Alleged PMO obstruction in SNC Lavalin case
- Thread starter Loachman
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ModlrMike said:
I realize that I didn't use enough acronyms. What I meant to say was:
If the PMO asks the new AG to direct the DPP to issue a DPA in favour of SNC, then this will only vindicate JWR and confirm in people's minds that Shakespeare was right, and that the LPC is not to be trusted.
Haggis
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ModlrMike said:
Except that the Liberals (the "Government") will spin it in such a way as to illustrate that JWR was wrong, the influence upon her was to encourage her to right that wrong and, when she erroneously refused, she had to be disciplined. The PM, PMO and PCO did the right thing and they should be trusted in October to do the right thing again.
Oldgateboatdriver
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And proving yet again that for the Libs, arms-Length relationship rules are more honour'd in the breach than the observance.
:nana:
:nana:
Brad Sallows
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If "rules" are to mean anything, SNC can't be granted a DPA. SNC has to be an example to all other corporations - a DPA is a possibility, but do not take it for granted. If SNC gets a DPA, it looks like a big corporation getting a sweet deal it lobbied for itself. And, any corporation in a similar predicament in future will ask (very publicly, so that the voters in its area of influence understand) "why them and not us"? And, politically that latter question will be interpreted as "why QC and not [somewhere-not-QC]?"
Oldgateboatdriver
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Just so we get this straight, while SNC's headquarter is in Montreal, there are more SNC employees working in the other provinces than in the province of Quebec. In fact there are almost as many working out of Toronto as there are in Montreal.
And if SNC goes, the good people of Toronto can kiss goodbye to the maintenance of highway 407-ETR for awhile until the situation is resolved, because it is owned and operated by SNC.
And if SNC goes, the good people of Toronto can kiss goodbye to the maintenance of highway 407-ETR for awhile until the situation is resolved, because it is owned and operated by SNC.
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If you're hoping to garner sympathy for SNC by appealing to our love of Toronto….Oldgateboatdriver said:
:rofl:
Oldgateboatdriver
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Not at all.
I just suspected that many a people in here that are making this a "Quebec" privilege issue may be from TO the good (since bashing anything Montreal they can't steal is in their DNA) and that just perhaps they didn't recognize the they were shooting themselves in the foot at the same time.
;D
I just suspected that many a people in here that are making this a "Quebec" privilege issue may be from TO the good (since bashing anything Montreal they can't steal is in their DNA) and that just perhaps they didn't recognize the they were shooting themselves in the foot at the same time.
;D
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Oldgateboatdriver said:
Actually, if JWR is to be believed, Trudeau and Company made it a Quebec issue. If her testimony is correct, he is the one who was concerned about the electoral ramifications for the Liberals, in Quebec, specifically.
I recognize that SNC has employees everwhere in Canada. I also recognize that they are hardly the only engineering firm in Canada and that if something bad happens to them, their bones will get picked over by their competitors and life will go on....
Oldgateboatdriver
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SeaKingTacco said:
That's for sure. And it completely belies the "economic consequences" argument.
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Loachman said:
Sorry,...still gotta kick Mike Harris's crew in the nuts for anything 407 related. Though in all fairness, it would still be a simple 2 lane highway had it remained in the hands of the Ontario Govt, as they siphoned off the profits for important things like 'art' nights, rubber ducks, etc....
I'm talking about today, not back then.
If the Bob Rae Toll Way gets shut down because SNC-Lavalin collapses, that's on Trudeau's actions, not Mike Harris.
Today's media sampling begins:
https://www.wellandtribune.ca/news-story/9202509-strategists-weigh-in-on-snc-lavalin-affair-i-don-t-think-public-opinion-is-set-on-this-/
Strategists weigh in on SNC-Lavalin affair: "I don't think public opinion is set on this'
News 05:56 PM by Robert Cribb
The political bombshell launched Wednesday by Jody Wilson-Raybould created new possibilities and pitfalls in the ramp-up to a federal election, say senior strategists.
"No one has seen anything like it," said Conservative strategist Jaime Watt. "The question is what does everybody do now?"
For the Tories, the gift of Liberal scandal delivered by the then attorney-general's allegations of political interference against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his staff prompted a swift call by Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer for Trudeau's resignation. Wilson-Raybould told a Commons committee about "sustained" efforts to persuade her to overrule the public prosecutions director and offer to mediate criminal charges against the giant Quebec firm SNC-Lavalin.
Was Scheer's call a wise move?
"It does sound a bit shrill and predictable," says Watt. "I think they pulled the alarm.
"He'll have to backfill with highly specific reasons and explanations for why that is the appropriate remedy ... I think he's going to have to come out with a much more lawyerly attack on the prime minister's behaviour."
There remains much unknown about what happened - and a long way to go before the October election date - for any certainty on how much Wednesday's bombshell will reshape Ottawa's political landscape. With only one side of the story told in detail so far, the narrative is still in flux and possibilities for new revelations very much in play, says Watt.
"I don't think public opinion is set on this. There presumably are other shoes to drop that we can't see right now."
So Scheer's challenge, says Watt, is keeping momentum and turning the rather arcane rule-of-law subtleties of attorney-general independence into an election issue for Canadians focused on jobs, health care and raising their children.
"We've seen lots of shooting stars where the parliamentary press gallery is running around saying this government is going down. They light up and disappear. Mr. Scheer has got to keep the focus on this. He has to use this to show the prime minister is not who you thought he was. That's where this can be enterprise-threatening."
Rather than demanding the prime minister's head, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called for a public inquiry "that would have independence to assess the truth."
Solid strategy, assesses Robin V. Sears, a longtime NDP strategist who runs Earnscliffe Strategy Group in Ottawa.
"The problem with Mr. Scheer's response is where does he go from here? Should Trudeau jump off a cliff? Jagmeet and his advisers were smart because they've now got a vehicle in which they can keep dropping evidence to argue for a public inquiry step by step."
Trudeau's response to Wilson-Raybould's forensic, detailed deconstruction of meetings and conversations have amounted to sound-bite dismissals made during other announcements. That decision not to address any of the substantive allegations in similar fashion is a curiosity, says Sears.
"A little contrition would have gone a long way. I think there's just a sense of chaos around the centre of the government ... I don't get the sense there's a strategic plan being executed."
