The Liberals have dropped their shiny new pre-election budget, and most have had time to digest it, analyzing if there is anything special inside for them.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was hoping the festivities would distract from Jody Wilson-Raybould and the SNC-Lavalin scandal after the Liberal-majority justice committee ruled against letting the former attorney general speak again, effectively shutting down the committee investigating the issue.
However, it appears once the pomp and circumstance of the budget have faded, Canadians will still want answers that only Wilson-Raybould and the PM can provide.
In other words, this is not going away.
LISTEN: Scott says “it’s not the opposition and the media keeping this story alive, It’s a lost and fumbling Liberal Government”
One of those questions is why the former attorney general was fired, although the reason appears to be because she wouldn’t give SNC-Lavalin the get-out-of-jail-free card the Liberals wanted in order to secure their votes in Quebec.
Another is whether current Attorney General David Lametti will do what Wilson-Raybould refused to do and grant the Liberals their wish.
Liberal supporters have said it is the Opposition and those who simply dislike Trudeau who are keeping this story alive for political gain.
I would disagree with that.
It is the Liberals who are keeping this story alive by failing to allow Wilson-Raybould to speak and by continuing to drag out the narrative on a daily basis with their shabby handling of the affair.
Delaying the justice committee’s decision not to let Wilson-Raybould speak until the day of the budget and the sudden early retirement of Michael Wernick, the supposedly unbiased clerk of the Privy Council (who got to testify twice), are just two of the latest examples of keeping this story in the headlines.
Here we are, days after the budget, and it’s happening again as another MP, Celina Caesar-Chavannes, resigned on Wednesday from Trudeau’s party, deciding instead to sit as an Independent. The Whitby MP has also announced that she is not running for re-election.
It’s not just the average Canadian who is losing confidence in Trudeau — it continues within his own party.
It is not the Opposition and the media who are keeping this story alive; it is a lost and fumbling Liberal government again shooting itself in the foot.
Scott Thompson is the host of The Scott Thompson Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML.