It seems ludicrous that any
political moment these days could make you proud to be a Canadian. But there
was one last week when pride swelled in my chest.
It came watching Jody Wilson-Raybould,
Vancouver Liberal member of Parliament, testify before the House of Commons
justice committee about her role in the SNC-Lavalin affair. Wilson-Raybould is
the former justice minister and attorney-general demoted to veterans affairs
minister, a portfolio she resigned soon after.
She appeared before the
committee the same day that Michael Cohen, former Trump fixer, appeared before
Congress in Washington to call President Trump a con man, a cheat and a racist.
It was yet another bitter,
snowy winter day, so I flopped in front of the television and flipped between
the Canadian and U.S. hearings. It was educational to see the sharp
differences.
The Congressional hearing presumably
was held to sweat Cohen for information that might help determine whether President
Trump did or did not collude with Russia and obstruct justice. In fact, it was
just another political cockfight staged to win fans, also known as voters.
There were few serious
attempts to dig out real facts – certainly none by bullying Republican supporters
of the president. It was a political circus of pathetic clowns and barking
seals.
Some media reports compared it
to the television drama The Sopranos. More frightening, it prompted a flashback
to historical reports about the collapse of Congress during the lead up to the U.S. Civil
War.
Over in Ottawa, Wilson-Raybould
testified there was consistent and sustained pressure from the prime minister
and others to have her shelve prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, the Quebec
engineering firm facing corruption charges.
The prime minister worried
that following through with prosecution would hurt the company and lead to job
losses, which would be bad for the economy. The prime minister’s office wanted
a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) in which the company would not be
prosecuted if it agreed to remediation measures, fines or other undertakings.
The Ottawa hearing was more
civil and respectful than the Washington spectacle, however not without moments
tainted by political duplicity. There was some pride in seeing that we have not
slid as far into the political sewer as the Americans. Not yet.
But the real pride came in
watching Wilson-Raybould. She gave us all a clear reminder of the importance of
standing up for what you believe, no matter who tells you otherwise. And, no
matter what it costs you personally.
She reminded me of my
mother, despite the fact that she is the same age as two of our daughters.
Our mothers teach us who we
are and what we should stand for. They teach us to conduct ourselves with
conviction and dignity. They teach us to consider carefully what we say because
words that fly past our lips cannot be taken back.
The SNC-Lavalin affair has
developed into a very dirty and nasty fight, and it is not over yet.
Pressure tactics by Justin Trudeau
and his people to get Wilson-Raybould to give SNC-Lavalin a pass on criminal
charges were not illegal. Wilson-Raybould has said that herself. That does not
mean that they were ethically acceptable or the right thing to do.
Trudeau says they were
appropriate tactics. Wilson-Raybould says they were not.
This is a fight the
honourable lady cannot win. Power and politics, jobs and money, trump honour and higher principles.
One would have thought that
rational and intelligent people could have found a way early on to prevent this
affair from morphing into the mess it is. That is too much to expect in the
politics of today.
The best solution now is for
Wilson-Raybould to walk. Quit the Liberal party, quit Parliament and accept
that there is not room for higher-minded people in the politics of today.
She is an intelligent,
principled person with strong core values. What she has to offer is wasted on
political life but of great value to other parts of Canadian life.
Her most important words to Parliament
are contained in the final paragraph of her closing remarks to the justice
committee:
“This is who I am and who I
will always be.”
Canadians need to think hard
about who we are and who we will always want to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment