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The House

Midweek podcast: Jody Wilson-Raybould speaks her truth

On the midweek podcast, three members of the Commons justice committee — Liberal Randy Boissonnault, Conservative Lisa Raitt and New Democrat Murray Rankin — join Chris Hall to talk about what it means for Canada, especially in an election year. We also ask a legal ethics expert about the broader implications.
CBC Radio ·
Liberal MP Jody Wilson-Raybould told the House of Commons justice committee that the Prime Minister's Office improperly pressured her to help Montreal engineering giant SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

The words that kicked off Jody Wilson-Raybould's 40-minute presentation to the Commons justice committee Wednesday were extraordinary. 

"I experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the attorney general of Canada, in an inappropriate effort to secure a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with SNC-Lavalin."

She identified 11 people who wanted the company to be given the option of entering a deferred prosecution agreement. The names included Prrime Minister Justin Trudeau, Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick and the prime minister's top advisers at the time, Gerald Butts and Katie Telford. (Butts resigned last week.)

Wilson-Raybould's testimony reverberated through the halls of Parliament and across the political world. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer called on Trudeau to resign, but he didn't get what he wanted Wednesday night. 

Trudeau said in Montreal he didn't agree with Wilson-Raybould's characterization of the events that unfolded around SNC-Lavalin.

Three members of the Commons justice committee — Liberal Randy Boissonnault, Conservative Lisa Raitt and New Democrat Murray Rankin — join The House host Chris Hall to talk about what Wednesday's dramatic events mean for Canada, especially in an election year.

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