VANCOUVER—Explosive testimony by Canada’s former attorney general and justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould has riveted the whole country — but the names of some key players added significance for British Columbians.

Wilson-Raybould said she felt “partisan or narrow interests” in the Prime Minister’s Office were behind both pressure to drop criminal charges against Quebec engineering giant SNC-Lavalin in fall 2018 and her subsequent firing as attorney general for refusing to comply.

A number of B.C. power players surfaced Wednesday in the marathon 3.5-hour Parliamentary hearing in Ottawa, which will undoubtedly impact the federal election months from now.

Vancouver-Granville MP Jody Wilson-Raybould

The most obvious British Columbian link is the centre of the political storm, Wilson-Raybould herself.

She was elected in 2015 as member of Parliament for Vancouver-Granville. Wilson-Raybould told the Star in January that her local constituents were among her top concerns going forward and she plans to run to represent them again in the federal election.

She was Canada’s first Indigenous justice minister. During the committee hearing, she cited her Indigenous upbringing — she is a member of B.C. Wai Wei Kai First Nation of the larger Kwakwaka’wakw nation — and personal values of speaking truth to power as reasons to take a stand. She said the “words you use” in life must be chosen carefully because “they cannot be taken back.”

Ben Chin, chief of staff to the Liberals’ minister of finance

One of the people Wilson-Raybould accused of “political interference,” based on “narrow or partisan interests” through “repeated” and “veiled threats,” is Ben Chin.

He’s currently the chief of staff to Finance Minister Bill Morneau but has been involved with the Liberals for a long time, both federally and provincially in B.C. and Ontario.

Wilson-Raybould alleged he contacted her chief of staff last September with a warning that the prime minister wanted her to overrule the director of the prosecution service, who was pursuing corruption charges against SNC-Lavalin.

According to Wilson-Raybould, Chin emailed her chief of staff on Sept. 6 to arrange a meeting about SNC-Lavalin and told her the engineering giant would “leave Quebec” without a deal. “They can’t let that happen,” he allegedly cautioned.

And on Sept. 17, Chin allegedly contacted the chief of staff again to ensure she “understands the impact of the decision” to proceed with prosecuting SNC. According to the former attorney general, Chin specifically raised the impending Quebec election as a reason to protect the Quebec-based company, as jobs and investments could be lost there.

“When those topics continue to be brought up ... it becomes inappropriate,” Wilson-Raybould said.

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The Official Opposition questioned the relationship between the departments on Wednesday.

“Did you think it odd the chief of staff of the minister of finance would contact your staff?” asked Lisa Raitt, an MP with the Conservatives.

“The sustained communication I did consider problematic,” Wilson-Raybould replied. “I’m not sure why anyone from the department of finance would be talking to my chief in terms of my role as attorney general.”

Asked about the allegations of inappropriate pressure, Chin emailed the Star to say: “Sorry, it’s not my place to comment.” He pointed the Star to the Ministry of Finance’s spokesperson, communications director Pierre-Olivier Herbert.

Reached by email and asked why the finance ministry would speak with the attorney general, Herbert told the Star that “it is Minister Morneau’s responsibility to protect and promote the creation of jobs across Canada, and he will continue to raise such important issues with all his cabinet colleagues.

“At no time did Minister Morneau nor members of his office pressure the former minister of justice and attorney general into making any decision regarding the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.”

Chin was the federal Liberals’ candidate in the 2006 Toronto-Danforth byelection — an unsuccessful bid — and went on to become Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty’s chief of staff. Chin also produced partisan television programs for the Ontario Liberals before moving to British Columbia to become communications director for then-premier Christy Clark, with the BC Liberals. That party has no formal links with the federal party but is a coalition of federal Conservatives and Liberals.

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Soon, Chin was promoted to Clark’s executive director of communications and issues management, a major political advisory role, and became a key backroom player in the BC Liberal government.

But after the fall of the Clark government, and rise of the federal Liberals, Chin moved to Ottawa to become chief of staff to Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen

Cullen, a lawyer like Wilson-Raybould as well as a fellow B.C. parliamentarian, was one of the people questioning her in the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on Wednesday. He told the Star during a break in proceedings that he was “incredibly impressed” by Wilson-Raybould’s composure.

“She was impressive,” Cullen told the Star from the House of Commons in a phone interview. The New Democrat from B.C.’s north has often sparred with Liberals and has criticized Wilson-Raybould and the rest of the cabinet before.

“Not only from her steady, calm determination and confidence in the accuracy of events, but for exposing the government for what it is.”

Like Wilson-Raybould, Cullen is no stranger to bucking partisan interests. He ran afoul of the NDP’s gun-control measures in previous years, saying he was standing up for law-abiding hunters and farmers in his riding. It earned him respect from many in his region, across the political spectrum.

He was a top contender for the leadership job in the NDP years ago, losing to Thomas Mulcair, the leader before current head Jagmeet Singh. Cullen is the party’s critic for democratic reform and drew a link between protecting the attorney general and justice system’s independence and the sanctity of Canadian democracy.

“Were legal lines crossed? We’re close, very close, to that line,” Cullen told the Star. “We have questions about an attempt at obstruction of justice.

“That’s as bad as obstruction of justice … It’s devastating for a government that claims rule of law but has been exposed as willing to pressure the independence of the attorney general.”

On Wednesday, Cullen was the first MP to question whether laws were broken — nearly an hour before Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer demanded a criminal investigation by the RCMP and Trudeau’s resignation.

“Is pressuring or directing an attorney general a crime?” Cullen asked her.

“In my opinion, it’s not illegal,” she replied. “It is very inappropriate depending on the context of the comments made and the nature of the pressure. It’s incredibly inappropriate and an attempt to compromise or impose upon an independent attorney general.”

But she did say that it would have been “unlawful” for her to order a deferred prosecution of SNC-Lavalin — charged with corruption and fraud — for partisan reasons.

Cullen continued, asking whether an attorney general has ever been pressured to drop a prosecution.

“They’re asking you to do something that’s essentially historic?” he asked.

“It would be historic,” she replied. “An attorney general has never issued a specific directive in a specific prosecution nor has an attorney general in this country ever issued a directive to the director of prosecutions.”

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