OTTAWA—Gerald Butts, who resigned as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s principal secretary during the SNC-Lavalin controversy, has been acting as a “senior” adviser in the Liberal campaign for several weeks in a role that will continue, the Star has learned.

Butts made a low-key return to the party earlier this summer, some four months after his departure from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Liberal Party spokesperson Braeden Caley declined to talk about Butts’s specific role, but confirmed he would be involved in the upcoming campaign.

“Gerald Butts will be helping (the) Liberal Party of Canada’s 2019 campaign, which will continue to be focused on our positive plan to invest in the middle class,” Caley said in an email Monday.

Asked about the return of the senior adviser, Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said that Butts had played a key role in the 2015 campaign, which saw the Liberals vault to majority government from third place in the Commons’ standings.

“We are pleased to have Gerry working on our campaign ... he was an integral part of our team in 2015. Gerry, as well as many other Canadians, will be helping us as we move along in forming our campaign strategies,” Petitpas Taylor told reporters in Ottawa.

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She said she was not “privy” to what his role would be. Butts declined Monday to speak about his role.

However, one source said that Butts has been advising the campaign in a “senior” capacity since the start of the summer and said he would continue in that role.

Butts had been at Trudeau’s side from even before his political career and was an influential force in the Prime Minister’s Office after the Liberals took power in 2015.

But he resigned his post in February during the SNC-Lavalin controversy that saw Butts, Trudeau and other aides accused of improperly trying to pressure then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in the ongoing criminal prosecution of the Quebec company.

In a statement at the time, Butts denied the allegations but said he was stepping aside for the “best interests” of the Prime Minister’s Office. He later told a Commons committee that “nothing inappropriate” had taken place.

Still, Conservatives jumped on news of Butts’s return to remind voters about the damaging SNC-Lavalin controversy, which saw the resignations of Wilson-Raybould and Treasury Board president Jane Philpott and later, their ejection from the Liberal caucus.

“This week’s news tells us a lot about Justin Trudeau. The Lav-scam bully is in and the principled women who spoke truth to power are out. That’s everything you need to know about Justin Trudeau’s ethics,” Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre told a news conference in Ottawa Monday.

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Despite his departure, one senior Liberal told the Star Monday that it was inevitable that Butts would return to provide counsel to the party for this election.

“Gerry was always going to contribute to this campaign with so much at stake and progress we need to build on for Canadians,” the official said, speaking on background in order to discuss personnel issues.

He said that Butts’s exact role would become clear closer to the election, which is expected to start in the days about Labour Day with voting day on Oct. 21.

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