North Vancouver Liberal MP Jonathan Wilkinson is chalking up the ongoing SNC-Lavalin scandal currently engulfing the federal Liberals to simple differences of opinion within cabinet.
Wilkinson made his remarks in West Vancouver Wednesday morning as Justin Trudeau’s former principle secretary Gerald Butts was testifying before the House of Commons justice committee in Ottawa. At issue is whether staff of the Prime Minister’s Office and senior federal bureaucrats pressured former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to cut a deal with SNC-Lavalin, rather than facing criminal prosecution over bribery charges. A conviction could mean a 10-year ban on bidding on future Canadian contracts, which could impact about 9,000 jobs in Quebec.
Wilkinson said the drastically different testimony offered by Butts and Wilson-Raybould about what happened are “different sets of perspectives on the same facts.”
“There certainly are different interpretations but I think from my perspective, nothing here is anything but what one would expect of your public officials. You have very difficult decisions to make that include the potential for job losses in the thousands. I think Canadians would expect you fully canvas all of the options, all of the issues before you actually make a decision. I think that’s exactly what was done in this case,” he said.
As for what constitutes inappropriate pressure, Wilkinson said, in his past experience as a civil servant, the types of communications Wilson-Raybould testified about are well within the norm.
“As a minister of the Crown, I would be quite happy if there was a very hot file on which I only heard from other ministers’ offices and the Prime Minister’s Office 10 times over the course of four months. That’s not a large number,” he said.
Wilkinson described Wilson-Raybould as a personal friend and a professional of very high integrity.
As for whether Canadians should be losing faith in the Liberals, as polls are now showing, Wilkinson said he believes the country is more interested in job security, climate change and poverty.
“I think most Canadians are looking at this and saying ‘I don’t even really understand what the difference is here,” he said “To be honest with you, I think Canadians want us to get on with the process of governing and addressing the issues that really are important for them in their day to day lives.”
Burnaby North–Seymour NDP candidate Svend Robinson, meanwhile, is calling on the Liberal MP Terry Beech to “take a stand” in the scandal.
Robinson took issue with a tweet from Terry Beech that called for unity among Liberals after senior cabinet minister Jane Philpott resigned from cabinet in solidarity with Wilson-Raybould.
Philpott, Wilson-Raybould and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “are the leaders Canada needs to fight climate change, move forward on indigenous reconciliation, and ensure every Canadian has a fair and real chance at success,” Beech tweeted on Monday. “It is my sincere hope differences can be resolved. #betterisalwayspossible”
Robinson said it’s impossible to support both Wilson-Raybould and Philpott at the same time as supporting Trudeau, and Beech needs to pick a side.
“Where does he stand? You can’t be both supporting Jane Philpott and Jody Wilson-Raybould on the one hand, and supporting Justin Trudeau on the other,” he said. “That’s completely not reconcilable.”
Beech did not respond to repeated interview requests. His tweet is the only public statement he has made on the SNC-Lavalin affair.
“(Beech is) saying ‘let's all love one another’ and that's a complete abdication of responsibility,” Robinson said. “This is the moment of truth for Terry Beech and for every Liberal member of Parliament in that caucus. Are they going to stand up for integrity and the independence and the rule of law in Canada, or are they going to accept this kind of bullying and pressure that both Jane Philpott and Jody Wilson-Raybould have obviously said is not acceptable?”
West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country Liberal MP Pamela Goldsmith Jones has not yet responded to a request for comment.
