Alleged PMO obstruction in SNC Lavalin case

[Good2Golf]

Yes, Assistance ≠ Agrafe.

Tracking it totally as technically separate, but also not naive enough to believe that there wouldn’t be consideration somewhere in the machine to keep this out of a particular timeframe/window. So what this says then, if we take things at innocent face value, is that the RCMP did not have a case to lay charges on August 15th, but they then miraculously had a case to charge SNC some time between August 16th and today, but were bound by federal government policy to postpone charges until after the election.

Same law enforcement organization that out of approx 75 individuals known to have had access to correspondence in the Seaspan-Irving cabinet confidence affair, only found cause to charge VAdm(Ret’d) Mark Norman…so no influence, right? Hmmm.

I have great respect for members of the RCMP who deserve respect, but in no way does that lead me to blindly accept that there aren’t agendas and influences in/towards the Force.

Perhaps I should ask fellow DS to move this single post to another non-PMO thread, so there is no potential for people to see anything inappropriately Machiavellian to today’s charges?

Regards
G2G

 

[RangerRay]

Looks like the RCMP is investigating obstruction of justice by cabinet and the PM.

RCMP confirms it is was investigating obstruction of SNC-Lavalin prosecution by Trudeau and Cabinet officials – Democracy Watch

democracywatch.ca

 

[Quirky]

"Our government was elected because we ran on an uhhhhh ummmm open and transparent platform, we ummm uhhhhh will make sure the RCMP has access to all ummm ahhhh evidence. We realize that more work needs to be done." -JT. Probably.

 

[OldSolduer]

Looks like the RCMP is investigating obstruction of justice by cabinet and the PM.

RCMP confirms it is was investigating obstruction of SNC-Lavalin prosecution by Trudeau and Cabinet officials – Democracy Watch

democracywatch.ca

The link doesn't seem to want to work - if this is the case I wonder what could possibly motivate the RCMP Senior Management to undertake this?
Perhaps the resignation of the former Commissioner and the realization the RCMP is supposed to investigate malfeasance by political figures as well as us "peasants"?

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

The link doesn't seem to want to work - if this is the case I wonder what could possibly motivate the RCMP Senior Management to undertake this?
Perhaps the resignation of the former Commissioner and the realization the RCMP is supposed to investigate malfeasance by political figures as well as us "peasants"?

Good way to show the troops that "things will be different" now.

 

[OldSolduer]

Good way to show the troops that "things will be different" now.

Honestly my expectations are low. My thoughts are that the politicians and their toadies will lawyer up immediately and this could drag on for years.

 

[Kirkhill]

Honestly my expectations are low. My thoughts are that the politicians and their toadies will lawyer up immediately and this could drag on for years.

A complication is that sometimes there are reasons the PM might obstruct.

Legitimate reasons? A matter of opinion properly reserved for the next election.

Advocates need to make their case.

 

[QV]

Looks like the RCMP is investigating obstruction of justice by cabinet and the PM.

RCMP confirms it is was investigating obstruction of SNC-Lavalin prosecution by Trudeau and Cabinet officials – Democracy Watch

democracywatch.ca

Great! Now, we just need someone to investigate why this wasn't done and concluded much sooner.

 

[lenaitch]

Honestly my expectations are low. My thoughts are that the politicians and their toadies will lawyer up immediately and this could drag on for years.

People get to "lawyer up" any time they choose, or simply choose not to be interviewed. They (we) don't have to prove ourselves innocent, and anything done or not done has to be criminal, not merely unethical.

I'm not defending anyone here, and am a bit curious why it took four years. It often takes considerable time to amass enough information simply to determine if an investigation is warranted, but this has been a long gap.

These so-called 'public office integrity' investigations typically have a poor track record. I did a couple involving municipal politicians and was peripherally involved in ones involving provincial politicians. Hard evidence such as memos and financial records often don't exist, and even if there might be electronic records, investigators need grounds for warrants to access them - they can't 'go fishing'.

