SNC-Lavalin

Four days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals opened their first session of Parliament with a throne speech in 2015, the federal government entered into a new confidential deal with SNC-Lavalin. To this day, the contents of that deal remain a secret, but what's clear is that it allows the Quebec construction and engineering giant to continue scoring lucrative federal contracts.

The spotlight in the SNC-Lavalin affair has shifted to rookie Justice Minister David Lametti now that a court has rejected the company's bid to force the public prosecutor to pursue an alternative to criminal proceedings.

Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says he will not be introducing a motion of non-confidence against Justin Trudeau despite saying the prime minister has lost the moral authority to govern because of the SNC-Lavalin affair.

SNC-Lavalin has a lost a court bid to have the public prosecutor overturn its refusal to negotiate an agreement that would see the company avoid a criminal trial.

Perhaps the most depressing spectacle of the entire Trudeau SNC-Lavalin implosion is that neither the prime minister nor the people around him seem to have any idea of how badly their tunnel vision distorted their judgment in the conduct of this file.

Just when the prime minister was escaping the political controversy swirling in the nation's capital — at least for a few hours — Mother Nature let him know she had other plans.

Two western premiers say the SNC-Lavalin affair is distracting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a time when he should be focused on jobs in their region.

Jody Wilson-Raybould would have brought a wealth of experience to the Indigenous services portfolio, including first-hand knowledge from the world of First Nations politics, some Indigenous leaders said on Thursday, March 7, 2019, as they questioned her decision to decline the cabinet post.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doubled down on Thursday, explaining that there was no inappropriate pressure on his former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould, but taking responsibility for an erosion of trust between her and his office over the past few months.

Five things we heard on Wednesday, March 6, 2019, as the House of Commons justice committee heard from Gerald Butts, former principal secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick and deputy justice minister Nathalie Drouin.

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman's lawyer is threatening to call Gerald Butts and Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick to testify in open court if they don't produce a series of documents that she says are essential to defend her client.

I am disappointed to be accused of partisanship by people who have never met me. My career is on the public record. I have held the highest security clearances of this country for many years. I was named to Deputy Minister level positions by Prime Ministers Chretien, Martin, Harper and Trudeau, said Michael Wernick in his opening statement to a parliamentary committee on March 6, 2019.

On Dec. 5, 2018, Jody Wilson-Raybould met for dinner with Gerald Butts at a luxurious downtown Ottawa hotel. Roughly three months later, both are out of their former jobs, and the highly-disputed nature of that dinner sits at the centre of the largest political scandal the Trudeau government has faced.

The head of SNC-Lavalin told the Canadian government it had to change its anti-corruption rules "as expeditiously as possible" in a 2017 letter to the minister in charge of procurement, just as her department was helping oversee public consultations on lighter punishments for corporate misconduct.

Feminism has been a key element of the Liberal party's appeal to voters since the 2015 election campaign but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's handling of the fallout from the SNC-Lavalin affair shows that he's a hypocrite, opposition parties say.