Philpott joins Wilson-Raybould in resigning from cabinet over SNC-Lavalin
Posted Mar 4, 2019 09:12:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Treasury Board president Jane Philpott has resigned from the federal cabinet, saying she's lost confidence in the way the Trudeau government has dealt with the SNC-Lavalin affair.
Philpott's resignation comes just less than a month after former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet amid allegations that the Prime Minister's Office had improperly pressured her to stop a criminal prosecution of Montreal engineering giant SNC-Lavalin.
Philpott is good friends with Wilson-Raybould, who delivered bombshell testimony last week accusing officials of relentlessly pressuring her and even issuing veiled threats to try to get her to co-operate.
Philpott says she has serious concerns about evidence of inappropriate interference in the attorney general's prosecutorial discretion in criminal cases.
Moreover, she says the principle of cabinet solidarity requires all ministers to speak in support of the government and its policies at all times – a requirement she now finds “untenable”.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Philpott to Treasury Board in mid-January, after Scott Brison left the post and retired from politics.