And consider, he says, that it was all easily avoided.
"It was entirely predictable that when they dumped Jody, she would seek revenge. Had anyone given any thought to that? Obviously not. This is really amateurish communications management."
So what of the Liberal fortunes?
"I don't know how the story goes away for a long time," says Penny Collenette, a former Liberal organizer and law professor at the University of Ottawa. "I think people really want the truth. If there's two truths, then Canadians are smart. They'll figure it out. They'll decide. Everybody needs to know what happened and what went on."
For her part, Collenette called Wilson-Raybould's testimony "very credible, very honest. The detail is what made her very believable."
But any notions that Wilson-Raybould's political flame throwing could bring down the government are dramatically premature, political watchers agree.
<snip>
https://globalnews.ca/news/5016091/scheer-alternative-facts-snc-lavalin/
March 2, 2019 8:11 pm
Scheer blasts Liberals' "alternative facts' on SNC-Lavalin story
By Kerri Breen
<snip>
While Justin Trudeau has said he disagrees unequivocally with his former justice minister's version of events, he has also made comments suggesting he believes the difference between his story and hers comes down to perspective.
<snip>
"There are disagreements in perspective on this, but I can reassure Canadians that we were doing our job and we were doing it in a way that respects and defends our institutions."
The same day, Foreign Affairs minister Chrystia Freeland told CBC radio that Wilson-Raybould spoke "her truth" but added that she believes the prime minister would never apply "improper pressure."
On the Roy Green Show on Saturday, pollster Darrell Bricker said Trudeau's public comments on the SNC-Lavalin case have not helped.
"So far, the prime minister has done nothing to quell the problems that he has," said Bricker, Global CEO of Public Affairs for Ipsos. "In fact, every time he stands in front of the camera he seems to make it worse."
He said Trudeau will have a difficult time coming back from the allegations in the months before the October election, though the party does have time to present a compelling case to Canadians - if it has one.
"Once those kinds of things happen, this is going to dog them all the way through to the election campaign. And governments that are dogged by this kind of thing have a very difficult time convincing Canadians that they actually deserve another term," he said.
<snip>
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/macdougall-trudeau-beware-this-snc-mess-will-resonate-with-canadians
MacDougall: SNC scandal is leaving a mark voters will remember
Andrew MacDougall Updated: March 2, 2019
Following the twists and turns of the SNC-Lavalin drama, it's easy to miss the real scandal, one that will do the most damage if it fully registers. Forget the machinations of Trudeau v. Jody Wilson-Raybould, including her explosive testimony; it's SNC v. the system that will most anger "ordinary" Canadians. How is one company seemingly able to bend a government to its will?
Trudeau's government, you'll remember, was elected on a pledge to help the middle class. It promised to be open, transparent and accountable. It also promised to be proudly feminist. The SNC scandal is acid to all of those brands.
Now there might indeed be a bushel of middle-class people working for SNC in the politically important province of Quebec, but none of them would be able to bend the ear of the Trudeau government to the degree done here. Facing potential economic ruin because of the foreign bribery charges being pursued in Canadian courts, SNC managed to effect a change to Canadian law to allow for the remediation agreements that would allow it to sidestep a conviction and continue receiving lucrative federal government contracts. Not satisfied with these efforts, SNC has also reportedly been chipping away at the federal rules banning convicted companies from receiving federal work. If SNC has its way, companies won't automatically face a 10-year ban for their criminal behaviour.
The whole episode is reminiscent of the way things were before Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper took the big money out of Canadian politics, eliminating corporate and union donations and pushing individual contributions to levels where they could not credibly be perceived as buying influence. Anyone wondering why those changes were made need only look at the scandal now unfolding.
Now there might indeed be a bushel of middle-class people working for SNC in the politically important province of Quebec, but none of them would be able to bend the ear of the Trudeau government to the degree done here. Facing potential economic ruin because of the foreign bribery charges being pursued in Canadian courts, SNC managed to effect a change to Canadian law to allow for the remediation agreements that would allow it to sidestep a conviction and continue receiving lucrative federal government contracts. Not satisfied with these efforts, SNC has also reportedly been chipping away at the federal rules banning convicted companies from receiving federal work. If SNC has its way, companies won't automatically face a 10-year ban for their criminal behaviour.
The whole episode is reminiscent of the way things were before Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper took the big money out of Canadian politics, eliminating corporate and union donations and pushing individual contributions to levels where they could not credibly be perceived as buying influence. Anyone wondering why those changes were made need only look at the scandal now unfolding.
Trudeau has frustrated disclosure at every opportunity. Instead of detailing his office's interactions with Wilson-Raybould, Trudeau dismissed the story as "false" and ordered the Liberals on the House of Commons' Justice Committee to circumscribe its witness list to exclude anyone who might know anything about it. (Wilson-Raybould was, obviously, eventually allowed to appear.) Even the departure of Gerry Butts, Trudeau's top aide, came and went without any disclosure. He, too, will now appear at committee, but the others involved will not.
And while Trudeau and his office were refusing to be straight with Canadians, they were busy trying to bury Wilson-Raybould on and off the record. Dismissing Wilson-Raybould as "difficult" and "Jody-centric" is a straight-up insult to the feminism Trudeau has tried to preach since the swearing in of his first gender-balanced cabinet. When push came to shove, Trudeau appears to have shoved Wilson-Raybould out of the way instead of accepting her principled refusal to play ball on SNC.
The whole mess stinks. It's a dark cloud that couldn't be further from Trudeau's 2015 pledge of sunny ways. And being sold a false bill of goods is precisely the kind of thing Canadians tend to notice come election time.
<snip>
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/marin-time-for-michael-wernick-to-walk-away-with-cushy-pension
MARIN: Time for Michael Wernick to walk away with cushy pension
Andre Marin Published: March 2, 2019
<snip>
Back in Canada, we had an assortment of "fixers" from the Prime Minister on down, including an assortment of political hoodlums working for the Prime Minister bullying our former AG to "find a solution" to save SNC-Lavalin from prosecution.
"Finding a solution" was code word used over and over by Trudeau and his fixers to overturn the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.
