(^42) – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 everythingzoomer.com
W
hen Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
woke up on the morning of Feb. 7
this year, everything must have
seemed just right in his world.
With a federal election coming
up in less than a year, his Liberals
were riding high. The economy was showing signs of
strength, jobs were being created at a record clip and
trade confidence was sky-high, spurred on by the gov-
ernment’s successful negotiation of a new trade deal
with the U.S. and Mexico.
Moreover, Trudeau’s political opponents were in dis-
array: Conservative leader Andrew Scheer hadn’t yet
emerged from the shadow of Stephen Harper, NDP lead-
er Jagmeet Singh didn’t even have a seat in Parliament
and Green Party leader Elizabeth May was a party of one
in Ottawa.
Four years into his mandate, the forecast still prom-
ised lots of sun. Despite a few PR glitches and a much-
ridiculed trip to India, Trudeaumania 2.0 was chugging
along – the media were onside, and polls suggested he’d
have no problem following in his father’s footsteps and
deliver a second Liberal majority government.
But with the news that fateful morning, everything
changed.
The Globe and Mail ran a front-page story accusing
certain members of the prime minister’s office of put-
ting undue pressure on then-Attorney General Jody
Wilson-Raybould to legally intervene on behalf of SNC-
Lavalin, a Montreal-based engineering firm that had
run into legal problems. The implication was clear:
members of Trudeau’s inner circle had tried to influ-
ence the attorney general to help out SNC-Lavalin – not
simply to save jobs but, more to the point, to save jobs in
a province that was so key to their re-election chances.
The scandal mushroomed from there and began
claiming victims. First, Wilson-Raybould resigned
her Veterans Affairs posting, as did close friend Jane
Philpott from the Treasury Board. Eventually, both
were unceremoniously expelled from caucus. Key
Trudeau adviser Gerald Butts fell on his sword, and
finally Michael Wernick, Clerk of the Privy Council,
resigned for his role in the affair.
The Liberals’ political fortunes had been turned up-
side down and the party’s integrity, for the first time
under Trudeau’s leadership, was being called into
THE LONG
AND
WINDING
ROAD
Before you get lost in a thicket of lawn signs, polls, attack ads and
fake news, inform your vote with our age-friendly election guide
By Peter Muggeridge
Illustrations by Dominic Bugatto
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