Look beyond the headlines to see the game being played.
The Trudeau government has issued an order in council, apparently ‘waiving’ solicitor-client privilege.
Yet, the Trudeau government has not given Jody Wilson-Raybould blanket permission to speak freely, and there are in fact some exceptions to what she is allowed to discus.
Here’s the Order in Council (exception noted in bold):
“Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, for the purposes of the hearings before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and the examination by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner:
(a) authorizes the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former Attorney General, and any persons who directly participated in discussions with her relating to the exercise of her authority under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act respecting the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, to disclose to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner any confidences of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada contained in any information or communications that were directly discussed with her respecting the exercise of that authority while she held that office; and
(b) for the purposes of disclosure to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner by the former Attorney General, and any persons who directly participated in discussions with her, waives, to the extent they apply, solicitor-client privilege and any other relevant duty of confidentiality to the Government of Canada in regards to any information or communications in relation to the exercise of the authority of the Attorney General under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act that were directly discussed with the former Attorney General respecting the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin while she held that office.”
“However, in order to uphold the integrity of any criminal or civil proceedings, this authorization and waiver does not extend to any information or communications between the former Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions concerning SNC-Lavalin.”
That’s a big exception.
For example, if a communication took place between a member of the Trudeau PMO, Jody Wilson-Raybould, and the Director of Public Prosecutions at the same time, that information would not be allowed to be discussed. If emails cc’d the Director of Public Prosecutions, that information would not be allowed to be discussed.
As a result, under the guise of ‘waiving’ privilege, there could be a ton of relevant information that is still blocked from being shared.
Also, why did it take the government two weeks to do this?
What happened in the meantime?
As many have noted, any part of the communications that relate to the current court cases against SNC-Lavalin would not be allowed to be discussed. Of course, that’s a huge part of all of this.
But there’s also another huge exception:
Note how it keeps referring to ‘directly communicated’ with the Former Attorney General.
That means, conversations or pressure from Trudeau’s PMO staff put onto Jody Wilson-Raybould’s staff would not be able to be discussed.
As you can see, all the headlines saying privilege was ‘waived’ are exactly what the Trudeau Liberals want. They’re trying to look like they are allowing her to speak freely and get the truth out, but under the surface, the exceptions are huge.
Make no mistake, there still seems to be a cover-up going on here.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – Twitter
