Bob Plecas: We don't need Trudeau's apology, we need his resignation
Credit to Author: Gordon Clark| Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2019 01:00:11 +0000
It may be the smartest political move of this century. If you are a federal Liberal, you should recommend beatification for the person behind Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s refusal to apologize for his actions in SNC-Lavalin.
When the ethics commissioner’s announcement became public, Trudeau argued that he accepted the report but did not agree and would not apologize. That sparked a debate over whether he should apologize, pre-empting and setting aside the real issue.
Apologies are easy, common and routine. Resignations, though? Rare, exciting and serious affairs. Kudos to the back-room hack who decided that we should talk about an apology and not a resignation.
The debate then becomes a question of process and distracts from the damning findings of the report. Pundits are lining up in the opinion pages and on talk shows to debate the finer points of precedent and quibble over definitions. All of which is easily ignored by Canadians engaged in the delightful pursuits of summer. After all, Trudeau has apologized many times before.
Rather than talk about the gravity of findings such as: “The authority of the PM and his office was used to circumvent, undermine and ultimately attempt to discredit the decision of the director of public prosecutions as well as the authority of Ms. Wilson-Raybould as the Crown’s chief law officer,” the national conversation is about whether Trudeau should say sorry.
That’s a much friendlier conversation for him. He set the agenda by framing the question to debate. In politics, the person who controls the agenda wins. A win here is to convince Quebec and break even on the SNC-Lavalin file in the rest of Canada.
But you cannot phone a judge and interfere if you are an MP. You cannot instruct your attorney general to change her opinion on a matter that will go before the courts. You can’t meddle in the legal process for any reason.
Saying it was for a good cause is irrelevant. Arguments that you had a good reason do not absolve your guilt and responsibility in either our legal or parliamentary systems.
Trudeau is the senior official responsible for upholding our legal system. He not only is in charge, he makes the rules. He must follow them. I do not think there is one Canadian who would not recognize that except, it seems, the prime minister.
Let’s talk instead about the report and what should follow from it.
The real result of this damning report is that Trudeau should resign. In our democracy, interference with the judicial process should result in resignation.
I expect a member of his cabinet who violated this principle would resign or be fired. Does not the same hold for the prime minister?
There is precedent. In 1989, then B.C. conflict commissioner Ted Hughes found the premier guilty of a conflict of interest. Bill Vander Zalm did the honourable thing. He resigned.
If Vander Zalm could see what was honourable, why can’t Trudeau? Is all honour now absent from politics? Do politicians sworn to uphold our laws ignore them for special interests in their own constituency and get away with it?
Never mind this is the third time the prime minister has violated parliamentary ethics all MPs thrive under.
Is he going to wait until the people fire him? Is that what it will take for him to do the right and proper thing?
We don’t need Trudeau’s apology. We need him to be an honourable member of parliament and resign.
Bob Plecas was a deputy minister under five B.C. premiers that crossed the political spectrum.
Letters to the editor should be sent to sunletters@vancouversun.com. The editorial pages editor is Gordon Clark, who can be reached at gclark@postmedia.com.
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.