OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he should have been aware of an “erosion of trust” between his office and the former minister of justice over the SNC-Lavalin controversy.
Trudeau says the breakdown happened with his former principal secretary Gerald Butts, but he stopped short of apologizing to his former minister.
Wilson-Raybould says she was improperly pressured to stop a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin and was punished for her refusal to give in by being moved out of the justice portfolio to veterans affairs in an early January cabinet shuffle.
She resigned from cabinet shortly after the controversy erupted.
Her close friend and cabinet ally, Treasury Board president Jane Philpott, resigned in solidarity on Monday, saying she’d lost confidence in the government’s handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair.
Butts, who also resigned, told the House of Commons justice committee Wednesday that he wanted Wilson-Raybould to seek a second opinion from a retired judge so that the government could demonstrate it had seriously considered all legal options.
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