Last night, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that former cabinet ministers - Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott have been expelled from the governing Liberal Party caucus.
For the past two months, the Trudeau government has been rocked by the SNC-Lavalin scandal amidst revelations that the Prime Minister's Office had pressured then Attorney General Wilson-Raybould to drop a bribery and fraud case against the Quebec based construction firm. Wilson-Raybould refused to bow to pressure. Trudeau subsequently demoted her to Minister of Veterans Affairs, a portfolio from which she later resigned but remained in the Liberal Party caucus. For her part, Philpott resigned her portfolio as President of the Treasury Board in solidarity with Wilson-Raybould.
Over the weekend, Wilson-Raybould released a recorded phone conversation she had last December with Michael Wernick, Canada's soon to be former top civil servant who has also resigned because of his role in the scandal. While it is not illegal to record phone conversations in Canada, it is considered unethical for lawyers to behave in this manner.
For his part, Trudeau called Wilson-Raybould's recording "unconscionable." Talk about chutzpah. A Prime Minister who pressures his Attorney General to drop a criminal case against a company in his home province that donates generously to the Liberal Party behaved in a far more unconscionable manner than Wilson-Raybould who was effectively blowing the whistle on corruption. Trudeau is in no position to lecture anyone.
And even if Wilson-Raybould's actions warranted discipline then why was Philpott kicked out of the caucus? What did she do that was unconscionable other than dare to cross Justin Trudeau?
Canadians vote in six months. If Trudeau's behavior towards Wilson-Raybould is still on the minds of voters in the fall then his government is going to fall.
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