By James Peters

MP McLeod calls on justice committee to probe SNC-Lavalin scandal

Feb 12, 2019 | 10:42 AM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod is calling on further investigations into the ongoing controversy in the Trudeau government’s cabinet.

Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned from Trudeau’s cabinet today amid reports Trudeau’s office pressured the former attorney general to avoid a criminal prosecution of engineering firm SNC-Lavalin.

McLeod says the parliamentary justice committee needs to be allowed to probe the scandal.

“What we have is a number of very concerning signals from the former attorney general of Canada. Both in her speeches back in October, in her letter once she was basically fired from the job, and then today,” said McLeod.

“What we have is the prime minister and the prime minister’s office who have not been upfront, but these are very serious charges,” she continued. “These are charges about political interference in our legal process, and certainly I’m just really concerned with the signals that have been put out there, and we need to get to the bottom of it.”

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The ethics commissioner has already announced an investigation into the matter, but McLeod says that is not sufficient.

“We need to have the justice committee tomorrow be allowed to look at this issue. We know that there’s going to be an ethics investigation and maybe this is serious enough that there eventually needs to be a criminal investigation,” said McLeod.”

“We don’t know if that (pressure on Wilson-Raybould from the PMO) actually took place, but we have very concerning signals again from the minister when she talked about having to talk truth to power. She has hired a former Supreme Court justice to advise her in terms of what she’s allowed to say and what she’s not allowed to say.”

McLeod notes the government’s devotion to the rule of law, as made evident in recent dealings with China, is again being tested.

“We are a country of the rule of law. We are not some of these other countries where political interference with the judicial system happens all the time,” said McLeod. “Look at the Huawei case in where we talked with pride about our decisions around Huawei we’re going to be based on the rule of the law, and here we’re having potentially interference at the highest level with our rule of law.”