of public prosecutions, adding the company "will want to get it right."

Wernick testified earlier this month that he spoke with Wilson-Raybould the next day where the former attorney general appeared "very firm in her mind" that the prosecutor's decision to not negotiate a deal with SNC-Lavalin was final. Wernick said Wilson-Raybould told him the only option for the company was to make public interest arguments through its lawyers.

A spokeswoman for the prosecution service said any discussions or documents in the case are confidential.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/snc-warned-of-u-s-move-slashing-workforce-if-no-plea-deal-documents-show-1.4356388

by Terrarium Thu 28 Mar 2019, 8:23 pm

SNC-Lavalin's legal woes are putting a $500M federal defence contract at risk

What happens to a company's existing contracts following a conviction? Turns out it's complicated

Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Mar 28, 2019

SNC-Lavalin Scandal - Page 30 Canada-hmcs-edmonton-navy

Zodiacs surround the Canadian Navy's HMCS Edmonton coastal defence vessel during a training exercise as the ship arrives in Vancouver in 2009. SNC-Lavalin holds 53 'active' federal government contracts, many of them with DND. (Andy Clark/Reuters)

A SNC-Lavalin contract with the Department of National Defence (DND) worth half a billion dollars comes up for renewal next year — when the Montreal-based engineering giant is expected to be on trial over corruption charges.

The pending expiry of the $507 million contract to support the servicing of minor warships and auxiliary vessels, signed in 2011, sharpens the debate over what a guilty verdict would mean for the Quebec-based engineering giant and whether a conviction actually would mean subjecting the company to a 10-year ban on bidding for federal contracts.

The stakes are high for DND. In addition to holding an important defence contract, SNC-Lavalin has access to a range of secret military drawings, equipment and intellectual property. Although its agreements are periodically reopened to new bids, the embattled corporation has been a reliable contractor for National Defence.

A survey of active federal government contracts shows DND and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) were the two biggest users of SNC-Lavalin services and construction during the current fiscal year.

Across the whole of the federal government, SNC-Lavalin holds 53 'active' federal government contracts — 25 of them with DND — with a combined value of $670 million.

A company with a big federal footprint
The firm signed roughly $68 million in new or renewed agreements with the federal government ($23.7 million with DND and PSPC alone) in the current budget year up to the end of December.

That figure excludes what could be a large number of smaller contracts worth less than $25,000 — contracts the federal government can award without competition.

An inventory of those agreements is extremely difficult to track down, but PSPC acknowledged it awarded $146,522 in minor work to SNC-Lavalin in the current fiscal year.

The RCMP laid corruption charges against SNC-Lavalin and some of its units in February 2015. All the charges relate to the company's operations in Libya. The charges allege that the company offered officials in that country $47 million in bribes and accuse SNC-Lavalin and two of its subsidiaries of defrauding various Libyan public agencies of approximately $129.8 million over 10 years, starting in 2001.

The company has been at the centre of a political firestorm since early February, when The Globe and Mail reported that former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould felt pressured by the Prime Minister's Office to grant the company a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) — a legal tool which would have allowed the company to avoid a criminal trial by acknowledging fault and paying a fine, among other conditions.

In defending their interest in a DPA for SNC-Lavalin, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others in his government have pointed to the scale of the engineering firm's business, the possibility it could be banned from federal government work and the number of people it employs.

Scott Newark, a former Crown prosecutor who teaches at Simon Fraser University, said it's been clear from the outset that avoiding the federal contract ban has been SNC-Lavalin's main objective.

The question of what would happen to those federal contracts should the company be convicted is a subject of debate, however.

There are policy provisions that allow federal officials to cancel existing contracts and ban future bids from a company convicted of serious crimes, such as bribery.

PSPC would only say the federal government would "assess the situation" if "a supplier becomes ineligible during the life of a contract" due to a conviction.

The power to terminate or suspend a contract rests with federal bureaucrats, according to PSPC's Ineligibility and Suspension Policy.

A company convicted of serious crimes can avoid being fired by the feds by signing an undertaking stating "that it will conduct business with Canada in an ethical and responsible manner." But there's never a guarantee that such an undertaking will be offered to a convicted company.

Just three companies are currently banned from carrying on business with the federal government — all relatively small firms in Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland.

No ban on bidding during trial
A spokesman for DND said there's nothing stopping SNC-Lavalin from continuing to bid on federal contracts as they appear, even during its trial.

"These contracts were issued pursuant to Government of Canada contracting regulations, particularly as it concerns open, fair and transparent competitions," said Dan Le Bouthillier in an email. "Those regulations also stipulate that any company eligible to bid on Government of Canada contracts may continue to do so, so long as they meet the necessary requirements for the work."

In an analysis piece for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Newark said PSPC is working on a revision of its 'integrity regime' policy to give federal officials more discretion to waive bans of individual companies contracting with the federal government.

