,
23 tweets,
7 min read
Read on Twitter
A (somewhat) brief history of Team Trudeau and two major legal matters. 1/23
Oct 2015 - Justin Trudeau elected Prime Minister and hires key Ontario Liberal Party advisors Gerry Butts & Katie Telford for top positions in his PMO. 2/23 nationalpost.com/news/politics/…
Fall 2015 - Many key political aides from the McGuinty/Wynne era come to Ottawa to take senior roles in PMO & across Trudeau govt. This includes “Justin Trudeau’s fixer” Zita Astravas. 3/23 cbc.ca/news/politics/…
Nov 2015 - In one of the first cabinet meetings of the Liberal govt, Scott Brison takes the unprecedented step of trying to stop or delay the contract for an interim supply ship for the Navy. 4/23 cbc.ca/news/politics/…
Dec 2015 - CBC Reporter James Cudmore who broke the story on the cabinet meeting ship is offered a job by the Trudeau PMO. Cudmore joins political staff of the Defence Minister the following month. 5/23 nationalpost.com/news/politics/…
Jan 2016 - PM Trudeau dismisses the Clerk of the Privy Council Janice Charette by phone and appoints Michael Wernick saying the move will facilitate “renewal of the professional, non-partisan public service”. 6/23 pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2016/…
Feb 2016 - SNC Lavalin begins what becomes an extensive lobbying effort related to “justice issues” stemming from foreign bribery charges from 2015. 7/23 cbc.ca/news/politics/…
Mar 2016 - “Perception of politicization of the public service” by the Trudeau Liberals is noticed. The appointment of a key Ontario Liberal advisor to the second highest ranking position in the federal civil service is cited. 8/23 ottawacitizen.com/news/national/…
Jan 2017 - The Trudeau PMO meets with the Canadian Armed Forces Chief of Defence Staff for a meeting and private dinner. A few days later, Admiral Mark Norman - a 30+ year military officer - is suspended. 9/23 nationalpost.com/news/politics/…
Winter 2017 - Code words like Kraken and others are being used in Ottawa in relation to Admiral Norman. This fact is revealed much later through document disclosure in his trial. 10/23
(Flashback 2012) - Ontario Premier McGuinty resigned & prorogued amid contempt of parliament allegations related to document disclosure in the gas plant scandal. The use of code words like Vapour & Apple made disclosure more difficult. 11/23 insidehalton.com/news-story/290…
March 2017 - Despite a Privy Council investigation that revealed 6 separate leaks from the Nov 2015 cabinet meeting & 73 people being aware of details of the Brison cabinet intervention, only Admiral Mark Norman is charged with breach of trust. 12/23 ottawacitizen.com/news/national/…
March 2018 - after 2 years of intense lobbying from SNC Lavalin, the Liberals amend the Criminal Code to allow for remediation agreements for corporations. This new “tool” is placed in the omnibus budget implementation Bill C-74 and not in a Justice bill. 13/23
March 2018 - The Liberals promise that the use of remediation agreements will be “subject to prosecutorial discretion and judicial approval”. These new provisions will come into effect 90 days after the Royal Assent of Bill C-74. 14/23 canada.ca/en/public-serv…
June 21, 2018 - Bill C-74 receives Royal Assent. According to the new remediation agreement regime, a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with SNC Lavalin in relation to bribery charges would first become available to the Director of Public Prosecutions on Sept 19, 2018. 15/23
Sept 17, 2018 - two days before DPAs are even permitted by law, PM Trudeau and Clerk Wernick pressure the Attorney General on the SNC case citing political reasons. They ask her to “help out” and reference a Sept 20th SNC Lavalin board meeting. 16/23 globalnews.ca/video/5005945/…
Fall 2018 - The Attorney General & her Chief of Staff are repeatedly pressured to intervene on the SNC case. Several of the 11 names cited by JWR are Ontario Liberal advisors brought to Ottawa by Trudeau’s PMO. 17/23 theglobeandmail.com/politics/artic…
Jan 10, 2019 - Scott Brison resigns from cabinet. A few weeks later his lawyers seek standing in the Norman trial. 18/23 cbc.ca/news/politics/…
Jan 11, 2019 - Clerk Wernick advises the Deputy Minister of Justice that JWR will be shuffled and reportedly advises that “one of the first conversations the new minister will be expected to have with the Prime Minister would be on SNC-Lavalin”. 19/23 ipolitics.ca/2019/02/28/lam…
Jan 14, 2019 - JWR is shuffled & writes about speaking “truth to power” in her departure letter. Almost immediately Liberal officials speaking on background describe her as “confrontational” and provide other reasons for her shuffle. 20/23 cbc.ca/news/politics/…
Jan 29, 2019 - Chief of Staff to Minister Sajjan, Zita Astravas, is questioned in the Norman trial about the use of code words and about communications with the PMO with respect to Admiral Norman. 21/23 theglobeandmail.com/politics/artic…
Feb 2019 - Lawyers for Admiral Norman subpoena records from PM Trudeau, Wernick, Butts, Telford & Astravas. 22/23 cbc.ca/news/politics/…
March 2019 - Admiral Norman’s Defence Team plans to bring an abuse of process motion citing political interference. To be continued.... 23/23
