Week by week, the SNC-Lavalin scandal seems to be only be getting worse for the ruling Liberal party, not better, and the story isn鈥檛 finished yet by a long shot, with more people to testify in front of the House committee.
The Liberals took a broadside hit from former Attorney-General Jody Wilson-Raybould, in her testimony of a 鈥渟ustained鈥� effort by 11 high-level government officials to dissuade her from pursuing a criminal trial for the giant Quebec construction firm.
These officials were from the Prime Minister鈥檚 Office and the Finance Minister鈥檚 office, among others.
The followup to that came with the resignation on Monday of another high-profile minister, the president of the Treasury Board Jane Philpott.
She cited a loss of confidence in the government to enable the justice system to work properly, and said, 鈥淭here can be a cost to acting on one鈥檚 principles, but there is a bigger cost to abandoning them.鈥�
That is a fairly strong indictment of a government she was a part of as a cabinet minister, considered one of the best ministers the Liberals had around the cabinet table.
The curious thing from Wilson-Raybould鈥檚 testimony is that she described the interfering nature of how these 11 people interacted with her, and yet when asked if she thought they might have broken the law, as in obstruction of justice, she declined to go that far.
The scandal has also raised another relevant issue, namely the connection of the Attorney-General and the Justice minister in one person. The A-G is supposed to be independent of any partisan bias or influence, and is why in other countries this position is a separate one.
Clearly the Liberals don鈥檛 get the 鈥渋ndependent鈥� part of the A-G鈥檚 job, or else they wouldn鈥檛 have been trying to exert influence on her in such a concerted and sustained way.
The Conservatives are clearly trying to make the most of this situation, as would be expected, but the fact is, this situation goes beyond just partisan politics.
This goes to the very foundation of the justice system, and its integrity and independence, both of which are absolutely necessary in order for justice to be properly administered, and for the people of Canada to be able trust in the justice system to enforce the rule of law.
It is a dangerous game for a government to delve into, and lends credence to the Conservatives claim the Liberals have lost the 鈥渕oral authority鈥� to govern.