Public Services Minister Carla Qualtrough has said her department is looking at eliminating fixed bidding disqualification periods and replacing them with a wholly discretionary determination — which would include the option of imposing no contracting ban at all.

Even under the current system, Newark said, an order cancelling a company's federal contracts and banning it from future contracts following a conviction is far from a slam-dunk.

"I checked on the Criminal Code and the Corruption of Public Foreign Officials Act and, of course, it's not in those statutes. It's not a mandatory consequence." he said.

The integrity regime review has been underway in Qualtrough's department since 2017. Newark said he's amazed that nobody with the company or the federal government seems to have realized that a conviction for SNC-Lavalin could lead to something other than a 10-year contracting ban.

"Why didn't anybody say, 'Hey wait a minute. We know what about this. We're changing our policy,'" he said.

The head of procurement at DND attempted to reassure members of the all-party House of Commons defence committee during a hearing last month that SNC-Lavalin's "secret" work for the federal government does not pose an unacceptable risk.

"We hold the intellectual property, the drawings and everything," Pat Finn testified on Feb. 28. "Irrespective of the circumstances in which the contract is terminated, we hold the material."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/snc-lavalin-contract-defence-bribery-1.5073996?fbclid=IwAR0S3LvmNgupYZ0vPHABWYiscJRvjRoxBdnKoYlBy-NcOJmqA1xSQbRVKBA

by Silveray Fri 29 Mar 2019, 1:09 pm

SNC-Lavalin Scandal - Page 30 Images?q=tbn:ANd9GcThBvSzeIQIjjNp_uF8XfLmi0iCdTtpxU_yz7zZJ3pqvEltkZdC

Wilson-Raybould recorded conversation as she faced pressure over SNC-Lavalin file

Written statement, emails and text messages expected to be released later today

CBC News · Posted: Mar 29, 2019

SNC-Lavalin Scandal - Page 30 Snc-lavalin-20190227

SNC-Lavalin Scandal - Page 30 Snc-lavalin-20190227

Materials submitted to the Commons Justice Committee this week indicate Jody Wilson-Raybould recorded at least one of the contentious conversations at the heart of the SNC-Lavalin affair, multiple sources tell CBC News.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said Wilson-Raybould's exit from cabinet was a result of a "erosion of trust" between Wilson-Raybould and the Prime Minister's Office. The existence of a recording suggests that trust may have broken down well before she left cabinet on Feb. 12.

The audio recording, or a transcript of it, is expected to be part of a new submission to the committee from Wilson-Raybould to be released later today. That submission also includes a written statement, emails and text messages.

CBC News asked Wilson-Raybould if she intended to submit an audio recording to the committee.

"I have no comment," she replied by email.

It is not clear which conversation or conversations were recorded.

During her four-hour testimony before the committee on Feb. 27, Wilson-Raybould provided direct quotes from many of her conversations with various officials.

She recounted a phone call with Michael Wernick, the clerk of the Privy Council, on Dec. 19, in which she said he made it clear to her that the prime minister was "quite determined, quite firm" on the SNC-Lavalin matter. She said Wernick asked why the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) route "isn't being used."

She said Wernick told her that Trudeau was "a bit worried," and that the prime minister is "gonna find a way to get it done one way or another. So, he is in that kinda mood and I wanted you to be aware of that."

When Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick testified before the committee for the second time, on March 6, he said he did not have "independent recollection" of what he said during a Dec. 19 conversation with Wilson-Raybould.

"I did not record the conversation. I did not wear a wire. I did not take notes and that is not my recollection of how the conversation flowed," he testified.

As attorney-general, Wilson-Raybould was the government's lawyer and was covered by solicitor-client privilege. It would be unusual for a solicitor to knowingly record conversations with a client without informing them first.

Trudeau's waiver from cabinet confidence and solicitor-client privilege allows Wilson-Raybould to speak freely about events up to her departure as justice minister and attorney general. It does not cover the period when she remained in cabinet after being moved to Veterans Affairs.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wilson-raybould-justice-committee-documents-audio-1.5076563?fbclid=IwAR2DslUw-Aobnq290TGA8GNrDMRAoAXqb2hIczwYVrZBNTuaXdpXjzkZRBo

by RevForce Fri 29 Mar 2019, 4:57 pm

The stunning incompetence of Justin Trudeau and the PMO

True North
Published on Mar 29, 2019

by RevForce Fri 29 Mar 2019, 5:02 pm

Trudeau attacks conservative judge to distract from Lavscam | Lorne Gunter

Rebel Media
Published on Mar 29, 2019

by RevForce Fri 29 Mar 2019, 5:07 pm

Audio recording to be released in addition to new Wilson-Raybould evidence: sources

Published Friday, March 29, 2019 12:45PM EDT
Last Updated Friday, March 29, 2019 1:27PM EDT

OTTAWA – An audio recording from former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould will be made public Friday, in addition to new and supplementary evidence related to the SNC-Lavalin scandal, sources have confirmed to CTV News.

The sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity given that the material has yet to be released publicly, tell CTV News that the audio file will be made public later. It is unclear exactly what the audio recording will be of, but it may be some type of interaction related to the ongoing controversy and her allegations of improper pressure.

The audio is expected to be provided to all members of the House Justice Committee, in addition to the translated documents that Wilson-Raybould had provided days ago.

The additional documents are also expected to include a new written statement that will likely be her rebuttal to the contradicting stories that others have offered since her appearance before the committee a month ago, as well as copies of emails and text messages that she referenced during her initial testimony.

Wilson-Raybould, who is still a member of the Liberal caucus, is providing this evidence to further bolster the testimony she gave to the committee on Feb. 27. In that testimony Wilson-Raybould detailed what she considered to be months of high-level "veiled threats" and political interference from nearly a dozen senior government officials. She alleged that this was in an effort to have her instruct federal prosecutors to drop the criminal prosecution of the Quebec construction and engineering giant and pursue a remediation agreement instead.

Wilson-Raybould said she was consistently reminded of the potential political implications in Quebec, should SNC-Lavalin be found guilty in the case and therefore possibly no longer be able to apply for federal contracts, leading to the company moving out of Canada.

In her initial testimony she offered an in-depth account of approximately 20 exchanges --10 phone calls and 10 meetings -- specifically on the SNC-Lavalin case while she was still attorney general and justice minister. She also worked through a chronology of communications, ranging from in-person meetings and phone calls, to text messages and emails, from 11 senior staffers from the Prime Minister's Office, Privy Council Office and the finance minister's office.

The opposition wanted to invite Wilson-Raybould back to testify again -- something she was open to -- but Liberal MPs on the House Justice Committee shut down the study, saying that they’d heard all they needed to.

Throughout her testimony, she cautioned there were limitations in her ability to speak broadly about the case because of the specifics of the waiver of solicitor-client privilege and cabinet confidence that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had issued. Whatever she has handed over to the committee is expected to stay within the lines of what is permitted in the waiver, which includes any relevant information related to the case against SNC-Lavalin over her years-long tenure as attorney general.

Since her testimony, Trudeau has faced calls to resign, the House of Commons agenda has been largely usurped by opposition-prompted procedural moves, and several other high-profile officials have resigned amid insistence that nothing improper occurred.

Chair of the committee Anthony Housefather had initially said that the evidence would be made public around 3 p.m. on Friday, after it has been translated and redacted for any personal information, like phone numbers or private email addresses. It is now expected to be published on the committee’s website closer to 4 p.m.

Housefather has confirmed that "no redactions have been made" to Wilson-Raybould’s submission by the committee.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/audio-recording-to-be-released-in-addition-to-new-wilson-raybould-evidence-sources-1.4357644

by Sandman Fri 29 Mar 2019, 8:26 pm

What’s in Jody Wilson-Raybould’s submission to the justice committee

By Charlie Pinkerton and Jolson Lim. Published on Mar 29, 2019

SNC-Lavalin Scandal - Page 30 Nov.2908486-1200x675

After weeks of calls by the opposition for Jody Wilson-Raybould to speak freely about her experience during the SNC-Lavalin affair, documents submitted by the former attorney general and justice minister to the House Justice committee were made public on Friday.

Wilson-Raybould submitted a collection of texts, emails and an audio recording to the committee in an attempt to back up her claim that she was inappropriately pressured by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other top officials of the federal government to allow the Quebec construction giant to avoid criminal charges with a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) . The committee has been investigating the affair since last month.

Here’s what she submitted to the committee:

Michael Wernick phone call

Wilson-Raybould submitted a 17-minute phone call that she recorded with outgoing Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick. The call reflects what she told the justice committee on Feb. 27.

Like she told the committee originally, Wernick repeated that Trudeau was set on finding a way to get SNC-Lavalin a DPA, within the legal boundaries.

Wernick had told the justice committee when he appeared for the second time that he did not have the same recollection of their conversation as Wilson-Raybould because he “did not wear a wire.”

A note about the Wernick call

Wilson-Raybould said she recorded her phone call with Wernick without him knowing about it.

“This is something that I have never done before this phone call and have not done since,” Wilson-Raybould said.

She said she recorded the phone call because she was “anxious” to ensure there was a full record of the conversation and that there was no staff with her who could take notes, like there would usually be. She had meant to keep the recording to herself, but released it because Wernick refuted that he had not made “veiled threats” to her, according to Wilson-Raybould.

“I did this simply to ensure that my notes were accurate and given the ongoing pressure and attempts to interfere in this case,” Wilson-Raybould said.