<snip>
So, who is expected, in our parliamentary democracy, to steer key politicians and their aides from overstepping their boundaries? Step forward Michael Wernick, the top civil servant who is also deputy minister to Trudeau, Clerk of the Privy Council and head of the public service.
And Wernick failed spectacularly in that job. He let himself be co-opted by powerful Liberals. Wernick allowed partisan politics to seep into the public service. He testified a few weeks back before the Justice Committee.
After entertaining us with all types of non sequiturs about an apocalyptical future society involving people getting shot during an election and praising a Liberal government minister, which had nothing to do with SNC-Lavalin, he actually confirmed that pressure was exerted by the Prime Minister's staff and him for months after being told by Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould that she would not back down from the prosecution.
Wilson-Raybould filled the narrative this past week.
She said she had several detailed meetings and conversations with Wernick, including one on Sept. 17 on an unrelated issue where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau immediately brought up the SNC-Lavalin case pressuring her to go for a deferred prosecution agreement. She added: "Then, to my surprise, the Clerk started to make the case for the need to have a DPA."
Trudeau said there was a provincial election in Quebec and that's where he had his seat. Wilson-Raybould pushed back asking whether he was interfering politically with her role as Attorney General.
Trudeau's code language: "No, no, no, we just need to find a solution.
Months later, on Dec. 19, Wernick was at it again trying to "find a solution" calling Wilson-Raybould to inform her that Trudeau was "quite determined, quite firm."
"He said: "I think he is gonna find a way to get it done one way or another,'" she said.
<snip>
How is Wernick's role in all of this any different from the ten other politicians and their staffers who met, emailed and texted Wilson-Raybould to change her course of action over several months? The use of code language allowed for plausible deniability. Now the bunch of eleven can say they didn't use undue pressure, they were only trying to "find a solution" to a problem and save jobs.
<snip>
Wernick should have been the adult in the room. He aided and abetted the PMO in intimidating Wilson-Raybould to change her mind. Time to retire or be retired.
At least with 38 years of public service, he'll have a nice cushy pension and won't have to worry about sleeping on a cold prison cot.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/warren-the-liberals-conservatives-and-media-have-all-failed-on-this-mess#comments
WARREN: Liberals, Conservatives and media all failed on this mess
Jim Warren
Published: March 2, 2019
<snip>
I have never seen so many smart people doing their impressions of stupid people. You know it is a bad week in Ottawa when Jagmeet Singh is the lone shining star.
First the government: This has been a communications disaster. I understand that this is an act of political fratricide and it's hard to figure out how to avoid being shot when the shooting is coming from within your own trench. But SNC-Lavalin would be an issue instead of a scandal if the PMO had only come out with the truth the moment they were asked about the issue.
It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who leaked the story.
The Liberal explanation keeps changing. Their story has been confusing and, at times, unbelievable. Trudeau should have told his complete side of the story first and taken the initiative. And now the story continues to drag out because the government fails to be consistent and complete in its account.
It's the classic case of death by a thousand cuts.
While the PMO has floundered, the supporting cast has been worse. The Chair of Justice Committee and the Liberal committee members let their party down. Their performance was inept. All cabinet ministers need to be fighting like it is for their political lives. Instead, it's too little, too late.
This brings us to Andrew Scheer, who looks like he is running for high school president instead of prime minister. Calling for Trudeau's resignation was as equally inept as the Liberals' performance.
Napoleon said, "Never interfere with your enemy when he is making a mistake." Scheer apparently wants to get rid of the gift that keeps on giving.
Don't you want this drama to keep going on as long as possible? He should be calling for procedures that will drag this out even longer. Many Conservatives I spoke to this week were disappointed with Scheer's performance.
Remarkably, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh had the best week of the federal party leaders. Perhaps because he is also a lawyer, he seemed knowledgeable and measured in his response. He looked smart by calling for a national inquiry, his second victory of the week after winning his byelection.
<snip>
If the Bob Rae Toll Way gets shut down because SNC-Lavalin collapses, that's on Trudeau's actions, not Mike Harris.
Today's media sampling begins:
https://www.wellandtribune.ca/news-story/9202509-strategists-weigh-in-on-snc-lavalin-affair-i-don-t-think-public-opinion-is-set-on-this-/
Strategists weigh in on SNC-Lavalin affair: "I don't think public opinion is set on this'
News 05:56 PM by Robert Cribb
The political bombshell launched Wednesday by Jody Wilson-Raybould created new possibilities and pitfalls in the ramp-up to a federal election, say senior strategists.
"No one has seen anything like it," said Conservative strategist Jaime Watt. "The question is what does everybody do now?"
For the Tories, the gift of Liberal scandal delivered by the then attorney-general's allegations of political interference against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his staff prompted a swift call by Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer for Trudeau's resignation. Wilson-Raybould told a Commons committee about "sustained" efforts to persuade her to overrule the public prosecutions director and offer to mediate criminal charges against the giant Quebec firm SNC-Lavalin.
Was Scheer's call a wise move?
"It does sound a bit shrill and predictable," says Watt. "I think they pulled the alarm.
"He'll have to backfill with highly specific reasons and explanations for why that is the appropriate remedy ... I think he's going to have to come out with a much more lawyerly attack on the prime minister's behaviour."
There remains much unknown about what happened - and a long way to go before the October election date - for any certainty on how much Wednesday's bombshell will reshape Ottawa's political landscape. With only one side of the story told in detail so far, the narrative is still in flux and possibilities for new revelations very much in play, says Watt.
"I don't think public opinion is set on this. There presumably are other shoes to drop that we can't see right now."
So Scheer's challenge, says Watt, is keeping momentum and turning the rather arcane rule-of-law subtleties of attorney-general independence into an election issue for Canadians focused on jobs, health care and raising their children.
"We've seen lots of shooting stars where the parliamentary press gallery is running around saying this government is going down. They light up and disappear. Mr. Scheer has got to keep the focus on this. He has to use this to show the prime minister is not who you thought he was. That's where this can be enterprise-threatening."
Rather than demanding the prime minister's head, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called for a public inquiry "that would have independence to assess the truth."
Solid strategy, assesses Robin V. Sears, a longtime NDP strategist who runs Earnscliffe Strategy Group in Ottawa.
