Last week, former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould testified that the Prime Minister and his minions exerted inappropriate pressure on her to intervene in a federal corruption case against the Montreal-based engineering firm SNC Lavalin.
While disagreeing with Wilson-Raybould’s characterization of events, the Prime Minister said he was motivated out of concern for the many jobs at stake.
If found guilty, Lavalin would become ineligible to win federal contracts for a decade, among other penalties, a matter of concern to the PM who, as he apparently pointed out, is an MP from Quebec.
In our economy, job creation is best left to investment by the private sector. The Prime Minister’s job is to maintain an attractive investment environment in which the private sector can succeed.
Nothing could do greater damage to the willingness of the private sector to invest than the suspicion that the rule of law is not enforced with an even hand. Nothing could be a greater brake on commerce than the belief that some companies can get away with cheating and corruption because they are large and powerful and have friends in high places.
But it goes much further than this. As we learn in high school civics, independence from interference by the executive and legislative branches of government is fundamental to the impartiality of the judiciary and its ability to mete out something deserving the name justice.
This is not something to trifle with. It is what fosters a willingness among all of us to play by the rules. It is what distinguishes our society from so many around the world where prosecution is arbitrary, where bribery of officials is commonplace, where the rich get richer and the poor don’t have a chance, where chaos reigns supreme and nobody in their right mind would invest any money unless they were conversant with the arts of cheating.
As we’ve all been told since childhood, a good reputation is difficult to earn and easy to lose. Thanks to the conscientiousness of former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canada’s reputation as a ‘rule of law’ country apparently remains intact. China may have other views, but that’s another matter.
So, if the Prime Minister wants to protect jobs, not least his own, he needs to find a better way to do it.
Charles Dickson
