Senator Harder, on December 19 the Prime Minister, the Privy Council clerk and senior PMO staff had lunch shortly before the clerk’s 17-minute call with Jody Wilson-Raybould. Mr. Wernick said four times in that call that the PM was firm and in a mood about a deferred prosecution agreement with SNC-Lavalin.

The Clerk of the Privy Council stated that this issue was important to the Prime Minister. At the end of that call, he said he was going to have to brief Prime Minister Trudeau on the call before he goes. The Prime Minister and the Clerk are now claiming the Clerk failed to brief the Prime Minister about this disastrous call with the Attorney General on an issue Mr. Wernick stated was so important to the Prime Minister. This defies belief. There are only two possibilities: Was the Clerk totally incompetent or is this Prime Minister Trudeau’s desperate attempt to hide the truth from Canadians?

I don’t think so, Senator Harder.

Michael Wernick was a 38-year career civil servant who worked his way up to the highest job in the Canadian public service. When I asked you about him previously, you lauded his accomplishments and called him a friend. In what world would it not set off alarm bells for Mr. Wernick when the Attorney General of Canada says she feels this conversation reminds her of the Saturday Night Massacre. It’s ludicrous.

Senator Harder, if Mr. Wernick was actually so incompetent, why was he not immediately fired after the Prime Minister learned about this call during Jody Wilson-Raybould’s testimony in February? Or is Prime Minister Trudeau trying to cover his tracks, that he knew about it all along? If so, how much severance will the Clerk of the Privy Council receive from Canadian taxpayers so Prime Minister Trudeau can buy his silence?