An image on Pinterest said this: “There are only three things that always tell the truth. 1. Children. 2. Drunk people. 3. Yoga pants.
However recently truth was revealed through another source: Canada’s former attorney general. Like many Canadians, I listened to every word of Jody Wilson-Raybould’s courageous testimony. Who knew there was a self-professing “truth talker” in our federal government?
There are some interesting factors involved in this story, beginning in early 2015 when RCMP brought charges against SNC-Lavalin regarding work the firm did in Libya. The firm contested the charges, but as time passed, the firm stopped denouncing the charges and began lobbying the government instead. This included 67 meetings, including 23 interactions with the Prime Minister’s Office, lobbying them on justice and law enforcement issues.
As a result of their lobbying efforts, the Trudeau government issued a 556-page Budget Implementation Act, which included a change to the Criminal Code. In other words, they snuck in a loophole to help corporations evade criminal prosecutions, and the change was shielded from elected officials.
It’s disturbing to see a firm facing criminal charges get what they want when they lobby the government, while concerned Canadian citizens, such as the United We Roll Convoy, are ignored by the federal government. Anyway, I’ll continue with the story.
After the most recent allegations, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has put out a petition urging government to ensure every piece of legislation can be scrutinized by every MP, which would prohibit loopholes in the Criminal Code for corporations accused of corruption. We will have to wait and see if this petition proves as effective as the lobbying of a firm facing criminal charges.
Wilson-Raybould quoted the chief of staff, Katie Telford as saying “If Jody is nervous, we would of course line up all kinds of people to write opinion editorials saying that what she is doing is proper.”
The Toronto Star’s editor responded by writing: it is “laughable” to suggest such a notion. However a regular freelancer for that publication recently wrote a column titled “Why SNC-Lavalin deserves to avoid prosecution”. Interesting, isn’t it?
It’s equally intriguing to discover Katie Telford’s husband founded a company called Crestview Strategy, but he had to step down from the company when his wife became chief of staff for the federal government. The stated objective of this company reads as follows: “We make, change and mobilize opinion” for the government. Katie also worked for a similar government firm, before her college friend, Gerald Butts convinced her to become Trudeau’s campaign manager. Evidently there is no shortage of opinion columnists available to help make government decisions appear to be “proper”.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Chrystia Freeland, said Jody spoke “her truth” during her testimony, and went on to defend the Prime Minister. It’s also interesting to note that should Trudeau resign, his personal defender, Chrystia Freeland, would take his place. By the way, Chrystia Freeland is a good friend of George Soros, which is a story in itself.
That, in a nut shell, is how the story unfolded. It seems inevitable that the self-professed truth talkers’ values would eventually clash with the values of the Prime Minister. It’s refreshing to see that children, drunks and yoga pants aren’t the only things that tell the truth; a former attorney general can be added to the list.
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