Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expelled two former cabinet ministers from his party as he tries to move beyond a serious political crisis.
The announcement came at the end of an emergency caucus meeting to consider expelling former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould after she released a secret recording last week that reignited the SNC-Lavalin scandal.
Former Budget Minister Jane Philpott, who had quit in protest over Mr Trudeau's handling of the controversy, was also removed.
Former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Former treasury board minister Jane Philpott have been expelled from the Canadian Liberal Party (Getty) Source: Getty Images
The Liberals have been in turmoil since February when Ms Wilson-Raybould said officials had inappropriately pressured her to ensure a major construction company escaped a corruption trial when she was justice minister last year.
"The trust that previously existed between these two individuals and our team has been broken," Mr Trudeau told an emergency meeting of caucus.
"Whether it's taping conversations without consent or repeatedly expressing a lack of confidence in our government and in me personally as leader, it's become clear that (both) can no longer remain part of our Liberal team."
Angry legislators had demanded both women be removed from caucus on the grounds they were undermining party unity.
Opposition leader Andrew Scheer said the prime minister's decision to expel the two ministers shows "if you tell the truth, there is no room for you in the Liberal Party."
Justin Trudeau’s fall from grace
The Canadian Liberal party surged in popularity under the leadership of Justin Trudeau, son of popular former PM Pierre Trudeau.
Having finished the 2011 election in third place, Mr Trudeau’s Liberals secured a 20 per cent swing at the 2015 election and over 140 seats to knock the ruling Conservative party out of power.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to the media at the national press gallery regarding the SNC-Lavalin affairs in Ottawa. Source: AFP
Once seen as a poster boy for progressive politics, the shine has come off Mr Trudeau’s political tenure.
He was embroiled in a conflict of interest scandal in December 2017 over a family vacation to the island of business magnate Aga Khan, who has received funding from the Canadian Government to support his philanthropic efforts.
Mr Trudeau also came under strong criticism over an eight day visit to India last year, where he accidentally dined with a Sikh extremist found guilty of the attempted murder of an Indian minister.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau along with his wife Sophie Gregoire on a week-long official trip to India. Source: AFP
Now his leadership has been derailed by a prosecution meddling scandal just months before Canada goes to the polls in Autumn.
SNC-Lavalin is a prominent engineering and construction company based in Montreal, who have offices in over 50 countries including Australia.
The firm is facing a number of fraud and corruption charges over business dealings in Libya.
The company has been pushing for the charges to be resolved with a deferred prosecution agreement, a new measure legislated by the Trudeau government last year.
A deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) would allow large companies accused of crimes like corruption, bribery and fraud to escape trial and criminal prosecution and instead pay an economic penalty.
Former Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould arrives to give her testimony about the SNC-LAVALIN affair before a justice committee Source: AFP/Getty Images
On February 7, a report from the newspaper The Globe and Mail alleged SNC-Lavalin had lobbied the Prime Minister's Office to secure a DPA.
The report claimed the Prime Minister's office had pressured Ms Wilson-Raybould to intervene in the case and persuade prosecutors to drop the criminal trial.
Ms Wilson-Raybould resigned from her cabinet affairs in the days following the story’s release.
She then testified to the Justice Committee, saying she'd experienced "consistent and sustained" political pressure to interfere in the case, including "veiled threats."
Mr Trudeau steadfastly denied the claims.
“The Attorney General has been historically in charge of Prosecutions, but in the last decade much of that function has been given over to the director of public prosecutions," explains Dr Victoria Colvin, a University of Wollongong lecturer and former criminal prosecutor in British Columbia.
“Part of the purpose of having that office is to insulate prosecution from politics."
"The Attorney General does have some powers to intervene, but the idea is decisions are made independent of political considerations and potentially the appearance of those considerations.”
Last Friday the scandal took another turn after Ms Wilson-Raybould released a phone recording along with other documents to support her claims.
The recording of a call between Ms Wilson-Raybould and Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick contains a conversation in which Mr Wernick signals the Prime Minister's concerns over plans to prosecute SNC-Lavelin.
Mr Trudeau described Ms Wilson-Raybould’s decision to secretly record the phone call as ‘unconscionable’.
Dr Colvin says the alleged actions of Mr Trudeau's office could contravene the Shawcross Doctrine, a longstanding constitutional convention in British Commonwealth nations.
"We have a long established convention and understanding that the decisions to prosecute individual cases are separate from the political process," she explains.
“How that actually works in practice is very rarely tested.”
Ms Wilson-Raybould responded to her expulsion on Twitter and says she did ‘what needed to be done based on principles & values that must always transcend party.”
Fellow expelled MP Jane Philpott said her expulsion is “profoundly disheartening.”
“This was an expression of loyalty, not disloyalty, in the same way that Jody Wilson-Raybould attempted to protect the Prime Minister from the obvious short-term and long-term consequences of attempts to interfere with prosecutorial independence, but to no avail.”
“These attacks were based on inaccuracies and falsehoods. I did not initiate the crisis now facing the party or the Prime Minister. Nor did Jody Wilson-Raybould.”
