On the heels of federal ethics commissioner Mario Dion’s report that found Prime Minister Justin Trudeau breached the Conflict of Interest Act, the Observer asked North Okanagan-Shuswap Liberal candidate Cindy Derkaz for her thoughts on the developments.
Dion’s examination revolved around whether Trudeau used his position to try to influence a decision of the then-Attorney General of Canada, Jody Wilson-Raybould, regarding a criminal prosecution involving corporation SNC-Lavalin.
Derkaz responded via email with a statement approved by her campaign manager.
“I was pleased that Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau immediately responded to the report and answered questions of the press. To me the prime minister’s acknowledgement, acceptance and action is the type of leadership I expect. You can read his full statement here.
“Over the past year, my team and I have been knocking on doors and phoning throughout North Okanagan Shuswap to listen to voters. Over and over I hear how people want climate action, good jobs, investment in infrastructure and housing, a better future for their kids and a diverse and inclusive community. The Liberal government has made a good start, including right here in our communities – replacing the Bruhn Bridge in Sicamous and the Tappen bridge, long awaited Trans-Canada Highway improvements; the Canada Child Benefit benefiting almost 19,000 children in over 10,000 families and putting $6.8 M into the local economy every single month; housing projects in the works; over one million more Canadians working than in 2015; and climate action.
Read more: Okanagan political leaders weigh-in on Trudeau’s SNC-Lavalin ethics violation
Read more: Video – Trudeau broke ethics law in SNC-Lavalin affair, watchdog says
Read more: Trudeau should apologize for violation of ethics code: Philpott
“For me, this election is about how we can keep moving forward with the real progress that we’re making together for families in our community and across BC and Canada, and not going backward to divisive politics and damaging cuts of the Harper years…”
“But there is so much more to do for families right here in North Okanagan Shuswap. I want to take your voice to Ottawa because together we can bring home great results.”
Conservative MP for the North Okanagan-Shuswap, Mel Arnold, said Trudeau can’t be trusted to tell the truth.
“Trudeau is the first Prime Minister ever to break ethics laws and now he’s done it multiple times. He originally claimed the story was false, then he claimed there was no pressure on the attorney general, and then he claimed it was to protect jobs.
“SNC Lavelin denied it was a jobs issue for them; his stories have all been full of misinformation, deceit, manipulation – they’ve all been bogus. Now we know the former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould has already been contacted by the RCMP on this. Our leader Andrew Scheer has sent a letter to the RCMP commission asking them to investigate – not to interfere, but asking them to investigate.”
Arnold said the ethics committee is meeting this Wednesday in Ottawa and “we’ll see if the Liberal memebers on that committee will actually go for the truth or whether they will shut down the meeting and try to protect this corrupt Prime Minister.”
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