A sign of things to come? Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, centre, is seen with Minister of Public Services and Procurement Anita Anand, right, and Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Small Business and Export Promotion, left, and Health Minister Patty Hajdu on the video screen.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
As the finance minister of a G7 nation, Chrystia Freeland has entered a club of political leaders whose entire world view is shaped by neoliberalism. Will she find a way to promote real feminism?
The SNC-Lavalin headquarters is seen in in February 2019.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Jennifer Quaid, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
A jury is about to decide the fate of a senior SNC-Lavalin executive accused of corruption and fraud. Meanwhile, Canada’s remediation agreement process is still sorely lacking.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference in Ottawa shortly after the 2019 federal election. In a minority situation, Trudeau will now have to listen and adhere to different perspectives.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Justin Trudeau will have to change his style of governing in the new minority government. Working in a co-operative government with other political parties could diminish executive dominance.
Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion is seen in this December 2011 photo taken on Parliament Hill.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
A phone conversation at the heart of the SNC-Lavalin affair contained so much miscommunication that it does not constitute persuasive evidence about alleged threats to Jody Wilson-Raybould.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is embraced by Jody Wilson-Raybould after delivering a speech on the recognition and implementation of Indigenous rights in in the House of Commons on Feb. 14, 2018.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
A firm PMO policy on respecting the political independence of the attorney general might have served Justin Trudeau better when Jody Wilson-Raybould first cautioned him against interfering in the SNC-Lavalin case.
Former SNC-Lavalin CEO Pierre Duhaime leaves a courtroom in Montreal in February 2019. Duhaime pleaded guilty in a bribe scandal around the construction of a $1.3-billion Montreal hospital.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
The SNC-Lavalin controversy has resulted in some misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the legal mechanism at its heart: Deferred prosecution agreements.
Jane Philpott and Jody Wilson-Raybould are seen during a news conference in Ottawa in June 2016.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
While the Wilson-Raybould/Philpott resignations are historic by the numbers, they may also prove historic in creating a new faith in federal cabinet, a previously elite and closed decision-making body.
The Padma Bridge Project in Bangladesh is seen in this February 2018 photograph. SNC-Lavalin was accused of bribing officials in the construction of the bridge, though charges were later dropped.
Md Shaifuzzaman Ayon
Promoting Canadian jobs is part of any government’s political mandate, but so too is the responsibility of ensuring that Canadian businesses are not supporting or condoning corruption abroad.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference in Ottawa to respond to allegations his office pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould in the SNC-Lavalin affair.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand
The prospect of political interference is at the heart of the SNC-Lavalin controversy. But it raises more issues related to identifying and preventing inappropriate interference.
It could be easy to scoff at Canadian laws that might have allowed SNC-Lavalin to avoid prosecution for bribery and fraud. But they’re working exactly as they should.
(Shutterstock)
In 1921 and now in 2019, the respective resignations of Mary Ellen Smith from B.C. cabinet and Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott from federal cabinet have exposed the limits of Canadian liberalism.
Jody Wilson-Raybould appears at the House of Commons Justice Committee on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 27, 2019.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Corrie Scott, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Indigenous women had far more personal freedom than European women did before Europeans arrived.
Sir John A. Macdonald was not only Canada’s first prime minister, he was the first justice minister and attorney general. Jody Wilson-Raybould has suggested the two roles should be split.
National Archives of Canada/THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Sir John A. Macdonald fused the jobs of justice minister and attorney general as Canada’s first prime minister. So is he partly to blame for the SNC-Lavalin controversy?
Is the SNC-Lavalin controversy truly a political scandal? If so, it’s unlike any we’ve seen before in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seen here in January 2019 with Jody Wilson-Raybould after she was shuffled out of her job as attorney general.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
A standard political scandal involves a person who did something wrong out of negligence or motivations of money, personal ambition, sex, etc. But the SNC-Lavalin affair so far lacks those elements.
Mary Ng is hugged by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after being sworn in as Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion during a swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall on July 18, 2018. The cabinet shuffle sets the stage for the next federal election in the fall of 2019.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
With a federal election next year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has shuffled his cabinet. What do the new faces in new jobs tell us about where the government feels it could be challenged?