Warkentin calls Liberal stance on SNC Lavalin scandal “a cover-up”

The SNC Lavalin scandal continues to hound the federal government. 
 
This all erupted after the Globe and Mail reported that someone in the Prime Minister’s office pressured then-Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in a court case involving the company.
 
Grande Prairie Mackenzie MP Chris Warkentin says the Liberals’ actions since then look like “a cover-up unlike (anything) we have seen in modern history.”
 
“It really rips away and destroys that early narrative that they were going to be transparent. This now demonstrates that they are, in fact, engaged in a massive cover-up and the allegations that are involved in what they are covering up are really unsettling and should be unsettling to anybody who believes in the rule of law.”
 
He adds the government’s stance on the SNC Lavalin affair undermines its stance on a number of issues. That includes the arrest of a top executive for Chinese tech company Huawei at the request of the Americans and the Mark Norman case.
 
“Where they have claimed that the rule of law doesn’t allow them to intervene politically, and yet now we’ve seen allegations that they’ve been engaged in the judicial system to advance their political interests. If those allegations, in fact, are revealed to be true, it’s going to undermine their position on all of these cases and any case in the future.”
 
Mark Norman was once second in command of the Canadian Navy. He is standing trial on a breach of trust charge. Norman is accused of trying to upend the government’s shipbuilding plans by leaking government secrets.
 
Warkentin says if the resignation of the Prime Minister’s right-hand man over the weekend doesn’t point to a government in chaos, he doesn’t know what would.
 
Gerald Butts stepped down as Justin Trudeau’s Principle Secretary on Monday.
 
Warkentin says Butts claimed he did nothing wrong.
 
“There just seems to be so many moving parts and absolutely zero answers to the questions. This is highly-problematic and really an indication that this cover-up will continue, or seems to be continuing because there have been no answers to any of these questions.”
 
On Wednesday, the governing Liberals voted down an Opposition motion to have a public inquiry.
 
 
-with files from The Canadian Press