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Stephen Lautens
@stephenlautens
, 5 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
Exactly. That is what Wernick said in his JUSCOM testimony. That the "national" part of the "national economic interest" prohibition in DPA laws was about international competitiveness, not domestic jobs. I think he is right.
That's why this bit of his testimony at JUSCOM makes sense. It may also explain why PMO/PCO were at loggerheads with JWR who interpreted it to simply mean any "economic interests" (ie: jobs) ignoring what "national" is there for. #cdnpoli
Frankly, I think that is what this whole #SNCLavalin fight has been about - differing opinion about what "national economic interests" in the DPA law means, and the PCO being frustrated by JWR insisting it means "any" economic interest...
It also explains why PCO asked for a new legal opinion (that the AG's DM said was prepared but instructed by JWR to withhold). I would bet it was on this point and it agreed with the PCO/PMO's interpretation of "national economic interests". Just a guess. #cdnpoli
And thanks to @PrettySpazz for this reference about how the new DPA law was intended to be interpreted from wording lifted from the OECD #cdnpoli
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Stephen Lautens
@stephenlautens
I've been a private lawyer and corporate counsel literally for decades. Clients come to you and say: "I want to do this." My job is to say, "Okay", or, "You can't because of X or Y". Some clients take advice. Some insist on the wrong route. My duty is then to quit. #cdnpoli
It is not my duty to stop them from getting other advice (which may or may not agree with me), or stop them from proceeding in what in my legal judgment is the wrong path. My duty is to quit.
I can argue with them, but it is not my job to stop them from proceeding in what I judge to be an ill-advised way. They take my advice or (again), I quit. I have a duty to not participate in criminality (if there is any - and JWR said there wasn't), but not to to be a barrier.
Read 48 tweets
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Stephen Lautens
@stephenlautens
I know I'll regret it, but the SNC-Lavalin / AG "scandal" is an interesting issue. There are people better versed in this than I, but I keep coming up with "what if" scenarios. Here's one that just occurred to me... 2/...
The AG can legally take charge and change direction of a prosecution (like SNC-Lavalin) being run by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) under Section 15 of the DPP Act. /3...
This is not an "abuse of power" or "obstruction of justice", unless of course it is done for some improper purpose. Decisions to take charge have to be "used sparingly" and "ensure that decisions are taken in the public interest." /4...
Read 21 tweets
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Stephen Lautens
@stephenlautens
I'll point out one more stumbling block regarding pressure on the AG to cut SNC-Lavalin a deal. The prosecution is carried out by the Director of Public Prosecutions, who is largely independent of the AG & appointed for a non-renewable 7-year term .../2 ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/bas/index.…
The DPP has a staff of about 1000, and is independent of (but subject to the supervision of) the AG... /3 ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/pub/fpsd-s…
The AG can issue a directive to the DPP about a prosecution or even assume conduct of a prosecution, but must do so in writing and a notice must be published in the Canada Gazette. .../4
Read 8 tweets

Related threads

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Trevor Purdy
@TrevorsIdeas
The biggest thing I don't understand about this SNC affair is why so many key pieces of evidence go unexplored and key questions go unasked by those who write story after story proclaiming all sorts of dastardly deeds took place.
JWR says she sent the section 13 notice to the PMO and that the section 13 notice would've had details about the reasoning for denying a DPA.

Is this normal? Is there a paper trail? Could this notice, from Sept, contain reasons for a DPA denial decision that was made in Oct?
Why did the DPP re-open the decision on the DPA based on new submissions and re-evaluate its decision in Oct but JWR's decision in Sept was final? Why was it acceptable to provide the DPP new details but providing details to JWR was inappropriate in her mind?
Read 13 tweets
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Ramona
@desderamona
Violence Against Women Act #VAWA
1994

“expanded juridical tools to combat #violence against #women #VAW & provide protection to women who had suffered violent abuses”

Title IV
Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act

domestic
dating
assault
stalking
britannica.com/event/Violence…
“In recognition of the severity of the #crimes associated with domestic violence, sexual #assault & #stalking, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (#VAWA 1994) as part of the Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act of 1994 …”

#VAW
“… The 1994 bill was a watershed, marking the first comprehensive federal legislative package designed to end #violence against #women.” #VAW

Violence Against Women Act #VAWA
“afford full faith & credit to orders of protection”
legalmomentum.org/history-vawa

Read 31 tweets
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Ishat Reza
@ishat_reza
1. As a former OECD Public Sector Integrity official, ex civil servant and Canadian lawyer, here are a few points to keep in mind re #SNCLavalin #cdnpoli
2. The OECD anti-bribery working group is made up of officials from member countries to the AB Convention, including Canada. Its job is to monitor the implementation of the Convention, which it recognizes is the responsibility of member states. oecd.org/daf/anti-bribe…
3. The OECD press release issued today follows from one of their usual antibribery working group meetings, In which they discuss ongoing monitoring efforts. You can see on their website they routinely monitor and issue reports on implementation efforts of all members.
Read 12 tweets
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Paul Daly
@pauldalyesq
I've been following the SNC-Lavalin affair relatively closely and it's true as @JamesB_Kelly says that Canadian lawyers have been pretty quiet on this one



So let me try and make some noise

Parts of the controversy are troubling, others less so

Thread
Making a significant and important change to the Criminal Code in an omnibus budget bill with inadequate parliamentary scrutiny is troubling

But political/legal disagreement about the meaning of this new Criminal Code provision is not so surprising
Maybe I'm missing something but when I search Hansard for "deferred prosecution agreement" I get (until last month) mainly tumbleweed.

But there are some astute comments by @PierrePoilievre and @DanAlbas

ourcommons.ca/Parliamentaria…
Read 12 tweets
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David Moscrop
@David_Moscrop
Oh, Cooper opens the committee meeting with the oath play. Saucy.

This is already irritating.
Now Cooper wants Butts to *voluntarily* be sworn in. Now everyone is talking about how points of order work. And Michael Cooper doesn't seem to understand how this works. And now I'm 46 years old.
It's early, but Butts' testimony is what I was hoping it would be: clear, direct, and detailed. Of course, now this whole thing is going to get even more complicated. But it was always going to get more complicated. It has to before the public can make up its mind.
Read 76 tweets
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Michael Spratt
@mspratt
As I sit down to write a piece on yesterdays stunning testimony of Michael Wernick on the Joy Wilson-Raybold / #SNCLavalin affair here are some not so hot takes: ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/…
There does not need to be much daylight between what Warnick said & what JWR will say for there to be a big problems.
Starting point: Warnick is not a neutral witness. He may not have been partisan but he is clearly very loyal to the government. And HIS conduct and reputation is very in question too.
Read 16 tweets

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