Canadians are turning their back on the Liberals in the wake of the SNC-Lavalin scandal, and according to one recent poll, the Conservatives now hold a massive lead.
The Angus Reid poll published on February 26th shows that if an election were held today, the Conservatives would be the preferred party of 38% of Canadians, compared to 31% of Canadians who would support the Liberals.
As accusations of political interference by high-ranking Liberals in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin get louder, it seems more and more Canadians aren’t believing Justin Trudeau’s story anymore.
The poll also shows that 66% of Canadians believe there is a “deeper scandal” in the Prime Minister’s Office.
According to Angus Reid, 63% of Canadians believe SNC-Lavalin should be charged under the criminal code rather than receive the remediation agreement which Liberals were hoping they would get.
These polling results came before former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould gave a shocking testimony to the Justice and Human Rights Committee.
Wilson-Raybould alleges that high ranking officials for various parts of the government tried to interfere with the prosecution of the Quebec engineering giant for alleged political gain.
“For a period of approximately four months between September and December 2018, I experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the Attorney General of Canada in an inappropriate effort to secure a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with SNC-Lavalin.”
Among those Wilson-Raybould implicated include Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Chief of Staff Katie Telford, and former Principal Secretary Gerald Butts, who resigned in wake of the SNC-Lavalin scandal.
Wilson-Raybould alleges that “there were express statements regarding the necessity for interference in the SNC-Lavalin matter, the potential for consequences, and veiled threats if a DPA was not made available to SNC.”
Shortly after the alleged threats, Wilson-Raybould was removed from her position as Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
If proven true, the SNC-Lavalin debacle will go down as one of the greatest political scandals in Canadian history.
It’s no wonder 59% of Canadian say their opinion of Justin Trudeau has worsened.
With more high ranking officials set to testify before the Justice Committee on the matter, it’s unclear just how deep this scandal goes, or how many more Canadians will turn their back on the Liberals in the months leading to the next election.
