'We recognize that the way this happened shouldn’t have happened. I take responsibility for the mistakes that I made.'
OTTAWA — For the second time in less than two years, Canada’s ethics watchdog has ruled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated the Conflict of Interest Act — this time for improperly pressuring the attorney general to intervene in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin and help the company avoid a trial.
Dion called the tactics “troubling,” and said the evidence “abundantly shows that Mr. Trudeau knowingly sought to influence Ms. Wilson-Raybould both directly and through the actions of his agents.” Dion’s report also said he was denied access to sensitive government information by Privy Council Clerk Ian Shugart.
When the Globe story broke, Trudeau told reporters it was “false.” Over the following months, he repeatedly insisted that he and his staff did nothing wrong. “I think we recognize that what was done over the past year, as we tried to both defend judicial independence, of prosecutorial independence, and stand up for Canadian jobs and workers, wasn’t exactly the the right way to do things,” Trudeau said. “And we thank the ethics commissioner for the hard work that he did in highlighting that.”
“I also have feelings of sadness,” Wilson-Raybould said in her statement, adding that Canada’s “essential values and principles” should always be upheld by those in positions of public trust. She said the report confirms “critical facts,” and said Dion was “not distracted by inaccurate information about the events or about me personally — and drew conclusions based on the true facts about what occurred.
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