Liberal backbenchers and cabinet ministers alike condemned former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould on Monday for surreptitiously recording a phone conversation with the country鈥檚 top public servant, Michael Wernick.
For many of them, the recording was the last straw in the SNC-Lavalin saga that has engulfed the Trudeau government and proof that the former minister can鈥檛 be trusted as a member of the Liberal caucus.
鈥淛ody Wilson-Raybould? Should be gone. Gone. Should鈥檝e been gone long ago鈥�, said Prince Edward Island MP Wayne Easter, calling her secret recording 鈥渁bout as low as you can go.鈥�
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The same sentiment was applied by most Liberal MPs to Jane Philpott, who quit cabinet in solidarity with Wilson-Raybould early last month, saying she no longer had confidence in the government鈥檚 handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair.
鈥淭he moment you stop trusting the government, I mean obviously you shouldn鈥檛 be in the government or you shouldn鈥檛 be in the caucus that supports the government,鈥� said Montreal MP Alexandra Mendes.
Easter, a longtime MP who once served as solicitor general, suggested Philpott might have been 鈥渦sed鈥� by Wilson-Raybould and several others said they鈥檇 like to know whether she condoned the secret taping.
Wilson-Raybould submitted the 17-minute audio recording to the House of Commons justice committee last week to bolster her contention that she was improperly pressured last fall to intervene to stop the criminal prosecution of Montreal engineering giant SNC-Lavalin. The recording confirms her earlier oral testimony about the content of a Dec. 19 phone conversation with Wernick, clerk of the Privy Council 鈥� although whether anything he said amounted to 鈥漹eiled threats,鈥� as she has alleged, is a matter of opinion.
In a written submission to the committee, Wilson-Raybould said she took the admittedly 鈥渆xtraordinary and otherwise inappropriate step鈥� of recording the conversation because she was home alone in Vancouver without a staffer to take notes and wanted to 鈥渆nsure that I had an exact record of what was discussed as I had reason to believe that it was likely to be an inappropriate conversation.鈥�
Tourism Minister Melanie Joly said if Wilson-Raybould simply wanted a record of what was said, she should have told Wernick she was taping the call for that purpose.
As it was, several Liberal MPs suggested the recording smacked of 鈥渆ntrapment.鈥�
鈥淚n my listening to it, I felt she had to be reading from a script at times to try and draw out, to make the clerk and the prime minister and cabinet colleagues and us that sit in caucus with her look bad,鈥� said Easter. 鈥淥f course I鈥檓 angry.鈥�
Mendes called the secret recording 鈥渦nethical鈥� and 鈥渢reasonous, really.鈥�
鈥淓ven if she had taped that conversation for the purpose of bringing it to the prime minister鈥檚 attention, the thing is she never did.鈥�
Montreal MP Marc Miller called the secret recording 鈥渄istressing鈥� and 鈥渟omewhat repugnant.鈥� He noted that courts are typically skeptical about such 鈥渙ne-sided鈥� recordings because 鈥渢here鈥檚 an ability of the person recording to prime the evidence, consciously or unconsciously.鈥�
Toronto MP Adam Vaughan said the revelation 鈥渋mpacts the frankness by which we have conversations with people.鈥�
A former journalist, Vaughan said: 鈥淚 know that when you use a microphone and you know it鈥檚 being recorded and the other person doesn鈥檛, it puts the other person at a significant disadvantage. It also puts the person recording it at inappropriate advantage. I think for those reasons there are rules for lawyers, there are rules for journalists, there are rules in place for how recorded conversations are used as evidence.鈥�
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Transport Minister Marc Garneau said it was 鈥渧ery inappropriate鈥� to record the conversation without telling Wernick. 鈥滻t is not an honourable thing to do.鈥�
Both Wilson-Raybould and Philpott have said they intend to remain in the Liberal caucus and run as Liberal candidates in this fall鈥檚 election.
鈥淲hy would I resign?鈥� Wilson-Raybould told Global News as she left Parliament Hill on Monday. 鈥滻鈥檓 just doing the best job I can.鈥�
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has thus far been unwilling to kick the former ministers out, maintaining that the Liberal party is a big tent that can accommodate diverse views. And until the secret recording was released Friday, Liberal ministers and backbenchers dutifully used Trudeau鈥檚 script.
They now appear determined to take the matter into their own hands at their weekly caucus meeting Wednesday. Some are pushing for an emergency meeting earlier to boot the pair of former ministers out of caucus as soon as possible.
But a handful of Liberals are still willing to accommodate the former ministers, both of them former stars in the cabinet whose open criticisms of Trudeau have coincided with noticeable declines in Liberal popularity.
鈥淲e鈥檙e putting it behind us and my aim is that (Wilson-Raybould) and Jane are welcome and comfortable as part of our caucus,鈥� said Treasury Board president Joyce Murray.
While the secret tape has galvanized the Liberal caucus against Wilson-Raybould and Philpott, it has fortified opposition parties in their call for a thorough investigation of the entire SNC-Lavalin affair.
The recording proves Trudeau 鈥渘ot only had knowledge about the pressure being applied on the former attorney general but he and his office were, in fact orchestrating it,鈥� Conservative House leader Candice Bergen told the Commons, accusing Trudeau of providing 鈥渇alse and deceitful information鈥� to Canadians about the affair.
Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre, meanwhile, launched a one-man filibuster of the government鈥檚 budget until the Liberals agree to further investigation of the SNC-Lavalin affair.
鈥淚 have the ability to speak an unlimited period of time (on the budget) and I will be using that ability to demand the government end the coverup (and) agree to a parliamentary investigation into the SNC-Lavalin scandal,鈥� he told a news conference before heading into the Commons to begin an hours-long speech.
House of Commons rules say the finance minister and the Opposition鈥檚 finance critic can speak as long as they want about the budget, but only within the time allotted each day for government business. That means Poilievre鈥檚 plan won鈥檛 disrupt most other activities in the Commons and he has to speak for only a few hours at a time. Debate on the budget is also restricted to four sitting days.
The Ottawa-area MP said he wants senior members of Trudeau鈥檚 staff, as well as the prime minister himself, to testify before the justice committee about the pressure exerted on Wilson-Raybould.
鈥淲hen they agree to that, I鈥檒l stop speaking.鈥�
Wilson-Raybould has said she endured a months-long campaign of PMO pressure, including from Wernick and Butts, to arrange a so-called remediation agreement for SNC-Lavalin, which is facing criminal charges that it used bribery and fraud to get business in Libya. Conviction could include a 10-year ban on bidding on federal contracts in Canada.
She alleges that her refusal was the reason Trudeau shuffled her out of the prestigious justice portfolio and into Veterans Affairs in mid-January. She resigned from cabinet a month later.
Joan Bryden , The Canadian Press
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