"The problem with Mr. Scheer's response is where does he go from here? Should Trudeau jump off a cliff? Jagmeet and his advisers were smart because they've now got a vehicle in which they can keep dropping evidence to argue for a public inquiry step by step."
Trudeau's response to Wilson-Raybould's forensic, detailed deconstruction of meetings and conversations have amounted to sound-bite dismissals made during other announcements. That decision not to address any of the substantive allegations in similar fashion is a curiosity, says Sears.
"A little contrition would have gone a long way. I think there's just a sense of chaos around the centre of the government ... I don't get the sense there's a strategic plan being executed."
And consider, he says, that it was all easily avoided.
"It was entirely predictable that when they dumped Jody, she would seek revenge. Had anyone given any thought to that? Obviously not. This is really amateurish communications management."
So what of the Liberal fortunes?
"I don't know how the story goes away for a long time," says Penny Collenette, a former Liberal organizer and law professor at the University of Ottawa. "I think people really want the truth. If there's two truths, then Canadians are smart. They'll figure it out. They'll decide. Everybody needs to know what happened and what went on."
For her part, Collenette called Wilson-Raybould's testimony "very credible, very honest. The detail is what made her very believable."
But any notions that Wilson-Raybould's political flame throwing could bring down the government are dramatically premature, political watchers agree.
<snip>
https://globalnews.ca/news/5016091/scheer-alternative-facts-snc-lavalin/
March 2, 2019 8:11 pm
Scheer blasts Liberals' "alternative facts' on SNC-Lavalin story
By Kerri Breen
<snip>
While Justin Trudeau has said he disagrees unequivocally with his former justice minister's version of events, he has also made comments suggesting he believes the difference between his story and hers comes down to perspective.
<snip>
"There are disagreements in perspective on this, but I can reassure Canadians that we were doing our job and we were doing it in a way that respects and defends our institutions."
The same day, Foreign Affairs minister Chrystia Freeland told CBC radio that Wilson-Raybould spoke "her truth" but added that she believes the prime minister would never apply "improper pressure."
On the Roy Green Show on Saturday, pollster Darrell Bricker said Trudeau's public comments on the SNC-Lavalin case have not helped.
"So far, the prime minister has done nothing to quell the problems that he has," said Bricker, Global CEO of Public Affairs for Ipsos. "In fact, every time he stands in front of the camera he seems to make it worse."
He said Trudeau will have a difficult time coming back from the allegations in the months before the October election, though the party does have time to present a compelling case to Canadians - if it has one.
"Once those kinds of things happen, this is going to dog them all the way through to the election campaign. And governments that are dogged by this kind of thing have a very difficult time convincing Canadians that they actually deserve another term," he said.
<snip>
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/macdougall-trudeau-beware-this-snc-mess-will-resonate-with-canadians
MacDougall: SNC scandal is leaving a mark voters will remember
Andrew MacDougall Updated: March 2, 2019
Following the twists and turns of the SNC-Lavalin drama, it's easy to miss the real scandal, one that will do the most damage if it fully registers. Forget the machinations of Trudeau v. Jody Wilson-Raybould, including her explosive testimony; it's SNC v. the system that will most anger "ordinary" Canadians. How is one company seemingly able to bend a government to its will?
Trudeau's government, you'll remember, was elected on a pledge to help the middle class. It promised to be open, transparent and accountable. It also promised to be proudly feminist. The SNC scandal is acid to all of those brands.
Now there might indeed be a bushel of middle-class people working for SNC in the politically important province of Quebec, but none of them would be able to bend the ear of the Trudeau government to the degree done here. Facing potential economic ruin because of the foreign bribery charges being pursued in Canadian courts, SNC managed to effect a change to Canadian law to allow for the remediation agreements that would allow it to sidestep a conviction and continue receiving lucrative federal government contracts. Not satisfied with these efforts, SNC has also reportedly been chipping away at the federal rules banning convicted companies from receiving federal work. If SNC has its way, companies won't automatically face a 10-year ban for their criminal behaviour.
The whole episode is reminiscent of the way things were before Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper took the big money out of Canadian politics, eliminating corporate and union donations and pushing individual contributions to levels where they could not credibly be perceived as buying influence. Anyone wondering why those changes were made need only look at the scandal now unfolding.
Now there might indeed be a bushel of middle-class people working for SNC in the politically important province of Quebec, but none of them would be able to bend the ear of the Trudeau government to the degree done here. Facing potential economic ruin because of the foreign bribery charges being pursued in Canadian courts, SNC managed to effect a change to Canadian law to allow for the remediation agreements that would allow it to sidestep a conviction and continue receiving lucrative federal government contracts. Not satisfied with these efforts, SNC has also reportedly been chipping away at the federal rules banning convicted companies from receiving federal work. If SNC has its way, companies won't automatically face a 10-year ban for their criminal behaviour.
The whole episode is reminiscent of the way things were before Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper took the big money out of Canadian politics, eliminating corporate and union donations and pushing individual contributions to levels where they could not credibly be perceived as buying influence. Anyone wondering why those changes were made need only look at the scandal now unfolding.
Trudeau has frustrated disclosure at every opportunity. Instead of detailing his office's interactions with Wilson-Raybould, Trudeau dismissed the story as "false" and ordered the Liberals on the House of Commons' Justice Committee to circumscribe its witness list to exclude anyone who might know anything about it. (Wilson-Raybould was, obviously, eventually allowed to appear.) Even the departure of Gerry Butts, Trudeau's top aide, came and went without any disclosure. He, too, will now appear at committee, but the others involved will not.
And while Trudeau and his office were refusing to be straight with Canadians, they were busy trying to bury Wilson-Raybould on and off the record. Dismissing Wilson-Raybould as "difficult" and "Jody-centric" is a straight-up insult to the feminism Trudeau has tried to preach since the swearing in of his first gender-balanced cabinet. When push came to shove, Trudeau appears to have shoved Wilson-Raybould out of the way instead of accepting her principled refusal to play ball on SNC.
The whole mess stinks. It's a dark cloud that couldn't be further from Trudeau's 2015 pledge of sunny ways. And being sold a false bill of goods is precisely the kind of thing Canadians tend to notice come election time.
