OTTAWA—A second Commons committee dominated by Liberal MPs will decide Tuesday whether to open a new probe into the SNC-Lavalin affair.

On the eve of what promises to be another tense meeting, Liberal MPs on the ethics committee refused the Star’s request for interviews.

Two Liberal substitutes will appear for committee members Frank Baylis and Anita Vandenbeld, who will not attend the meeting. Others, like Liberal vice-chair Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and Mona Fortier, declined to speak in advance of the meeting, as Conservatives and NDP opposition members aggressively pushed for more answers.

Among the other developments Monday:

SNC-Lavalin backtracked on its public contradiction of statements by the prime minister and government officials about whether 9,000 jobs were at stake if the company couldn’t negotiate a mediated settlement in its corruption trial.

Canadian Press and CTV News portrayed relations between former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould and the prime minister as having frayed a year before the SNC-Lavalin dispute, starting in late 2017 when Trudeau rejected her recommendation of a conservative Manitoba judge for an open seat on the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Commons ethics committee will meet a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted that Canadians have heard “everything” that was relevant at the justice committee.

That committee shut down its probe last week after Liberal MPs voted to end hearings. Wilson-Raybould had indicated her willingness to elaborate on her own testimony after PMO officials contradicted her.

Trudeau said Monday that he spoke with Wilson-Raybould last week to discuss “next steps.” The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed the meeting was held last Monday, the same day Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick announced his retirement, and former Liberal cabinet minister Anne McLellan was named to examine justice reforms.

That night the Liberals announced they would vote to end the justice committee’s investigation of the SNC-Lavalin controversy.

Trudeau described it as “a very cordial conversation,” but he did not reveal any details, including whether Wilson-Raybould asked him for an extended waiver to allow her to speak further.

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And Trudeau again defended his handling of Wilson-Raybould’s concerns, saying the waiver he gave her to speak has already allowed a “full airing” of all relevant issues in the controversy.

Wilson-Raybould told the justice committee last month that she faced “inappropriate” and “sustained” political pressure from Trudeau and senior officials last fall to mediate criminal charges against the Quebec construction and engineering company. Trudeau and his team deny they pressured her, and said they only urged her to consider a second outside legal opinion.

A mediated agreement would allow the company to avoid a criminal prosecution and with it, a 10-year ban on federal contracts, which had sparked fears within government of job losses.

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Wilson-Raybould was granted a waiver to allow her to discuss material covered by cabinet confidence and solicitor-client from her time as justice minister with the justice committee and the federal ethics commissioner.

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On Monday, SNC-Lavalin said that it had “made very clear” to the federal government that a remediation agreement was the “best way” to protect jobs at the company and its supplies. “The company still asserts this position,” it said in a statement.

“A (remediation agreement) would lessen the tremendous uncertainty for SNC-Lavalin’s workforce and would ensure that its headquarters can remain and prosper in Canada,” the statement continued.

The “clarification” came after CEO Neil Bruce stated in published interviews last week that he never cited jobs as a reason the company warranted the deferred prosecution agreement. That appeared to call into question the government’s own rationale for pushing for the deal.

Meanwhile, the reports about a rift over the Supreme Court appointment offer an alternative story about the high-profile falling out between the prime minister and his former attorney general. Wilson-Raybould reportedly wrote a 60-page memo in 2017 recommending that Glenn Joyal be appointed to replace Beverley McLachlin. the retiring chief justice. However, CP and CTV News said Trudeau objected to the choice, citing the judge’s conservative interpretations of the Charter of Rights.

Wilson-Raybould disputed the story, telling CP "there was no conflict between the PM and myself.”

Joyal, who is currently the chief justice of Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench, denied that he was passed over for the empty seat because Trudeau had concerns about his conservatism. “Ultimately, I had to withdraw my application for personal reasons, due to my wife’s metastatic breast cancer,” he wrote to Global News. “I fear that someone is using my previous candidacy to the Supreme Court of Canada to further an agenda unrelated to the appointment process.”

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