Trudeau broke the law. Where's the punishment？
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Summary
Justin Trudeau has been found to have violated federal law for the second time in his four-year term by yet another report from the Conflict of Interests and Ethics Commissioner. The finding detailed in a 63-page report shows that not only Trudeau but also numerous agents in his office tried to interfere in an independent investigation of SNC-Lavalin. But even with this finding, there is no penalty for Justin Trudeau apart from public relations questions he has to answer.
Transcript
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Justin Trudeau has been found to have violated federal law for the second time in his four-year
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term by yet another report from the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. This report
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looking into the improper and yes illegal pressure that was put on Jody Wilson-Raybould
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to try to secure a sweetheart deal for SNC-Lavalin. The finding detailed in a 63-page report
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shows that not only Trudeau but also numerous agents in his office tried to put pressure on
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Jody Wilson-Raybould to interfere in an independent or what was supposed to be an independent
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prosecution. But even with this finding there is no penalty for Justin Trudeau apart from the
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public relations questions he has to answer. None whatsoever. You see the Conflict of Interest and
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Ethics Commissioner has only a limited ability to levy a punishment on some aspects of Conflict of
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Interest law namely when it comes to failing to disclose certain things he can impose a financial
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penalty. The cap on that penalty $500. Yeah that's it that's all he can do and even then only on some
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offenses. You see Justin Trudeau actually had a financial penalty on a previous violation from
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the commissioner's office over his refusal to disclose a gift of sunglasses from the premier
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of Prince Edward Island. Trudeau was fined $100 but his Bahamas vacation no punishment. The SNC-Lavalin
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affair no punishment whatsoever. So you have this scathing report that has a very serious and severe
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finding that should have anyway wide-ranging implications and it is up to Canadians to levy the
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punishment. Now this means we need desperately a much more toothy approach to these things. How can
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we have a Conflict of Interest and Ethics office if it doesn't actually have the ability to enforce
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the ethics that we as Canadians are supposed to demand from our public officials, from our leaders?
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Now I'm not here to say what the punishment should be or even if there should be one but certainly having
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a commissioner that does not even have the ability to put one forward eliminates what it is that this
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office is supposed to do which ideally would be to serve as either a deterrent or as a punitive measure
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when someone does break the law. Right now it's not even a slap on the wrist it's a wag of the finger
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which does not discourage anyone from breaking this law in the future because they know they can just
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skate by if they have a good PR team to help them spin it. And we've already seen this out in full force
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for Justin Trudeau claiming that he just disagrees with the report that he accepts it but at the
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same time not the part that actually acknowledges his wrongdoing. Now this isn't to say that the
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report marks the end of the saga. Jody Wilson-Raybould has acknowledged that back in the spring she was
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paid a visit by the RCMP. The RCMP have indicated they are at the very least looking into this and will
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in their words do whatever is necessary as the case moves forward. Whether this will result in
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charges or not no point speculating we have no idea but there is another level of possible wrongdoing
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that could be unearthed here. But the whole point is we shouldn't have different agencies and
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investigators kicking the can down the road and trying to pass a hot potato between one another
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when we have this body the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner that does have the final
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authority to determine a violation of federal law. This is not an insignificant feat. This office has
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money, this office has resources, and this office has expertise. So when at the end of this there is
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zero punishment for Justin Trudeau it appears that there are two scandals here. There's the scandal of
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the interference in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin and then there's the other scandal that even doing
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that apparently carries no consequences. This is all the reason that True North is standing up for Canadians
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during this election covering the stories the mainstream media isn't. We can't do this alone. If you can
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pitch in to our election coverage fund please click on the link in the description box or head on over to