<snip>
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/marin-time-for-michael-wernick-to-walk-away-with-cushy-pension
MARIN: Time for Michael Wernick to walk away with cushy pension
Andre Marin Published: March 2, 2019
<snip>
Back in Canada, we had an assortment of "fixers" from the Prime Minister on down, including an assortment of political hoodlums working for the Prime Minister bullying our former AG to "find a solution" to save SNC-Lavalin from prosecution.
"Finding a solution" was code word used over and over by Trudeau and his fixers to overturn the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.
<snip>
So, who is expected, in our parliamentary democracy, to steer key politicians and their aides from overstepping their boundaries? Step forward Michael Wernick, the top civil servant who is also deputy minister to Trudeau, Clerk of the Privy Council and head of the public service.
And Wernick failed spectacularly in that job. He let himself be co-opted by powerful Liberals. Wernick allowed partisan politics to seep into the public service. He testified a few weeks back before the Justice Committee.
After entertaining us with all types of non sequiturs about an apocalyptical future society involving people getting shot during an election and praising a Liberal government minister, which had nothing to do with SNC-Lavalin, he actually confirmed that pressure was exerted by the Prime Minister's staff and him for months after being told by Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould that she would not back down from the prosecution.
Wilson-Raybould filled the narrative this past week.
She said she had several detailed meetings and conversations with Wernick, including one on Sept. 17 on an unrelated issue where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau immediately brought up the SNC-Lavalin case pressuring her to go for a deferred prosecution agreement. She added: "Then, to my surprise, the Clerk started to make the case for the need to have a DPA."
Trudeau said there was a provincial election in Quebec and that's where he had his seat. Wilson-Raybould pushed back asking whether he was interfering politically with her role as Attorney General.
Trudeau's code language: "No, no, no, we just need to find a solution.
Months later, on Dec. 19, Wernick was at it again trying to "find a solution" calling Wilson-Raybould to inform her that Trudeau was "quite determined, quite firm."
"He said: "I think he is gonna find a way to get it done one way or another,'" she said.
<snip>
How is Wernick's role in all of this any different from the ten other politicians and their staffers who met, emailed and texted Wilson-Raybould to change her course of action over several months? The use of code language allowed for plausible deniability. Now the bunch of eleven can say they didn't use undue pressure, they were only trying to "find a solution" to a problem and save jobs.
<snip>
Wernick should have been the adult in the room. He aided and abetted the PMO in intimidating Wilson-Raybould to change her mind. Time to retire or be retired.
At least with 38 years of public service, he'll have a nice cushy pension and won't have to worry about sleeping on a cold prison cot.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/warren-the-liberals-conservatives-and-media-have-all-failed-on-this-mess#comments
WARREN: Liberals, Conservatives and media all failed on this mess
Jim Warren
Published: March 2, 2019
<snip>
I have never seen so many smart people doing their impressions of stupid people. You know it is a bad week in Ottawa when Jagmeet Singh is the lone shining star.
First the government: This has been a communications disaster. I understand that this is an act of political fratricide and it's hard to figure out how to avoid being shot when the shooting is coming from within your own trench. But SNC-Lavalin would be an issue instead of a scandal if the PMO had only come out with the truth the moment they were asked about the issue.
It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who leaked the story.
The Liberal explanation keeps changing. Their story has been confusing and, at times, unbelievable. Trudeau should have told his complete side of the story first and taken the initiative. And now the story continues to drag out because the government fails to be consistent and complete in its account.
It's the classic case of death by a thousand cuts.
While the PMO has floundered, the supporting cast has been worse. The Chair of Justice Committee and the Liberal committee members let their party down. Their performance was inept. All cabinet ministers need to be fighting like it is for their political lives. Instead, it's too little, too late.
This brings us to Andrew Scheer, who looks like he is running for high school president instead of prime minister. Calling for Trudeau's resignation was as equally inept as the Liberals' performance.
Napoleon said, "Never interfere with your enemy when he is making a mistake." Scheer apparently wants to get rid of the gift that keeps on giving.
Don't you want this drama to keep going on as long as possible? He should be calling for procedures that will drag this out even longer. Many Conservatives I spoke to this week were disappointed with Scheer's performance.
Remarkably, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh had the best week of the federal party leaders. Perhaps because he is also a lawyer, he seemed knowledgeable and measured in his response. He looked smart by calling for a national inquiry, his second victory of the week after winning his byelection.
<snip>
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/scheer-open-to-the-idea-of-splitting-justice-attorney-general-roles-if-pm-1.4319286
Scheer 'open' to the idea of splitting justice, attorney general roles if PM
Rachel Aiello, Ottawa News Bureau Online Producer
Published Sunday, March 3, 2019 7:00AM EST
<snip>
During her committee appearance, Wilson-Raybould suggested that separating these roles could be a way to keep future attorneys general removed from the political machinations that the justice minister is privy to.
"There has always been a different aspect of that role within the Canadian cabinet going back over 150 years now. So it's not just as if a minister executed a program delivery improperly or wasn't the best communicator it was in her capacity as the chief legal officer of this country. She determined that would be inappropriate to intervene in an independent criminal court case and she lost her job because of that," Scheer said.
<snip>
Scheer also said his caucus will continue to call for Trudeau to join the slowly-growing witness list at the committee.
"Absolutely he needs to, under oath, on the record with the ability to have that kind of back and forth. We've seen in question period, he doesn't answer your questions… he needs to sit there and explain," Scheer said.
One unanswered question is Wilson-Raybould's future in caucus. Trudeau has said that he is still undecided if she has a place among the Liberal benches.
For her part, Wilson-Raybould says she will continue to serve the constituents of Vancouver-Granville, B.C. "as a Liberal Member of Parliament."
Asked about this, Goodale said on CTV's Question Period that he hopes "that there can be some kind of reconciliation," but doesn't know if that'll be possible after she wouldn't say if she still has confidence in Trudeau.
"This has obviously been a very sad and difficult and painful experience, I'm sure on all sides, it has not been pleasant when you have these kinds of disputes and arguments and very intense feelings," Goodale said.
"I would hope that there can be some kind of reconciliation ... A caucus depends on internal cohesion and belief in one another and trust and confidence ... And if things are going to be repaired it's going to take an awful lot of hard work, whether that can be done or not, I don't know," Goodale said.
