Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to deny claims made by the former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould that he pressured her to help the engineering firm SNC Lavalin avoid prosecution. Saying it will be up to ethics commissioner to sort out who is telling the truth.
Similarly, finance minister Bill Morneau is denying that his chief of staff did anything wrong.
With a federal election this fall, opposition MPP’s are pouncing on the opportunity to discredit Trudeau. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is calling for a public inquiry and a police investigation into the scandal; while conservative leader Andrew Scheer is repeating his call for Trudeau to resign.
Thursday afternoon, Trudeau’s former principal secretary and long-time friend, Gerald Butts stepped up to his aid and asked to testify on the affair. He’s written the house of commons justice committee, requesting to be called as a witness. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.
Justin Trudeau is set to shuffle the federal cabinet on Friday as he looks to fill the void left by the resignation of Jody Wilson-Raybould, a senior government source confirmed Thursday.