Wilson-Raybould’s former chief-of-staff’s documents

The day before Wilson-Raybould’s recorded conversation with Wernick, her chief of staff Jessica Prince met with Trudeau’s top advisors: former principal secretary, Gerry Butts and chief of staff of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Katie Telford. After talking to Butts and Telford, Prince texted Wilson-Raybould that “they want a solution” about the DPA.

Prince also tells Wilson-Raybould that there was “nothing new” and that the PMO staff told her they wanted Wilson-Raybould to seek outside counsel about reviewing the Director of Public Prosecution’s decision to not allow SNC-Lavalin a DPA, they offered to line up people to “write op eds” justifying a DPA for SNC-Lavalin and that Butts said “there is no solution that doesn’t involve some interference.”

Why alternative justice for some, but not for SNC-Lavalin, Morneau’s staff asks

The documents suggest a confrontational Sept. 20 phone call between Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s deputy chief of staff Justin To and Prince that touches on the question of deferred prosecution agreements and SNC-Lavalin.

To asks “why can’t SNC just go through the process?” Prince replied that her office doesn’t control the DPA process, which lay with the director of public prosecutions.

To replied that “it’s just a bit ironic that she wants an alternative justice process to be available in one sense, but not one for SNC.”

The documents suggest To was referencing restorative justice, a system of criminal justice focusing on rehabilitating offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community.

The Liberal government and Wilson-Raybould when serving as justice minister pushed for an increasing use of the system, particularly for Indigenous peoples.

To then suggests Wilson-Raybould of not wanting a deal for SNC: “You don’t want this to happen at all.” Prince asks To what he meant and he replied “that your boss has a philosophical problem with it. That she hated it the whole time and wouldn’t even use it if we could.” Prince said that was untrue.

To sent an email later that day apologizing and said he was sorry if there was any misunderstanding regarding the call. Prince replied “no hard feelings” and provided work Wilson-Raybould had done around supporting the DPA regime.

‘Be careful when using my name’

Morneau’s chief of staff Ben Chin had also spoken to Prince earlier that day, where he said ”Your boss spoke to [Morneau] yesterday, and said to me that Elder [Marques] were ‘mucking around’ on this file. Be careful when using my name, Jess.”

Chin said he believed Wilson-Raybould had shut the idea of a DPA down, saying “there has to be some middle ground here, because we are headed toward losing these guys [SNC-Lavalin].” Prince had replied that there is no middle ground when it comes to prosecutorial independence.

Chin has previously told iPolitics he did “nothing wrong.”

Wilson-Raybould’s final days in cabinet

Wilson-Raybould, who was the country’s first Indigenous attorney general, confirms that she declined being appointed as Minister of Indigenous Services, and said she was “shocked” to be offered the position.

“I could not and would not in good conscience ever be able to take on the Ministerial role of delivering services to ‘Indians’ and Indian Act bands under the Indian Act,” Wilson-Raybould said.

She also said that she told Trudeau and his former principal secretary, Gerry Butts, “multiple times” that she did not understand why she was shuffled from the position of attorney general, in January.

After Jan. 14, Wilson-Raybould said that she and Trudeau had several meetings before he stated that her presence in cabinet spoke for itself.

“I resigned the next day and I trust my resignation also speaks for itself,” she said.

Wilson-Raybould’s final observations

Wilson-Raybould offers three final thoughts in her submission.

First, that there she’s learned a lot about the “strengths and weaknesses” of democratic institutions in Canada as well as the challenges and “cynicisms” that pervade its politics.

She said there are “clear lessons” around the role of the attorney general, the principles underpinning Canadian democracy, and the role of political considerations in legal decisions.

Second, that the SNC-Lavalin affair has “revealed some fissures and weaknesses in our governing institutions” that all parties should be working together to fix. She wrote that there is a wide public perception that more government oversight, accountability and “truth-seeking” is needed.

Wilson-Raybould said more concrete reforms are needed, highlighting a necessity of “supporting great roles, authorities and responsibilities” for all MPs, regardless of party or title within government. She said in every election, there is talk of increasing the role of MPs including their ability to act independently from “purely partisan considerations.”

Finally, Wilson-Raybould notes the affair has touched on issues of gender and race, and that “there have been undeniable elements of misogyny, much of it aimed at myself.”

However, she wrote that the affair has shown to her Canadians have a “true belief and desire to see fundamental and transformative” change in “our modes of public discourse, the health of our institutions, civic institutions, and the standards we uphold.”

https://ipolitics.ca/2019/03/29/whats-in-jody-wilson-rayboulds-submission-to-the-justice-committee/?fbclid=IwAR2DTEj0Uqt_2LzEkKsuUmrX5iQQX57xw9WoOI7kv0Dr4eV2Bqo5eyB2zSQ

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