Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's former right-hand man has painted a very different picture of how discussions regarding a deferred prosecution for SNC Lavalin played out.
Gerald Butts, Trudeau's former principal secretary, testified Wednesday morning before the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Human Rights, one week after explosive testimony from Canada's former Justice Minister and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould. His testimony came just a few days after the resignation of Treasury Board President Jane Philpott, who reasoned she had lost confidence in the way the government handled the SNC file.
Citing the RCMP investigation currently underway, Conservative MP Michael Cooper made a motion at the start of the meeting to compel Butts to testify under oath, saying if he lied he would not only be in contempt of parliament but contempt of court. A vote of 5-4 defeated the motion. Chair Anthony Housefather quashed a second attempt by Cooper to have Butts testify under oath voluntarily.
During his testimony, Butts repeatedly referred to text message exchanges between himself and Wilson-Raybould, emails, and his recollections of meetings, including a December 5 dinner at the Chateau Laurier.
"I am fully aware that two people can experience the same event differently," he said. "I share these message so you can appreciate why I was so surprised to hear months later that the minister experienced that dinner as pressure."
Butts testified he only found out the attorney general had reached a decision to not proceed with a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the Quebec engineering giant last week when she spoke before the committee.
Even after making her decision, Wilson-Raybould testified she was repeatedly pressured over the course of four months to drop criminal prosecution against SNC Lavalin in favour of a remedial agreement. However, Butts said he was unaware she had drawn any conclusion, she was encouraged to seek independent legal counsel, but the decision was hers alone.
"When you boil it all down, all we ever asked the attorney general to do was to consider a second opinion," said Butts.
Where Wilson-Raybould testified the spectre of massive job losses, partisanship, and references to the prime minister electoral fortunes in discussions about SNC Lavalin, Butts rebutted the government was only reminding the attorney general the legislation was new, and the social costs were tremendous.
"Mr. Chair, we did what those 9,000 people would have every right to expect of their prime minister," he said. "The attorney general could have spoken or written to the prime minister at any time during this process to say attempts to contact her office on the meeting were improper and they should cease immediately. The minister could have told the people who raised it with her that they were close to or crossing a line. The minister could have texted or emailed me at any time. However, the PMO's interactions with the attorney general's office only came into question by the attorney general at the time of the cabinet shuffle."
Wilson-Raybould's testimony suggested she was removed from her post as attorney general and demoted to the position of Veteran Affairs minister, a position from which she resigned.
Butts stressed the decision to remove her from her post had nothing to do with SNC-Lavalin and the decision to shuffle the cabinet was only made after MP Scott Brison told the prime minister he would not seek re-election. He said he attempted to talk Brison out of stepping down, telling him it would trigger a cabinet shuffle and the prime minister "was happy with the team he had."
"Neither the prime minister nor anyone around him wanted a cabinet shuffle at all," Butts emphasized. "Had Minister Brison not resigned, Minister Wilson-Raybould would still be Minister of Justice today."
A motion was put forward at the committee to have Wilson-Raybould return to respond to Butts' testimony, but it was defeated by the Liberal majority on the committee.