SNC-Lavalin affair

The affair became public when The Globe and Mail published an article uncovering the allegations on 7 February 2019, shortly after Wilson-Raybould had been shuffled to another cabinet position as Minister of Veterans Affairs. Four days later, Ethics Commissioner Dion announced he would investigate the allegations. Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet later that day. This was followed by the resignation of Gerald Butts, the Principal Secretary to Trudeau. This was then followed by the resignation of fellow Liberal cabinet minister Jane Philpott, over the government's handling of the affair. The House of Commons' Justice Committee held three hearings into the affair. Wilson-Raybould, Butts, and Michael Wernick, Clerk of the Privy Council testified before the committee. Wilson-Raybould said there was a breach of prosecutorial independence when members of the government pressured her to offer SNC-Lavalin a DPA instead of continuing with a criminal prosecution. Butts and Wernick testified that they had contacted Wilson-Raybould to find a "political solution" after the decision not to offer SNC-Lavalin a DPA was made. Controversially, Wilson-Raybould revealed that she had secretly recorded a conversation she had with Wernick while she was Attorney General.


Following the hearings, Wernick announced his early retirement from the Privy Council. Leader of the Official Opposition Andrew Scheer called for Trudeau's resignation. He further accused Trudeau of political interference, lying to Canadians, and corrupt conduct. Trudeau responded to those comments with a threat of a libel lawsuit through his lawyer. Opposition parties and former attorneys-general asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to investigate whether Trudeau's conduct qualifies as obstruction of justice. In April, Trudeau expelled Wilson-Raybould and Philpott from the Liberal caucus.


After a six-month-long investigation, Ethics Commissioner Dion issued a report that concluded that Trudeau had contravened Section 9 of the federal Conflict of Interest Act by improperly pressuring Wilson-Raybould. Dion wrote that while Wilson-Raybould was never officially directed to interfere, this influence was "tantamount to political direction". Dion did not find that any actual political interference in the prosecution occurred; however, he reported he did not have access to all of the evidence. Under the Act, there are no sanctions specified for the violation. After the commissioner's report was released, the Prime Minister released a statement both taking responsibility for and defending his actions. The opposition leaders have called for further investigations.

Ethics Commissioner's report[edit]

Mario Dion, the Parliament of Canada's Ethics Commissioner, began an investigation in February in response to the complaint filed 8 February by Democracy Watch (Canada). On 14 August 2019, he released a report that concluded Trudeau had contravened section 9 of the Conflict of Interest Act by improperly pressuring Wilson-Raybould.^{[83][84][85][86]} The report details lobbying efforts by SNC-Lavalin to influence prosecution since at least February 2016, including the lobbying efforts to enact DPA legislation. The report analyses SNC-Lavalin's interests and finds that the lobbying effort advanced private interests of the company, rather than public interests. Dion concluded that Wilson-Raybould had resisted the improper pressure put upon her and he did not find any political interference in the prosecution. He noted that he did not have complete information about the case as the Privy Council would not release nine witnesses that claimed to have information about the case.^[87]


The report's analysis section discusses the topics of prosecutorial independence and Shawcross doctrine (dual role of Attorney General) to draw the conclusion that the influence was improper and a violation of the Conflict of Interest Act as Democracy Watch (Canada) called for in its February 8 complaint.^[83] However, some legal analysts, such as Errol Mendes, professor of constitutional law at the University of Ottawa,^[88] veteran attorney David Hamer,^[89] and Kenneth Jull, adjunct law professor at the University of Toronto and advisor at Toronto business law firm Gardiner Roberts,^[90] disagreed with Dion's interpretation and suggested that the report may have overreached in its findings.


Democracy Watch filed a lawsuit challenging the Ethics Commissioner's report for failing to find Gerald Butts and other staff of the Prime Minister's Office, then-Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick, then-Finance Minister Bill Morneau and his staff, guilty of violating the Conflict of Interest Act, given they had all participated in pressuring the Attorney General in the same way that Trudeau had. The case is expected to be heard by the Federal Court of Appeal by mid-2021.


An emergency meeting of the House of Commons Ethics Committee to discuss the report further was scheduled for 21 August 2019. A motion by the Opposition to have Dion testify before the Committee was defeated 5-4, with only Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith breaking with the Liberal majority on the committee.^[91] An additional motion by the NDP to have Trudeau himself testify, along with Finance Minister Bill Morneau and his former chief of staff Ben Chin, was also defeated.^[92][93]


The Ethics Commissioner does not have the jurisdiction to impose sanctions for such a violation.^[94][95] Responding to the report, Trudeau said he accepted it and took responsibility but disagreed with its findings.^[95][96] Scheer renewed his calls for a RCMP investigation, while May and Singh reiterated their calls for an inquiry. A RCMP spokesperson declined to confirm or deny whether an investigation is underway, saying that the police force is carefully reviewing the facts and will take "appropriate actions as required".^[97]


After the report was made public, Wilson-Raybould released a statement saying it is a vindication of her positions on prosecutorial independence and the role of Attorney General. She stated that the report confirms that she acted appropriately at all times and that the staff of the Prime Minister's office acted improperly.^[98] On the day the report was released, Wilson-Raybould told a reporter she had not been contacted by the RCMP. The following day, she clarified that while she had not been contacted by the RCMP since the release of the Ethics Commissioner's report, she had been contacted by the police force concerning the affair earlier in the spring.^[99][100]


On the same day as the commissioner's report, Anne McLellan's companion report on whether to separate the roles of Minister of Justice and Attorney General (MoJAG) was made public. It recommended keeping the position combined as it has been since Confederation.^[101] McLellan recommended various changes and clarifications to protocols and communications, ask the Attorney General to explain decisions to direct or not direct prosecutions, explicitly note the independence of the Attorney General in law, educate parliamentarians, update the Department of Justice Act and change the name of the Department of Justice to the Department of Justice and Office of the Attorney General of Canada.^[101]


Subsequent to the release of the report, Trudeau addressed the claims, saying that he took “full responsibility” for how the case was handled, but would not apologize for protecting Canadian jobs.^[102] Ian Lee, professor at Carleton University, and Philip Cross, fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, have disputed Trudeau's jobs claims, saying that even if SNC-Lavalin was banned from bidding on federal contracts it would be able to continue to bid on provincial and municipal projects and other companies winning federal contracts would employ Canadian workers.^[103][104] Michel Nadeau, former deputy chief of Caisse de dépôt said it was unlikely SNC-Lavalin would move its headquarters from Montreal.^[105] Quebec Premier, François Legault, welcomed Trudeau's statements saying it is important for the Prime Minister to protect well-paying jobs.^[106]