‘I am disappointed to be accused of partisanship by people who have never met me’
It has been suggested that my testimony to the Justice Committee on February 21, 2019 was “partisan”, presumably in content or motivation. I would like to respond. I would also like to provide the committee with my recollection of the conversations I had with the former Attorney General.
As Clerk, it is part of my job to give the Prime Minister impartial advice and feedback on how his Ministers are exercising their roles, their relationships with colleagues and with the public service. The Prime Minister and his staff seek my advice before Cabinet shuffles and I have been the main advisor on appointments and deployments of Deputy Ministers.
I am disappointed to be accused of partisanship by people who have never met me. My career is on the public record. I have held the highest security clearances of this country for many years. I was named to Deputy Minister level positions by Prime Ministers Chretien, Martin, Harper and Trudeau. I participated in the transition exercise, the swearing in and the first Cabinet meeting of Prime Ministers Martin, Harper and Trudeau.
When I mentioned to the AG on September 17 that there was an election in Quebec I did not do so out of partisan considerations. That is an unfair inference. It is a long-standing convention for the federal government to stay out of the fray of provincial election campaigns. In mid-September, based on the company’s public disclosure obligations, I was concerned that a purely federal issue could surface in the last two weeks of that campaign.
I note that after the former Minister’s testimony the following facts are not contested. She was always the decision maker. She was assured multiple times that she was the final decision maker. The former Minister agreed that entering into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement would have been entirely lawful.
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