Justice Committee on Feb. 27th, 2019

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Going to September 17, you described the meeting you had requested of the Prime Minister on a different topic; it was supposed to be a one-on-one meeting, by which I infer that you did not expect the Clerk of the Privy Council to be present when you went to meet with the Prime Minister. Is that correct?

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

I didn't expect that. I will say that the fact that he was there...I didn't ask him to leave.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

In the context of the pressure that was being applied and the political concerns that were being raised, I'm going to put forward a positive statement and see if you agree.

The appropriate role for the Clerk of the Privy Council is to support an Attorney General who says, “You're on dangerous ground here; back off; this is political interference”. The job of the civil service is to remain non-partisan and give good advice. Did you think the Clerk of the Privy Council was behaving appropriately in applying political pressure to anyone, in this case?

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

I did not believe that he was behaving appropriately, which is why I was very surprised when he raised issues of the Quebec election and a board meeting that was supposedly happening with SNC.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Do you believe that the Clerk of the Privy Council appeared to be placing your deputy minister of justice under pressure that could have affected her confidence in her job security?

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Honestly, I don't believe I can answer that question.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Okay.

Lastly, you said that you—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Ms. May, you have to wrap up. You're over your time.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Okay. HÍSW̱ḴE.

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Gilakas'la.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Fortin, you have the floor.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Wilson-Raybould, I, too, want to thank you for being here today. I want to say that what you're doing today takes a lot of courage, and I appreciate it.

That said, my questions may lead us down a bit of a different path. I'd like to revisit the reasons for your decision. I realize that there are certain things you can't talk about, so you can answer as we go.

My first question is about why you didn't think a remediation agreement should be negotiated with SNC-Lavalin. Would I be correct to assume that you came to your decision after reviewing the criteria in sections 715.31 and 715.32 of the Criminal Code?

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Thank you for the comments and the question.

All I can say with respect to the question was that I did not believe, based on the section 13 notice that I received from the director of public prosecutions and the due diligence that I undertook, that it was appropriate with respect to SNC to issue a directive and intervene in the prosecution, to intervene in the discretion that was exercised by the director of public prosecutions.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Did you discuss the reasons why you did not think it was appropriate to negotiate such an agreement? Did you discuss them with the Prime Minister or someone from his office?

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Yes, I did.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Can you tell us who you discussed them with?

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

I discussed it with the Prime Minister, with the Clerk of the Privy Council, with Elder Marques and with Mathieu Bouchard, among other individuals including the principle secretary to the Prime Minister—indirectly, as my chief of staff, Jessica Prince, discussed it with the principle secretary—as well as the chief of staff to the Prime Minister and the chief of staff to the Minister of Finance.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

I realize that you can't—that, in your view, you can't—tell us the reasons you felt it was not appropriate to negotiate a remediation agreement.

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

I felt at the time and made the decision that it was inappropriate for me as the Attorney General to interfere in the discretion that was exercised by the director of public prosecutions with respect to SNC and the decision that was made to not enter into negotiations around a deferred prosecution agreement.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you very much.

Which of the conditions prescribed by law—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Mr. Fortin? Mr. Fortin?

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Yes?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Unfortunately, your three minutes are up.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

After three and a half hours, Mr. Chair, I get three minutes. You must admit I've been very patient. Is there any way I could have an extra minute or 30 seconds?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

You can have 30 more seconds.

Just for everyone's information, when political parties—