Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said if former Liberal cabinet minister Scott Brison had not suddenly resigned, then Jody Wilson-Raybould would still be Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.
Speaking at a press conference in Ottawa Friday, Trudeau said Brison’s departure from his position as Nova Scotia MP and Treasury Board President resulted in him having to “move things around” on the team. This included shuffling Wilson-Raybould into the Veterans Affairs portfolio, he added.
“If Scott Brison had not stepped down suddenly, there would not have been a cabinet shuffle and Jody Wilson-Raybould would still be Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada,” Trudeau said.
Wilson-Raybould suddenly quit the cabinet Tuesday, but Trudeau has not given a reason for her resignation.
He only said he accepts her decision even if he does not “entirely understand it.”
WATCH: Trudeau says Wilson-Raybould never reported any alleged ‘pressure’
Trudeau’s remarks come after a Globe and Mail report came out last week alleging officials in the Prime Minister’s Office had tried to pressure Wilson-Raybould to get public prosecutors to cut a deal with SNC-Lavalin to help the Montreal engineering giant avoid a criminal trial.
Trudeau would not confirm whether the SNC-Lavalin case had anything to do with Wilson-Raybould being shuffled out of the Justice portfolio.
“There are always a wide range of factors that go into making that decision,” he said.