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On at least two occasions, Trudeau’s pressure took the form of reminders to Wilson-Raybould that the Liberal party needed to retain or even gain seats in Quebec in order to hold onto power, so she had better get with the program and drop the prosecution of Lavalin.

It never seems to have entered the Trudeau-ites’ minds that had they succeeded in rigging the SNC case that might have undermined public confidence in the impartiality of the justice system. Their only consideration, apparently, was what a trial might do to the Liberals’ re-election hopes in Quebec.

Equally troubling was the Trudeau team’s behaviour during the ethics commissioner’s investigation.

First, Trudeau declined to wave cabinet confidentiality to permit Dion and his staff to question witnesses fully. The PMO also refused to turn over many relevant documents. And yet, just from what he was permitted to see, the commissioner could conclude “the authority of the Prime Minister and his office was used to circumvent, undermine and ultimately attempt to discredit the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions as well as the authority of Ms. Wilson‑Raybould as the Crown’s chief law officer.”

During the commissioner’s investigation, Trudeau and his lawyers also tried to throw Wilson-Raybould under the bus, again.

Through his lawyers, Trudeau told Dion that his demotion of Wilson-Raybould in last January’s cabinet shuffle had nothing to do with her refusal to grant SNC-Lavalin a deferred prosecution agreement. Rather, Trudeau told Dion he had lost faith in Wilson-Raybould’s competence as Justice Minister and had grown concerned by what he saw as her increasing inability to play nicely with her cabinet colleagues.