OTTAWA— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces his biggest test ever with the stunning resignation Monday of a second female cabinet minister — and one of his most trusted political allies — who declared a lack of confidence in the government following allegations of political interference in the SNC-Lavalin affair.

Confronted with the resignation of Treasury Board president Jane Philpott, Trudeau scrambled Monday to rally remaining cabinet members behind him, avoiding an immediate crisis. All issued statements to the Toronto Star expressing confidence in the government.

Trudeau later appeared onstage in Toronto with a few ministers and MPs from the region in a show of solidarity at a heated rally on climate change that was interrupted by hecklers, who were in turn shouted down by Trudeau supporters chanting his name.

Trudeau said he had known of Philpott’s concerns “for some time. While I am disappointed I understand her decision to step down and I want to thank her for her service.” In losing Philpott, he lost a trusted minister in his cabinet ranks, one who was well regarded by many and who had tackled difficult portfolios as minister of health and then Indigenous affairs since her election in 2015.

Yet the prime minister portrayed the departure of one of his key ministers as a “disagreement” that results from the diversity of views he encourages in his cabinet. “In a democracy like ours and in a space where we value our diversity so strongly we’re allowed to have disagreements and debate. We even encourage it,” Trudeau said.

“This matter has generated an important discussion: how democratic institutions, specifically the federal ministry and the staff and officials that support it, conduct themselves is critical and core to all of our principles. Concerns of this nature must be taken very seriously and I can assure you that I am.”

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However, Trudeau dropped his insistence that the government had acted properly and acknowledged “there are more questions still to be answered,” and said he would be listening to testimony at the justice committee “in the coming days and weeks.”

With the October election looming, he urged supporters to stay focused. “We need to keep in mind behind this fantastic movement we’ve built,” Trudeau said. “Canadians ... are counting on us.”

It remains to be seen if Trudeau can retain the confidence of his nervous caucus, many of whom have privately complained Trudeau is failing to address head-on disturbing questions raised by his former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould, who accused the prime minister and his team of exerting political pressure on her to abandon criminal charges against the Quebec company.

Philpott tied her resignation directly to Wilson-Raybould’s bombshell testimony last week.

Philpott told the prime minister on Monday she was quitting as Treasury Board president, but would remain as Liberal MP for Markham-Stouffville.

“I have been considering the events that have shaken the federal government in recent weeks and after serious reflection, I have concluded that I must resign as a member of cabinet,” she wrote in a resignation letter posted on her website.

She said it was “untenable” for her to remain as she had “serious concerns” about efforts by “politicians and/or officials” to pressure Wilson-Raybould.

“The solemn principles at stake are the independence and integrity of our justice system. It is a fundamental doctrine of the rule of law that our attorney general should not be subjected to political pressure or interference regarding the exercise of her prosecutorial discretion in criminal cases. Sadly, I have lost confidence in how the government has dealt with this matter and in how it has responded to the issues raised.”

Philpott’s resignation elevated the crisis for the government even before Trudeau’s former principal secretary Gerald Butts testifies on Wednesday to offer a rebuttal of Wilson-Raybould’s version of events.

Scott Reid, a communications consultant and former communications director for Liberal prime minister Paul Martin, said Philpott’s resignation is a key moment for the government to ask itself a fundamental question about whether in making its defensive arguments to date, it is “just looking purely political — is it just trying to stand its ground and not admit that it’s possible that a mistake was made?

“You just don’t want to be in that position, not when you’re Justin Trudeau, who a lot of people still strongly pin their hopes to,” he said. “And certainly your chances of re-election are entirely built around Justin Trudeau. So you’ve got to restore that faith, you’ve got to build toward restoring that confidence.

“Sometimes the most simple way of looking at things is the most important way of looking at things. And the resignation of someone like Jane Philpott I think is an opportunity to step back and ask yourself do I want more of this, or do I want something different,” Reid said, likening her resignation to a “splash of cold water.

