Butts takes ‘full responsibility’ for ‘breakdown’ in trust between Trudeau, Wilson-Raybould, but denies there was improper pressure

Gerald Butts repeatedly maintained that efforts to persuade then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to consider another opinion were about saving the 9,000 jobs the government says are on the line if SNC-Lavalin is slapped with a conviction.

In outlining his defence, Gerald Butts, pictured March 6, 2019, offered a rare glimpse into the political considerations at play behind cabinet shuffles, saying they tried, for about two weeks, to dissuade Scott Brison, the former Treasury Board president, from resigning.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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BY Beatrice Paez

March 6, 2019

PARLIAMENT HILL—Gerald Butts, ex-principal secretary to the prime minister, on Wednesday refuted former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould's account of the improper political pressure she allegedly faced, saying that her testimony was the "first time" he learned that she had made a "final decis...

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