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Here we go: Jody Wilson-Raybould has arrived at Justice Committee. She has asked for and will be permitted to give a 30 minute long opening statement, three times the normal length #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
The Committee now begins @AHousefather opens by saying @Puglaas will have 30 minutes but this is not the normal practice of the committee #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@MurrayRankin wishes to raise a point before committee begins. Mr. Rankin asks for @Puglaas to be able to answer MPs' questions for longer than usual time allotted as she has offered #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
Rankin also asks if the committee members can have @Puglaas statement circulated now. Housefather says up to Wilson-Raybould. Wilson-Raybould agrees #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
Now Ms. Wilson-Raybould's statement will be distributed to MPs.
Housefather also agrees to more rounds of questioning, saying three rounds and they will revisit after that (norm is 2) #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
#Breaking @Puglaas says for four months people in the government sought to politically interfere on SNC-Lavalin case #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
#Breaking Wilson-Raybould says there were at least 10 phone calls and 10 meetings on this #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
#BREAKING Wilson-Raybould says that there were veiled threats of consequences if she didn't intervene on the SNC-Lavalin case #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
This is explosive testimony, Jody Wilson-Raybould alleges inappropriate political interference in prosecutorial independence in the SNC-Lavalin case complete with veiled threats #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
Among inappropriate pressure @Puglaas cites people calling her months after her decision was made, being encouraged to intervene for political reasons and comments she shouldn't have a run in with the PM over this #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@Puglaas says Finance Minister Bill Morneau's Chief of Staff (Ben Chin) met with her Chief of Staff (Jessica Prince) saying if a deferred prosecution didn't happen, SNC-Lavalin would leave Quebec and they couldn't have that with the Quebec election #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
I've never seen anything like this testimony. These are extremely serious allegations from a former high ranking Cabinet Minister against her own government #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
Wilson-Raybould says it would be inappropriate for her to intervene in the SNC-Lavalin case and talked to her Deputy Minister about this, she says she also told her DM she was concerned about pressure from outside the department and options she was suggesting #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
#BREAKING .@Puglaas says the Prime Minister immediately raised the issue of SNC-Lavalin asked Wilson-Raybould to find a solution or SNC would move from Montreal and many jobs lost. This was not supposed to be topic of the meeting JWR says #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
JWR says she told the PM her mind was made up and why she could not and would not intervene, because "it would not be appropriate." JWR says the PM then again cited loss of jobs and SNC-Lavalin moving #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
#BREAKING JWR said she confronted the PM and asked him if he was politically interfering in her role as AG, and the PM said "no, no no" but this came right after he said he was a Quebec MP and that SNC-Lavalin would move #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
JWR also says the Clerk of the Privy Council was in the meeting and he intervened and jumped in on his own telling her SNC-Lavalin had a board meeting coming up and that there is AN ELECTION IN QUEBEC (Clerk is supposed to be non-partisan) #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
JWR also says that despite denying he was trying to politically interfere the PM kept telling her they just needed to find a solution #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
#BREAKING On Sept 19th JWR says she spoke to Min Morneau who stressed need to save jobs. JWR told him that he had to stop pressuring people in her office. Wilson-Raybould says the communications and pressure did not stop #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
Wilson-Raybould says it became a theme that PMO would pressure her to have an external review conducted of the independent Director of Public Prosecutions' decision not to give SNC-Lavalin a break #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
Wilson-Raybould says once SNC-Lavalin filed in federal court looking for a review, surely the AG should not be looking for another opinion, it's before the courts. Says PMO continued to push her anyhow to conduct another review #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
#Breaking JWR says her Chief of Staff warned PMO this would be seen as political interference, PMO said "we can have the best policy in the world but we need to get reelected" #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
Staffer who JWR is quoting is Mathieu Bouchard who is a Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister mathieu-bouchard
JWR says that PMO staff said they could hire an "eminent person" to conduct a review if she wouldn't do it #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@Puglaas says there is "either a system that has respect for rule of law and the judicial system or not, but that consistent and enduring efforts even in the face of judicial proceedings and a clear decision by the AG and PPG" #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
" continue and intensify such efforts raises serious red flags in my view, yet this continued to happen" JWR
.@Puglaas says on December 5th she met with the PM's former Principle Secretary and he told her he didn't like the law she was citing and that it was passed by Harper. JWR says she told him well that IS the law #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@Puglaas says her Chief was "summoned to a meeting with Gerry Butts and Katie Telford" to ask where things were at on a solution of SNC-Lavalin because they felt the situation was getting worse #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
WOW @Puglaas is now reading a text conversation between she and her Chief of Staff #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@Puglaas reads a text from her Chief of Staff saying when she told Gerry Butts this would be interference he told her there was no solution without some interference and that Katie Telford said they were sick of legalities #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@Puglaas said that her Chief of Staff told her that Katie Telford (the PM's Chief of Staff) said they would find all kinds of people to write Op-Eds defending the government's decision if JWR would intervene in #SNCLavalin #cdnpoli
.@Puglaas says she told Gerry Buts in December the pressure needed to stop but it did not. #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
This testimony is devastating. Naming names, dates, reading text messages, very direct allegations #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@Puglaas said she warned the Clerk of the Privy Council the pressure was inappropriate and that she could "not act in a partisan way or be politically motivated and this all screams of that" #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@Puglaas says she stated she believed she was being shuffled because of the #SNCLavalin matter and that PMO denied that #cdnpoli
.@Puglaas says that the Clerk of the Privy Council called her Deputy Minister, says there is a shuffle coming and will be a new Minister and one of first topics he will be expected to deal with is #SNCLavalin #cdnpoli
.@Puglaas says there was pressure to attempt political interference over and over again #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@Puglaas says she reflected what she saw as the vital importance of rule of law and prosecutorial independence in Canada by being non-partisan despite the political pressure #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
"I come from a long line of matriarchs... I am a truth teller" JWR #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@Puglaas says she raised that concern with both Gerry Butts and the PM and they denied it but she can't speak to anything after that because the govt hasn't lifted cabinet confidence for her time as Minister of Veterans Affairs #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
This testimony is worse than what any Opposition MP was expecting. It's extremely direct. How are the PM, Morneau, Butts and Telford going to respond? #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
What on earth are the Liberal MPs on this committee thinking right now. What do you ask... #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@Puglaas says her conversations with the PM became "completely inappropriate" when they became about the Quebec election and that he is an MP in Quebec #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
ON pressure from the Finance Minister's office @Puglaas says it's OK to bring up job losses, but not over and over when it's clear a decision has been made #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
.@Puglaas is asked why she didn't communicate her concerns about pressure. JWR shoots right back that she communicated those concerns directly to the Prime Minister and to the Clerk in September that she was concerned this was inappropriate #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
JWR says that the kind of directive she was asked to make had never been used by an Attorney General before ie: directing a criminal prosecution #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
Liberal MPs on the committee getting very confrontational and aggressive with Jody Wilson-Raybould. Let's see how this strategy goes #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
Elizabeth May is now at committee and asks @Puglaas if she thinks the pressure she was put under contravenes the criminal code. JWR says no. #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
OK at this point it appears whichever MP wants to show up and ask a Q is being subbed in... this is gonna wrap up soon #cdnpoli #SNCLavalin
