Yesterday, things got a lot worse for Justin Trudeau's government. Jane Philpott's resignation has sent shock waves through Ottawa. The Liberals are out of the frying pan and into the fire. Chantal Hebert writes:
Until late Monday, most Liberals believed that now that Wilson-Raybould had laid her cards on the table and described what she called sustained attempts of high-level political interference in the legal handling of SNC-Lavalin’s legal file, the worst was behind them.
They stand to be more shaken by this second resignation than they were by anything they heard over the course of the former attorney general’s testimony last Wednesday.
Wilson-Raybould and Philpott are friends and they dislike taking orders from the Prime Minister's Office:
Over the past three years, both have butted heads with the PMO over various files. There is no doubt that they have often compared notes.
And, yes, there are probably not enough fans of the ex-attorney general left at the cabinet table for this latest resignation to be the start of a chain reaction.
But the former treasury board president was also widely considered both one of the top performers in the Liberal cabinet and one of the government’s steadiest hands. She is a popular member of the Liberal caucus. Like the former attorney general, she plans to remain in that caucus.
Both women are ministers who Trudeau can't afford to lose. To lose them both in a month could be a fatal blow to Mr. Trudeau -- who hasn't offered much in his defence.
This is not how one successfully manages a government.
Image: The Toronto Star