In a separate interview on CTV's Question Period, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said that she knows that Wilson-Raybould still has support within the Liberal caucus.
"Particularly a lot of women in the Liberal caucus who are #standwithjody," May said. "It is awkward for the prime minister for sure."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ontario-liberal-mp-celina-caesar-chavannes-not-running-in-october-election-1.5040589
Ontario Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes not running in October election
Whitby MP says her decision is not related to Jody Wilson-Raybould's testimony
CBC News Posted: Mar 02, 2019 3:33 PM ET
Ontario Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes announced Saturday she would not be seeking re-election this year.
In a statement posted to Twitter, the member for Whitby, Ont., explained she had informed the prime minister and party whip of her "tremendously difficult" decision on Feb. 12.
She also stressed that her choice wasn't related to the ongoing SNC-Lavalin affair and the testimony of her caucus colleague Jody Wilson-Raybould, who this week described interference by the prime minister and high-level government officials over her decision not to offer a deferred prosecution deal to the Quebec company.
She added she had immense respect for the former justice minister and attorney general and that would never change. The MP had commented several times on Twitter in support of Wilson-Raybould during the unfolding events surrounding her resignation from cabinet.
"Factors influencing this decision started long before Feb.12," the statement says. "It is a personal decision, based on a number of factors."
Caesar-Chavannes said her mind had been made up for months, dating back to before she decided not to continue as a parliamentary secretary in September.
<snip>
She joins Mark Eyking, Bill Casey, Colin Fraser, TJ Harvey and Scott Brison on the list of Liberal MPs choosing not to run again in October's general election.
https://www.thepostmillennial.com/trudeaus-lineup-of-willing-op-ed-writers-points-to-larger-problem-of-media-manipulation/
Trudeau's lineup of willing op-ed writers points to larger problem of media manipulation
by Graeme Gordon
One of the most revelatory bombshells from former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould's candid and damaging testimony was when she alleged that the Prime Minister's chief of staff Katie Telford offered to get the minister positive press if she were to follow the Trudeau government's wishes.
According to Wilson-Raybould, Telford told her chief of staff that the Prime Minister's Office could "lineup all kinds of people to write op-eds" to defend her for allowing SNC-Lavalin get off virtually scot-free for bribery charges. The alleged bribery included allegedly spending nearly $2 million on parties and prostitutes for deceased Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's son's visit to Canada.
Telford's alleged statement rankled many in the mainstream media. The Toronto Star's public editor Kathy English was indignant in a column where she said it is "disturbing and laughable" that Trudeau's chief of staff allegedly suggested newspapers like the Toronto Star have what English inferred as a "passive process of publishing to appease special interests."
<snip>
And who can forget former CBC national defence journalist James Cudmore who - shortly after former Royal Canadian Navy's Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was thrown under the bus - got a job working for Liberal defence minister Harjit Sajjan?
There are nearly a dozen journalists that come to mind who jumped for government flack jobs dangled to them once Trudeau assumed power. CBC itself had fawning coverage of Trudeau last election cycle because - as I've heard from sources - some at the public broadcaster saw him as their saviour, promising, and delivering, hundreds of millions in additional funding.
Other leftist journalists need no incentive to do the PMO's bidding. They're true believers that will look for any right-wing extremist who is politically active and try their best to tie them to the Conservative party of Canada (sometimes legitimately). These same journalists, however, have failed to file any reports on extremists from the left, many of whom are also politically active and affiliated with the NDP or Liberals.
When Gerald Butts resigned, some journalists expressed sadness publicly (others were tactful enough to keep it private). It was quite revealing of just how exceptional Trudeau's best friend and principal secretary was at his job in grooming and managing journalists, some even admitting their overall general agreement with the government and finding it hard to see Trudeau losing the plot.
And if journalists honestly think that a bailout of the legacy media will not have a net effect on the industry that's positive for the Trudeau government, their benefactor, they need to give their heads a shake.
Money always has an influential effect, whether intended or not, and $595 million is a lot of influence. At the very least it will help hinder the ability of less predictable and less controllable leaner and meaner startups, not tamed by corporate culture, from thriving in their absence, keeping media ownership consolidated in a few gatekeepers' hands.
At a pub last week, a friend in banking bluntly told me journalists are simply tools or conduits for powerful people to sell their agenda or message to the masses. After initially feeling personally affronted, I couldn't really disagree. As a regular contributor and listener to media criticism news outlet CANADALAND, over the past two years too many examples of journalists as tools for powerful people came to mind (a few of which I've recounted for you above).
One of the fundamental jobs of the PMO is to control messaging in the media. So, like the sustained pressure put on Wilson-Raybould, the Trudeau government (and powerful people generally, e.g. Michael Bryant) has a multitude of sophisticated levers and buttons it can pull and push to wholly manipulate narratives in this country. It's laughable and disturbing to suggest and think otherwise.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/goldstein-justin-trudeau-just-wasnt-ready
Lorrie Goldstein
Published: March 2, 2019
<snip>
We're learning that electing a prime minister who would not have become prime minister, given the thinness of his resume, were his last name not "Trudeau," has real-world consequences.
This as we listen to his implausible explanations for removing Jody Wilson-Raybould as Canada's attorney general change by the hour, exposing the real reason - that she has political ethics and gravitas that he does not.
The Liberal party that considers itself Canada's natural governing party is in disarray under his leadership, its cabinet ministers and MPs reduced to uttering gibberish as they try to defend Trudeau's indefensible actions in the SNC-Lavalin scandal.
Because there's no defence for a prime minister who - as Raybould's calmly delivered but devastating four hours of testimony at the Commons justice committee revealed last week - puts his own partisan political interests and those of his party, above the national interest.
Above the interests of all Canadians in having a prime minister and a government that understands the importance of such basic concepts as prosecutorial independence and the rule of law.
<snip>
Because beyond the narrow confines of the Ottawa political-media bubble, the corrosive effect of more than three years of Trudeau's policies continues to undermine the body politic.
For example, the real-world consequences of having our national energy policy influenced by Gerald Butts, Trudeau's recently resigned principal secretary, close friend and most powerful aide, who idiotically campaigned for a carbon free energy industry by 2050 in his last job as head of the World Wildlife Fund Canada.
