QUESTION PERIOD — Prime Minister’s Office
SNC-Lavalin
April 9, 2019
Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Leader in the Senate. This morning the Prime Minister told reporters:
You cannot be lying to Canadians. . . there are consequences, short-term and long-term, when politicians. . . twist the truth.
Senator Harder, on February 7 after the Globe and Mail story which revealed the scandal was published, the first thing the Prime Minister told Canadians was:
The allegations of the Globe story are false.
Instead, every day since we have learned more and more about this matter that prove the allegation is true, that this government did attempt to politically interfere in the criminal prosecution by placing inappropriate pressure on the former AG. Canadians deserve to know the truth about SNC-Lavalin, fraud and bribery, and whether the Prime Minister or his staff stepped over the line and broke the law by improperly pressuring the AG to drop the charge in the bribery cases.
My question is: When the Prime Minister said the allegations were false, what did he mean? What exactly was false?
I thank the honourable senator for his question. I think the answer to his question has been repeatedly played out in not only the Prime Minister’s statements but those of others, and that is that the allegations of direction or interference are false. Did the Prime Minister raise the issue with the then-Minister of Justice and the Attorney General? Yes. Were there conversations had at the senior level with the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary and the Clerk of the Privy Council? Yes. They both have expressed the circumstances of their interaction with the former minister, as has the former minister. But again I repeat the former minister has said all the facts are out there and it’s now for Canadians to judge.
Thank you, Your Honour. The Prime Minister’s actions do not match his words. The mandate letters given to members of the cabinet from the Prime Minister state:
We have. . . committed to set a higher bar for openness and transparency in government.
This promise has been broken time and time again by this government. It has shut down investigations of not one, but two committees on the other side. They have blocked witnesses from appearing. Prime Minister Trudeau himself stopped Ms. Wilson-Raybould from speaking about her conversation with the Prime Minister prior to her resignation about the reason for her resignation or what was discussed at cabinet on February 17, in short, from telling her full story.
Senator Harder, if the Prime Minister wants the truth to come to light, then why did the Liberal committee in the other place shut down the study of the SNC-Lavalin scandal? By not allowing the former AG to tell her inside story, is the government abandoning the principle of openness and transparency it promised the Canadians in the last election?
Again, I want to thank the honourable senator for his question. He’ll know that the relevant committee in the other place held a number of hearings, indeed the former minister was before the committee for I believe four and a half hours, and that a number of witnesses were called. I can’t comment on the decisions of the committee to end its consideration of this matter. However, I can refer to the statements made by the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General that all the facts are known. It’s now for Canadians to judge.
