The Liberal MP for Bay of Quinte says “we’ll have to see what other testimony comes out” in the SNC-Lavalin affair.
Neil Ellis spoke on CJBQ’s Lorne Brooker Show today and says Jody Wilson-Raybould and Justin Trudeau are “obviously in a disagreement” about whether or not the former attorney general was pressured to help the Quebec-based company avoid criminal prosecution over fraud and bribery charges.
When asked if he felt that Wilson-Raybould’s “demotion” to Minister of Veterans’ Affairs was seen as a demotion and an admission of guilt, Ellis told the show, he doesn’t see it that way at all.
Ellis adds that the executives of the company have been punished and the debate now is about whether it’s fair to hurt the whole company, by essentially forcing them to go bankrupt.
Ellis was also asked about how the incident may affect him locally in the upcoming election.
Meanwhile all three ministers given new responsibilities in this morning’s federal cabinet shuffle say they will support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision on whether Jody Wilson-Raybould stays in the Liberal caucus.
The shuffle was prompted by Wilson-Raybould’s resignation as Veterans Affairs minister.
Trudeau has appointed PEI’s Lawrence MacAulay to that post, shuffled Marie-Claude Bibeau to MacAulay’s former job as agriculture minister and given Gender Equality Minister Maryam Monsef the additional portfolio of international development minister.
(With files from the Canadian Press)
