Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say that I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague, the member for Lakeland.
We are sitting until midnight this evening for an emergency debate because Canada is caught in a very serious constitutional crisis. Never before in recent history has a barely three-week-old scandal caused such turmoil in federal politics.
It started with the resignation of a high-ranking government minister and of the Prime Minister's principal adviser, and it is becoming increasingly clear that what happened was completely disrespectful and inappropriate in an esteemed parliamentary democracy like Canada. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Prime Minister of all Canadians, literally jumped with both hands and feet into partisan political interference in a legal proceeding on a criminal matter. We are here this evening to speak out against these actions that are sure to offend anyone who believes in Canadian democracy.
What Canadians heard yesterday was not just a powerful testimony but a real political and judicial atomic bomb. The former attorney general of Canada lost her job barely a month and a half ago after being subject to four months of relentless, sustained and inappropriate pressure from the highest officials in the Canadian government, namely, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, Canada's top civil servant and others. What happened is completely unacceptable. The former attorney general gave solid, straightforward, detailed and powerful testimony. I wish the best of luck to anyone who tries to contradict the specific details of her statements. Anyone who knows their history will remember John Dean. That is what this situation reminds me of. I will talk about him a little later.
Yesterday, the former attorney general, who lost her job for standing up for her principles, said that she was the target of consistent and sustained pressure. In her opinion, the government wanted to politically interfere with the office of the attorney general in the exercise of its power. She said that she was the victim of inappropriate attempts to obtain a remediation agreement and the victim of thinly veiled threats.
That was not some poor victim saying that; it was the former attorney general, the person responsible for this country's seals and the integrity of two legal systems. In a democracy like ours, words like those have serious consequences, all the more so because they were said by people who inappropriately and constantly pressured her for four months.
She said those people protested her decision not to proceed. She said no, her decision was made. Enough was enough and they had to stop.
Well, they did not stop.
She went on to say that various top-ranking individuals pressured her to take partisan political considerations into account.
The legal process must encompass everything but partisan politics. She began receiving thinly veiled threats relating to matters that had nothing at all to do with the public interest.
She was told that SNC-Lavalin would be moving six months before the election, that SNC-Lavalin was holding a board meeting, that a decision had to be made, that if the right decision was made, open letters would be released across Canada, that everything would be fine, that there could be informal contact if necessary.
To make things even more scandalous, Canada's highest-ranking public servant, the Clerk of the Privy Council, the country's top civil servant, spoke directly with the former attorney general, urging her to act and warning her that, one way or another, the Prime Minister of Canada would find a solution.
This is outrageous.
The most senior public servant made veiled threats against the former attorney general of Canada. That is indecent. I want to say this from my seat, right here in the House of Commons. Mr. Wernick has impugned the reputation of the senior public service. His part in this matter is appalling.
The Liberals claim to be looking out for the workers but the truth is that the only job they care about is the Prime Minister's. The truth was revealed in one of the heavy-handed interactions with the former attorney general. The Prime Minister's senior adviser, Mr. Bouchard, told the former attorney general that they had to get re-elected. That is the horrible Liberal ugliness in all its wretched glory. All those people want is to be re-elected. They should be ashamed.
There was not just one meeting. A few days ago, I proudly stated how outrageous it was that the former attorney general had been pressured on three occasions. Now we learn that it was 10 times and that there were dozens of emails. There were 10 meetings and 10 telephone conversations where she was pressured. She also received dozens of emails from some very competent people. She nevertheless continued to uphold the law.
What happened? She was pressured hundreds of times by 11 people including the Prime Minister of Canada, the Minister of Finance, the top public servant in Canada, the chiefs of staff of all these fine people and their political advisers. These are all pretty smart people. If getting pounced on by the Prime Minister of Canada, the country's top public servant and the finance minister does not amount to inappropriate pressure, I do not know what does.
What is outrageous is that this happened so often in the Prime Minister's Office. If we had a real head of state as prime minister, and not a partisan leader, he would have put an end to those conversations immediately, indicating that they were in the Prime Minister's Office and not in the office of the leader of the Liberal Party, and that everyone must act correctly. However, that is not what the Prime Minister said. On the contrary, he added a partisan layer. He went on to say that he is the member for Papineau and that a provincial election was coming up in Quebec. The Prime Minister interfered, in a partisan manner, directly in the judicial process and in a criminal case. That is why we are calling for him to resign. What he did was unacceptable. He has disgraced the highest public office in this country.
I hear the Liberals saying they want to protect jobs, but there is a procedure for doing so, and they did not follow it. There are steps to follow and consultations and conversations to be had at the right time. Once the decision is taken, it is too late. Still, they continued to apply political pressure after the decision was taken. That is even worse. The decision was taken on September 4, and that is when the pressure began and it lasted until December.
I often hear people say that we have to think about the jobs. No one here wants people to lose their job. However, neither does anyone, not in Quebec or Canada, want these jobs to be protected illegally. There is a way of doing things, but the Liberal Party did their own thing.
When we talk about jobs I, am reminded of my time at the National Assembly of Quebec nine years ago. I was leader of the Action démocratique at the time. Along with colleagues like the late Sylvie Roy, current Minister Bonnardel, current Minister Caire, Marc Picard, Janvier Grondin, and others, we were the first to call for an inquiry into the construction industry. Some very high-ranking people called me to tell me to be careful because there were jobs at play and companies could go bankrupt over what I was calling for. However, we stood our ground because it is more important to do the right thing than to engage in partisan politics. Sadly, this government chose the latter.
That is why this evening we are strongly condemning the Prime Minister's partisan actions as he interfered in the judicial process and in a criminal case just to get re-elected.
Shame on them.