A poll released Friday by Angus Reid Institute shows the new hotbed of popular support for separation in Canada is Alberta, not Quebec.
It found 50% of Albertans would support secession from Canada compared to an October 2016 poll showing 82% of Quebecers had no desire to revisit the issue of sovereignty any time soon.
<snip>
While support for separation in Alberta is not yet as great a threat to Canadian unity as the Quebec separatist movement in its heyday, according to Reid, it's hardly surprising separatist sentiment is growing in a province where Trudeau's promise that carbon taxes would give Alberta the "social licence" to build pipelines, has been an abject failure.
On a related front, Statistics Canada reported Friday that an unexpectedly severe slowdown in Canada's economic growth in the final quarter of 2018 will likely continue and spread this year.
To be fair, federal policies are only one factor that impacts our economy. There are many others the government can't control.
That said, and contrary to the world according to Justin Trudeau, we now know that deficits don't balance themselves and growing the economy "from the heart outwards" is election rhetoric, not an economic plan.
Nice hair, though.
Scheer 'open' to the idea of splitting justice, attorney general roles if PM
Rachel Aiello, Ottawa News Bureau Online Producer
Published Sunday, March 3, 2019 7:00AM EST
<snip>
During her committee appearance, Wilson-Raybould suggested that separating these roles could be a way to keep future attorneys general removed from the political machinations that the justice minister is privy to.
"There has always been a different aspect of that role within the Canadian cabinet going back over 150 years now. So it's not just as if a minister executed a program delivery improperly or wasn't the best communicator it was in her capacity as the chief legal officer of this country. She determined that would be inappropriate to intervene in an independent criminal court case and she lost her job because of that," Scheer said.
<snip>
Scheer also said his caucus will continue to call for Trudeau to join the slowly-growing witness list at the committee.
"Absolutely he needs to, under oath, on the record with the ability to have that kind of back and forth. We've seen in question period, he doesn't answer your questions… he needs to sit there and explain," Scheer said.
One unanswered question is Wilson-Raybould's future in caucus. Trudeau has said that he is still undecided if she has a place among the Liberal benches.
For her part, Wilson-Raybould says she will continue to serve the constituents of Vancouver-Granville, B.C. "as a Liberal Member of Parliament."
Asked about this, Goodale said on CTV's Question Period that he hopes "that there can be some kind of reconciliation," but doesn't know if that'll be possible after she wouldn't say if she still has confidence in Trudeau.
"This has obviously been a very sad and difficult and painful experience, I'm sure on all sides, it has not been pleasant when you have these kinds of disputes and arguments and very intense feelings," Goodale said.
"I would hope that there can be some kind of reconciliation ... A caucus depends on internal cohesion and belief in one another and trust and confidence ... And if things are going to be repaired it's going to take an awful lot of hard work, whether that can be done or not, I don't know," Goodale said.
In a separate interview on CTV's Question Period, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said that she knows that Wilson-Raybould still has support within the Liberal caucus.
"Particularly a lot of women in the Liberal caucus who are #standwithjody," May said. "It is awkward for the prime minister for sure."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ontario-liberal-mp-celina-caesar-chavannes-not-running-in-october-election-1.5040589
Ontario Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes not running in October election
Whitby MP says her decision is not related to Jody Wilson-Raybould's testimony
CBC News Posted: Mar 02, 2019 3:33 PM ET
Ontario Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes announced Saturday she would not be seeking re-election this year.
In a statement posted to Twitter, the member for Whitby, Ont., explained she had informed the prime minister and party whip of her "tremendously difficult" decision on Feb. 12.
She also stressed that her choice wasn't related to the ongoing SNC-Lavalin affair and the testimony of her caucus colleague Jody Wilson-Raybould, who this week described interference by the prime minister and high-level government officials over her decision not to offer a deferred prosecution deal to the Quebec company.
She added she had immense respect for the former justice minister and attorney general and that would never change. The MP had commented several times on Twitter in support of Wilson-Raybould during the unfolding events surrounding her resignation from cabinet.
"Factors influencing this decision started long before Feb.12," the statement says. "It is a personal decision, based on a number of factors."
Caesar-Chavannes said her mind had been made up for months, dating back to before she decided not to continue as a parliamentary secretary in September.
<snip>
She joins Mark Eyking, Bill Casey, Colin Fraser, TJ Harvey and Scott Brison on the list of Liberal MPs choosing not to run again in October's general election.
https://www.thepostmillennial.com/trudeaus-lineup-of-willing-op-ed-writers-points-to-larger-problem-of-media-manipulation/
Trudeau's lineup of willing op-ed writers points to larger problem of media manipulation
by Graeme Gordon
One of the most revelatory bombshells from former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould's candid and damaging testimony was when she alleged that the Prime Minister's chief of staff Katie Telford offered to get the minister positive press if she were to follow the Trudeau government's wishes.
According to Wilson-Raybould, Telford told her chief of staff that the Prime Minister's Office could "lineup all kinds of people to write op-eds" to defend her for allowing SNC-Lavalin get off virtually scot-free for bribery charges. The alleged bribery included allegedly spending nearly $2 million on parties and prostitutes for deceased Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's son's visit to Canada.
Telford's alleged statement rankled many in the mainstream media. The Toronto Star's public editor Kathy English was indignant in a column where she said it is "disturbing and laughable" that Trudeau's chief of staff allegedly suggested newspapers like the Toronto Star have what English inferred as a "passive process of publishing to appease special interests."
<snip>
And who can forget former CBC national defence journalist James Cudmore who - shortly after former Royal Canadian Navy's Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was thrown under the bus - got a job working for Liberal defence minister Harjit Sajjan?
There are nearly a dozen journalists that come to mind who jumped for government flack jobs dangled to them once Trudeau assumed power. CBC itself had fawning coverage of Trudeau last election cycle because - as I've heard from sources - some at the public broadcaster saw him as their saviour, promising, and delivering, hundreds of millions in additional funding.
Other leftist journalists need no incentive to do the PMO's bidding. They're true believers that will look for any right-wing extremist who is politically active and try their best to tie them to the Conservative party of Canada (sometimes legitimately). These same journalists, however, have failed to file any reports on extremists from the left, many of whom are also politically active and affiliated with the NDP or Liberals.
