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Liberals must let Wilson-Raybould come back to committee, opposition says

Mar 12, 2019 | 2:23 PM

OTTAWA — Opposition MPs say Jody Wilson-Raybould must testify again before the House of Commons justice committee if it is to properly determine whether the Prime Minister’s Office acted improperly in the case of SNC-Lavalin.

The House of Commons committee is meeting Wednesday to consider whether to call additional witnesses as it examines allegations that Justin Trudeau and his staff tried to convince Wilson-Raybould to grant a remediation agreement to the Quebec engineering firm, than pursue criminal charges of fraud and bribery.

NDP MP Tracey Ramsey, a member of the committee, says her main goal is to get the Liberals to agree to recall Wilson-Raybould herself.

Ramsey says Trudeau needs to extend the waiver of confidentiality he granted Wilson-Raybould so the former star cabinet minister is free to talk about why she was shuffled out of the justice role in mid-January, and why she ultimately resigned from cabinet altogether.

The Liberals last week rejected an NDP motion to recall Wilson-Raybould following the testimony of Trudeau’s former principal secretary, Gerald Butts, who  himself resigned just days later.

In addition to Wilson-Raybould, Ramsey says the committee needs to hear from everyone the former minister says tried to change her mind, including senior staff in the PMO and the chief of staff to Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

The Canadian Press

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