Evidence of meeting #124 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was randy.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
I'm not sure. The instructions I have were to a maximum of two hours today.
Hold on.
We have until 1:12, Mr. Fisher.
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Edmonton, AB
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
As I was saying, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that either the Prime Minister obstructed justice or, in a best-case scenario for him—and it's not a very good scenario—he came right up to the line of obstructing justice in pressuring Jody Wilson-Raybould repeatedly, in what amounted to a coordinated campaign, to interfere in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, which was a decision that had been made independently by the director of public prosecutions.
The Prime Minister would not take no for an answer. When it came to the conclusion that she would not budge and that she was going to stand up to the Prime Minister and stand up for the rule of law, he fired her. Then he covered up, and is now covering up, the evidence that the RCMP says it needs to complete its investigation.
As I said, if the Prime Minister didn't obstruct justice, he came right up to the line. I would emphasize, in that regard, that no matter how you look at it, Justin Trudeau doesn't come off favourably in this. He may very well have broken the law—a serious offence under the Criminal Code—but at the very least he engaged in behaviour that is completely unethical. He engaged in behaviour that fits every definition of “corruption”.
It goes back to what I was saying earlier, which is that there is this culture of corruption within this government, and it starts at the top. The corruption starts at the top, and it starts with the Prime Minister.
I have no doubt that the culture we have seen is a direct result of the standard he has set. It's that the Conflict of Interest Act doesn't apply to him. As the all-powerful Prime Minister, he's going to put pressure on his Attorney General to interfere in a prosecution that he doesn't think should go forward, notwithstanding that the director of public prosecutions made the independent determination that the prosecution ought to go forward. He's going to fire his Attorney General when she stands up for the rule of law, and he can get away with it because he'll just cover it up and hide behind cabinet confidence.
My colleague, Mr. Brock, talked about Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott. When they were kicked out of the Liberal caucus, Justin Trudeau invited the media to come. They found out, I think, basically through the media.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I know it's 1:11, and you're going to get ready to bring the gavel down, but I request that you suspend the meeting rather than adjourn it, just like we did the last time we didn't finish debate, so that we can get to a vote at the next meeting.
Thank you.
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Edmonton, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Justin Trudeau invited the media to watch the spectacle of Liberal MPs who, as Mr. Brock said, acted like trained seals and gleefully cheered on the Prime Minister's corruption—
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Mr. Cooper, I'm going to have to cut you off there, because we have reached the limit of our resources.
The challenge, Mr. Fisher, is that if I suspend and we don't have a meeting on Thursday, the suspension carries over to the summer. That provides all kinds of difficulties for the committee and me, as the chair, so the meeting is adjourned.