Philpott’s resignation carried particular symbolic weight, said Philippe Lagassé, associate professor and the Barton Chair at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.

“Resigning on a matter of policy is one thing,” he said. “Resigning because you believe the government acted improperly on a constitutional principle elevates the nature of the resignation.”

Lagassé said there is no rule or convention requiring Trudeau to test the confidence of the House of Commons now, but he needs to be assured of cabinet and caucus solidarity. And for now, he added, Philpott’s and Wilson-Raybould’s resignations show the system “is working because he (the prime minster) is paying a political cost and it’s going to play out politically.

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“I think it does demonstrate that cabinet matters, and caucus matters, and ultimately committees matter when they need to, which is not every day, but when push comes to shove, if all it takes is a resignation and a leak to trigger all these processes I think we can say the system is not utterly defunct as a lot of people are claiming.”

The Philpott and Wilson-Raybould resignations are a one-two punch to the government. They have presented their departures as resignations on principle, not departures that were the price to pay for poor performance or that could be ascribed to leadership ambitions, as Paul Martin’s was from Jean Chrétien’s government.

Their exits are more in line with Michael Chong’s departure from Stephen Harper’s government when the Conservative leader brought in a resolution to recognize the Québécois as a nation within a united Canada without advising Chong, his intergovernmental affairs minister.

Trudeau’s office said Public Works and Government Services Minister Carla Qualtrough will immediately take on the job of acting president of the Treasury Board.

Wilson-Raybould hailed Philpott on Twitter: “To the incomparable” Jane Philpott, she wrote, using a hashtag to call her a “mother-of-country.”

“For almost 4 years our country has witnessed your constant & unassailable commitment to always doing what is right & best for Cdns. You are a leader of vision & strength & I look forward to continuing to work alongside you.”

It was a shocking turn in a controversy that has now cost Trudeau two cabinet ministers — Wilson-Raybould and Philpott — and his principal secretary, Butts.

Within hours, however, Trudeau’s cabinet closed ranks and quashed speculation of any further resignations.

A spokesperson for Justice Minister and Attorney General David Lametti, who replaced Wilson-Raybould on the justice file, said he still has confidence in Trudeau’s government and will remain in cabinet, where Lametti now is the decision-maker on the SNC-Lavalin file.

Before Philpott’s resignation was made public, Trudeau underlined that Lametti understands the decision is his alone, which he said was also the case when Wilson-Raybould was in the job.

Still, the departure of a rising cabinet star was another body blow to the government, and prompted opposition party leaders to repeat their calls for a public inquiry. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer — who last week demanded that Trudeau resign and wrote the RCMP to ask for an investigation — said Philpott’s resignation is more evidence the Liberal government is in “total chaos.”

He challenged other cabinet ministers to “stand and be heard.”

Scheer said he does not favour a snap election on the issue — the next one is scheduled for October — but said an independent inquiry is needed, charging that the prime minister’s explanations “don’t hold water.”

“Their motivations on this were purely political, to let their well-connected friends off the hook for very serious corruption and bribery,” he said, referring to the charges against SNC-Lavalin.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Philpott’s resignation lends weight to his demand for a public inquiry, and the need for Trudeau to waive all solicitor-client privilege so Canadians can “hear what happened between the prime minister, his office, Jody Wilson-Raybould and cabinet after she was fired.

“Jane Philpott has made her decision based on information she received from cabinet. Canadians deserve to know what happened as well.”

Trudeau had just moved Philpott into the dual role of president of the Treasury Board and minister of digital government in a mid-January cabinet shuffle. She replaced Scott Brison who, citing family reasons, quit politics after the holidays.

That same shuffle saw Trudeau shift Wilson-Raybould to veterans affairs minister from her roles as justice minister and attorney general — arguably the move that started political dominoes cascading for the government.

Philpott’s departure came just three days after Trudeau shuffled his cabinet to fill the hole left when Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet on Feb. 11.

With files from Alex Ballingall

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