Chrystia to Jody: "You go, girlfriend - NOT!"

Image from Chrystya Freeland - Not


Chrystia to Jody: "You go, girlfriend - NOT!"

Chrystia Freeland has her own Twitter no-fan club.

But first, the tough stuff ...

Macleans Feb 14: What did the Liberals see in SNC-Lavalin? A company in need of a bailout.

• If Jody Wilson-Raybould was standing in the way of a company that was considered by Ottawa to be too big to fail, she had to go 

IF - What a big word that is. And how frightfully useful when you want to smear without being too obvious about it.  "Remember, I said, 'if', eh?"

• In the past two years SNC-Lavalin has had more than 50 meetings with the Trudeau government, according to the federal lobbyist registry, including 14 meetings with Prime Minister’s Office staff. During that time, the company has not been shy about its goal of avoiding prosecution on the Libyan corruption charges.
• But the important question isn’t what SNC-Lavalin asked for. It’s what the Trudeau government promised to deliver. And to whom.
• In spring 2018, the Trudeau government gave SNC-Lavalin its route for a legal bailout. Amid the Liberal’s 400-page omnibus budget bill were changes to the Criminal Code of Canada allowing a so-called remediation agreement. And surely the purpose was to use it.
• The one hard criterion--the only real obstacle to SNC-Lavalin’s legal bail-out—is the required approval of the attorney general.
• Evidently, Wilson-Raybould wouldn’t give it. And like the meddlesome priest Thomas Becket, who wouldn’t bend to the will of the king, she’s gone. Not a shuffle mistake. A necessary act.
• And indeed, with Wilson-Raybould’s removal–despite legal criteria and rule-of-law rhetoric--the new attorney general has already said a legal bail-out for SNC-Lavalin could happen.

Meanwhile, an observer named Watchdog comes right out with it:

Postmillennial: Watchdog says Trudeau violated ethics rules…again

• What did he do?  He voted “No” on a motion in the house over whether to hold an inquiry on the SNC-Lavalin scandal which involved the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) putting pressure on then AG Jody Raybold-Wilson.

(Too bad Watchdog messed up her name. But we get the idea.)

Whoops! Here comes the silver-tongued Foreign Affairs Minister, Chrystia Freeland:  

CanadaNewsMedia:

• 'I believe that she spoke … her truth,' Freeland says of Wilson-Raybould testimony – CBC News
• "the prime minister would never apply improper pressure ... the prime minister has always been clear about the unique role of the attorney general, and would respect that."

Translation: The Prime Minister is just a sweet darling. He doesn't even smell bad when he sweats. They made a darling calendar out of him; that's how sweet he is. Therefore, Jody Wilson-Raybould might be telling lies, although I would never say that in so many words, though she does seem to love implying things more than being AG.

• Asked if Wilson-Raybould should remain in the Liberal caucus after delivering the damning testimony... [Freeland] said, "At the end of the day, when you leave the room, you have to play as a united team," she said.

So, pretty much a "no" on that. And here I thought Freeland didn't have a subtle bone in her body.  Yet, reading between the lines, as one must with a true diplomat, it's clear that the sentiment is this:

Wilson-Raybould doesn't know how to play ball; she doesn't possess the artifice that's considered desirable in a "player"; that is, knowing how to "feint a pass" to psyche out the other team; to appear to go in one direction while aiming dead-on for another.

Well, nobody can say we haven't been warned about Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Flashback to 1983 (YouTube), Pierre Eliot Trudeau is at the helm of the Canadian ship, and Jody Wilson-Raybould's dad alerts him to his daughter's ambition to be a lawyer and run for his job.

He must be some Dad if both of his daughters wanted to be just like him!

With regard to the Justice Committee's meeting (YouTube) at which Wilson-Raybould spent a gruelling several hours responding to questions: I can't stress strongly enough that everyone would do well to watch it and learn what it's like to be honest, straightforward, non-vindictive, stoical and moral in the face of unrelenting interrogation.  In politics, it's considered a drawback.

If Trudeau were to do the sensible thing and resign, you can bet Freeland would fall all over herself to grab his place. But Wilson-Raybould presents as a very suitable candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party, and I hope she goes for it.

If she ran, I think I might actually vote. The Trudeaus can't say they weren't warned.

Related on YYC: Canada's Chrystia Freeland: "War is Peace​"