When Gerald Butts resigned, some journalists expressed sadness publicly (others were tactful enough to keep it private). It was quite revealing of just how exceptional Trudeau's best friend and principal secretary was at his job in grooming and managing journalists, some even admitting their overall general agreement with the government and finding it hard to see Trudeau losing the plot.
And if journalists honestly think that a bailout of the legacy media will not have a net effect on the industry that's positive for the Trudeau government, their benefactor, they need to give their heads a shake.
Money always has an influential effect, whether intended or not, and $595 million is a lot of influence. At the very least it will help hinder the ability of less predictable and less controllable leaner and meaner startups, not tamed by corporate culture, from thriving in their absence, keeping media ownership consolidated in a few gatekeepers' hands.
At a pub last week, a friend in banking bluntly told me journalists are simply tools or conduits for powerful people to sell their agenda or message to the masses. After initially feeling personally affronted, I couldn't really disagree. As a regular contributor and listener to media criticism news outlet CANADALAND, over the past two years too many examples of journalists as tools for powerful people came to mind (a few of which I've recounted for you above).
One of the fundamental jobs of the PMO is to control messaging in the media. So, like the sustained pressure put on Wilson-Raybould, the Trudeau government (and powerful people generally, e.g. Michael Bryant) has a multitude of sophisticated levers and buttons it can pull and push to wholly manipulate narratives in this country. It's laughable and disturbing to suggest and think otherwise.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/goldstein-justin-trudeau-just-wasnt-ready
Lorrie Goldstein
Published: March 2, 2019
<snip>
We're learning that electing a prime minister who would not have become prime minister, given the thinness of his resume, were his last name not "Trudeau," has real-world consequences.
This as we listen to his implausible explanations for removing Jody Wilson-Raybould as Canada's attorney general change by the hour, exposing the real reason - that she has political ethics and gravitas that he does not.
The Liberal party that considers itself Canada's natural governing party is in disarray under his leadership, its cabinet ministers and MPs reduced to uttering gibberish as they try to defend Trudeau's indefensible actions in the SNC-Lavalin scandal.
Because there's no defence for a prime minister who - as Raybould's calmly delivered but devastating four hours of testimony at the Commons justice committee revealed last week - puts his own partisan political interests and those of his party, above the national interest.
Above the interests of all Canadians in having a prime minister and a government that understands the importance of such basic concepts as prosecutorial independence and the rule of law.
<snip>
Because beyond the narrow confines of the Ottawa political-media bubble, the corrosive effect of more than three years of Trudeau's policies continues to undermine the body politic.
For example, the real-world consequences of having our national energy policy influenced by Gerald Butts, Trudeau's recently resigned principal secretary, close friend and most powerful aide, who idiotically campaigned for a carbon free energy industry by 2050 in his last job as head of the World Wildlife Fund Canada.
A poll released Friday by Angus Reid Institute shows the new hotbed of popular support for separation in Canada is Alberta, not Quebec.
It found 50% of Albertans would support secession from Canada compared to an October 2016 poll showing 82% of Quebecers had no desire to revisit the issue of sovereignty any time soon.
<snip>
While support for separation in Alberta is not yet as great a threat to Canadian unity as the Quebec separatist movement in its heyday, according to Reid, it's hardly surprising separatist sentiment is growing in a province where Trudeau's promise that carbon taxes would give Alberta the "social licence" to build pipelines, has been an abject failure.
On a related front, Statistics Canada reported Friday that an unexpectedly severe slowdown in Canada's economic growth in the final quarter of 2018 will likely continue and spread this year.
To be fair, federal policies are only one factor that impacts our economy. There are many others the government can't control.
That said, and contrary to the world according to Justin Trudeau, we now know that deficits don't balance themselves and growing the economy "from the heart outwards" is election rhetoric, not an economic plan.
Nice hair, though.
- Reaction score
- 4,198
- Points
- 1,260
On this, haven't read/heard this elsewhere, but she's told the Vancouver Province ...Loachman said:
op:
- Reaction score
- 6,022
- Points
- 1,160
I dont think its about jobs or politics or anything else like that.
It think all boils down to greed and influence. Way too many high ranking liberals are involved with SNC. Just like they are with Bombardier and Power Corp. The Laurentien Elites if you will.
There's too much face and money to lose in individual portfolios to let SNC fail.
Nothing to do with Canada and all to do with bank accounts.
:2c:
It think all boils down to greed and influence. Way too many high ranking liberals are involved with SNC. Just like they are with Bombardier and Power Corp. The Laurentien Elites if you will.
There's too much face and money to lose in individual portfolios to let SNC fail.
Nothing to do with Canada and all to do with bank accounts.
:2c:
Brad Sallows
Army.ca Legend
- Reaction score
- 8,701
- Points
- 1,040
>According to Wilson-Raybould, Telford told her chief of staff that the Prime Minister's Office could "lineup all kinds of people to write op-eds"
>Telford's alleged statement rankled many in the mainstream media.
It's easy to see how it works.
1. "Respected" people - not necessarily journalists - write the op-eds.
2. The leading wave of "respected" opinion provides the pretext for the army ofdupes reporters described by Ben Rhodes* to follow comfortably along where their political inclinations lie.
The institutional press are angry and upset because they know that both points are highly plausible, which means that many reporters basically dance to music provided by unelected political operatives. Some have to confront the uncomfortable truth that they are or have been one of the puppets.
*"they literally know nothing"
>Telford's alleged statement rankled many in the mainstream media.
It's easy to see how it works.
1. "Respected" people - not necessarily journalists - write the op-eds.
2. The leading wave of "respected" opinion provides the pretext for the army of
The institutional press are angry and upset because they know that both points are highly plausible, which means that many reporters basically dance to music provided by unelected political operatives. Some have to confront the uncomfortable truth that they are or have been one of the puppets.
*"they literally know nothing"
- Reaction score
- 21,893
- Points
- 1,360
Oldgateboatdriver said:
SNC only owns a 1/6 minority...along for the ride, Spanish company Cintra SPa owns the greatest portion (45%) followed by CPP (40%). The 407 will still be able to charge a king’s ransom, no matter where the smallest sharelholder’s HQ ends up...
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