 

[dapaterson]

Investigations are not quite like Law and Order* or NCIS; and this nature of investigation can unearth many threads that need to be run down.

*For example, both Jerry Orbach and Jesse Martin were well known Broadway and Off Broadway musical stars before being cast on L&O; the number of senior RCMP investigators with on-stage musical theatre experience is minimal.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

The link doesn't seem to want to work - if this is the case I wonder what could possibly motivate the RCMP Senior Management to undertake this?
Perhaps the resignation of the former Commissioner and the realization the RCMP is supposed to investigate malfeasance by political figures as well as us "peasants"?

Try this link to the National Post article.

 

[Remius]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-snc-lavalin-charges-1.6881779

 

[Kilted]

Investigations are not quite like Law and Order* or NCIS; and this nature of investigation can unearth many threads that need to be run down.

*For example, both Jerry Orbach and Jesse Martin were well known Broadway and Off Broadway musical stars before being cast on L&O; the number of senior RCMP investigators with on-stage musical theatre experience is minimal.

 

[KevinB]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-snc-lavalin-charges-1.6881779

Shocked I tell you, shocked…
Oh wait. No.

 

[lenaitch]

Ok, I took a closer look at the dates. Democracy Watch posted today by citing a May RCMP memo that said they were investigating; the CBC quotes the RCMP as saying they are done. Curious coincidence of timing if nothing else.

If they operate like we did, a complete Crown Brief would have been prepared for a legal opinion by an assigned counsel at AG.

 

[Lumber]

Ok, I took a closer look at the dates. Democracy Watch posted today by citing a May RCMP memo that said they were investigating; the CBC quotes the RCMP as saying they are done. Curious coincidence of timing if nothing else.

If they operate like we did, a complete Crown Brief would have been prepared for a legal opinion by an assigned counsel at AG.

Reading through all the chaff, it looks like this is what happened.

An outlet called Democracy Watch received a letter from the Office of the Information Commissioner following an ATI request. The letter is kind of vague and certainly does not say in any clear terms that the RCMP is investigating the government. Democracy Watch did not see clarification and ran an article on their perceived findings.

National Post picked it up, and again without seeking any kind of clarification/substantiation, wrote their own article on it.

Except none of it is true. The RCMP is not conducting an investigation.

I knew NatPo was right leaning but I didn't think they were this willing to peddle fake news.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

I knew NatPo was right leaning but I didn't think they were this willing to peddle fake news.

ALL MEDIA will peddle fake news if it scores more clicks......

 

[Navy_Pete]

Reading through all the chaff, it looks like this is what happened.

An outlet called Democracy Watch received a letter from the Office of the Information Commissioner following an ATI request. The letter is kind of vague and certainly does not say in any clear terms that the RCMP is investigating the government. Democracy Watch did not see clarification and ran an article on their perceived findings.

National Post picked it up, and again without seeking any kind of clarification/substantiation, wrote their own article on it.

Except none of it is true. The RCMP is not conducting an investigation.

I knew NatPo was right leaning but I didn't think they were this willing to peddle fake news.

The original letter says it is withholding information because it is currently under investigation.

It hit National news, then suddenly it was clarified that the matter was closed due to insufficient evidence.

To be fair, the request went in July 2022, and wasn't responded to for 10 months, so may have changed between the initial review last year and when the system finally churned out an answer.

Doesn't mean they were actively investigating it in July 2022, just that it was maybe still open, and suspect a national headline prompted questions about if there was enough info to do anything with it.

Not a ringing endorsement of the JT government, and the Ethics Commissionaire already found them in violation, but does seem like a long shot to ever get a case out of it unless they had multiple witnesses, self incriminating statements, audio recordings etc.

 

[FSTO]

All corporations are dirty along with the governments that they work with. Not meaning that they are filthy dirty, just that there is always a bit of smudge going on. And especially a company that has so many links with the Liberal Party of Canada there will inevitably be some wink and nudge stuff going on.

 

[dapaterson]

SNC is an equal opportunity source of semi-licit funds. They would be more than willing to support people associated with any political party; they would not discriminate.