Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he welcomes an investigation by the federal ethics commissioner into an allegation that his office pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to help SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution.
Trudeau also says he continues to have “full confidence” in Wilson-Raybould, who was demoted to the veterans-affairs portfolio in a January cabinet shuffle.
Although she has not appeared with him at events Sunday and today in the Vancouver area, Trudeau says he has met with her a couple of times since arriving in her hometown.
Wilson-Raybould has refused to comment on the allegation since it surfaced last Thursday, citing solicitor-client privilege.
But Trudeau says Wilson-Raybould reminded him of a conversation they had last fall, in which he says he told her it was entirely up to her as attorney general to decide whether to instruct the director of public prosecutions to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin over its dealings in Libya, thereby avoiding a criminal trial.
In any event, Trudeau says the fact that Wilson-Raybould is still a cabinet minister, having neither resigned nor been dismissed, speaks for itself.
