Lavscam

EDITORIAL

It has been written that when a political scandal gets its own hashtag—as in #LavScam—it develops legs of it own that are not easily brought to a halt.

We have been witnessing this as of late in Ottawa, especially after former attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, delivered her explosive testimony before an emergency meeting of the House of Commons justice committee that rocked the federal political world.

In clear and precise terms she documented how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his inner circle in the PMO, and even the supposedly non-partisan head of the Privy Council bullied her to break the law and give a sweetheart deal to the Quebec-based engineering monolith, SNC-Lavalin, that would allow it to escape criminal prosecution on corruption charges,

And, when she wouldn't acquiesce to the “inappropriate pressure” she was punished by being fired from her position and demoted to Minister of Veteran Affairs.

It was great political theatre, but a bad day for our democracy when our independent judicial system gets political interference for purely political gains.

There is a federal election this October, after all, and if the Trudeau Liberals hope to get re-elected as government, they have to capture the seats offered in Quebec.

Hence, the pandering. Hence, the scandal.

There have already been casualties, of course. Trudeau's best friend and senior political advisor, Gerald Butts, rolled his own distracting head out the door, and it was then followed by calls for Trudeau's resignation, an RCMP investigation on top of the ethics commissioner's probe, a prolonged justice committee meeting, and an emergency debate in the House of Commons to argue whether Trudeau had the moral authority to continue governing.

If the world didn't know better, Canada could be mistaken for a banana republic.

It's that bad.

One way or another, this scandal has to end soon.

The Trudeau government has its pre-election budget on the horizon, which is likely the most important document it will ever table in its mandate.

One way or another, they have to regain the confidence of every-day Canadians—meaning us.

Without it, all is lost.