Thread by @aballinga

Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has ruled @JustinTrudeau broke Canada's conflict of interest law in SNC Lavalin affair. #cdnpoli

@JustinTrudeau "The Prime Minister and his senior officials ... sought over a period of many months to have the Attorney General overrule the Director of Public Prosecutions' decision to not invite SNC-Lavalin to enter into negotiations towards a remediation agreement."

@JustinTrudeau "... these senior officials, who included both senior ministerial staff and public officials, would not have acted without a full and clear appreciation of the Prime Minister's position on the matter."

@JustinTrudeau "SNC-Lavalin's considerable private financial interests would undoubtedly have been furthered had Mr. Trudeau successfully influenced the Attorney General in her decision."

@JustinTrudeau "Partisan political interests were improperly put to the Attorney General for consideration in the matter, contrary to longstanding constitutional principles relating to prosecutorial independence and the rule of law," Dion found.

@JustinTrudeau In short, Dion has ruled that Trudeau broke the law by directing the push to convince @Puglaas to overrule public prosecutors in the SNC case, thereby using his position to advance the private interests of the company.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas Here's the section of the law that Dion ruled Trudeau broke:

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas Dion found that Trudeau is responsible for the push on @Puglaas to defer the prosecution of fraud and bribery charges against SNC Lavalin, and that in doing so he broke the law by seeking to influence that decision to improperly advance the company's private interest. #cdnpoli

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas From the report summary:

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas Dion writes that "the evidence showed there were many ways in which" @JustinTrudeau tried to influence @Puglass's decision on SNC remediation deal, both directly and through actions of those who answer to him in PMO.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass He points to how, after Sept. 17 meeting when @Puglaas said she wouldn't overrule prosecution, senior PMO officials continued to talk with SNC lawyers and @Puglass and her staff "to influence her decision"

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass There was also the push for @Puglaas to consider outside legal opinion on DPA offer, and that "unbeknownst to the Attorney General at that time, legal opinions from two former Supreme Court justices, retained by SNC-Lavalin, had been reviewed" by the PMO.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass The final push to influence @Puglaas was the Dec. 19 phone call from Michael Wernick, Dion writes, when "on behalf of Mr. Trudeau" he pressed the need to prevent economic damage of SNC prosecution.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass After establishing Trudeau attempted to influence her decision, Dion concludes this influence was made in an attempt to further the private interests of SNC-Lavalin.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Dion concludes SNC had "significant financial interests in deferring prosecution," and that Trudeau's push to convince @Puglaas to do so was "improper" because it was contrary to our convention that the Attorney General directs prosecutions free of political influence.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Dion wrote to Trudeau on Feb. 8 asking for all relevant documents from PMO. He didn't receive a first set until March 29, and then got a written statement from Trudeau on May 2nd. Dion then interviewed the PM May 3.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass 2nd set of documents came June 27, and then Trudeau's lawyers made written submissions to the commissioner.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass In all, Dion received documents from 14 witnesses and conducted interviews with six of them.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Dion writes that the new Privy Council Clerk, Ian Shugart, shot down his request for access to all cabinet confidences, as witnesses expressed concern they couldn't talk about all relevant details of the situation.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Here's that section of the report:

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Because of this, Dion says witnesses were unable to provide all evidence and that he was prevented from reviewing the entire body of evidence.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass "I was unable to fully discharge the investigatory duties conferred upon me," because of Shugart's decision to block access, Dion writes.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass In his findings of fact, Dion outlines how SNC would be barred from bidding on federal contracts for 10 years if convicted of fraud and bribery charges laid in Feb. 2015. The company's lobbying effort started one year later.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Dion outlines how SNC wanted Trudeau's government to change the law so Canada's prosecutors can offer remediation deals (or deferred prosecution agreements) to companies charged with corporate crimes.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Trudeau told Dion he first heard of this desire when he met with SNC's CEO in early 2016. Trudeau said they discussed the company's legal issues and reform efforts, and impact of a conviction on the company.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Trudeau told Dion that he believed a conviction would be an unfortunate loss for employees and infrastructure projects across Canada but had limited knowledge of remediation agreements.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Trudeau also told Dion that his staff can interact and make representations to ministers and others on his behalf once they have a sense of his direction on a matter.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass After consultations about a remediation agreement regime in 2017, SNC's CEO met with Finance Minister Bill Morneau in Jan. 2018 and then presented his policy chief with a policy document outlining why the regime should be included in the 2018 federal budget. It was.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Trudeau told Dion he was puzzled by prosecutor's decision not to offer a remediation deal to SNC, because (as Dion writes) "in his mind, SNC-Lavalin was precisely the kind of candidate" for which deals were designed: it took steps to reform and conviction would harm innocents.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Trudeau told Dion he would have informed his staff it was important for @Puglaas to know the potentially negative consequences of an SNC conviction when deciding whether to overrule prosecution's decision.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Dion writes that, when weighing whether to intervene in the case, @Puglaas's deputy minister wrote to her that an Attorney General seeking outside advice on a prosecution was unprecedented.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass When @Puglaas decided not to intervene, Trudeau told Dion he was perplexed and concerned whether the decision could be explained to others in gov't and to the Cdn public.

@JustinTrudeau @Puglaas @puglass Meanwhile, Morneau told Dion he was extremely surprised when prosecution decided not to give remediation deal to SNC, because he expected the company to be logical candidate. He said he immediately assumed the company would be in jeopardy.