Canada's Trudeau accepts he breached ethics rules, refuses to apologize

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS AUGUST 14, 2019 / 11:46 AM / UPDATED 11 MINUTES AGO

Canada's Trudeau accepts he breached ethics rules, refuses to apologize

David Ljunggren, Steve Scherer
4 MIN READ

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday accepted a watchdog’s report that he breached ethics rules by trying to influence a corporate legal case but refused to apologize, saying he had been trying to defend jobs.

Independent ethics commissioner Mario Dion said Trudeau and his team attempted last year to undermine a decision by federal prosecutors that construction company SNC-Lavalin Group Inc should face a corruption trial.

Dion’s scathing 58-page assessment could hurt Trudeau’s chances of retaining power in a general election in October.

“I fully accept this report ... I take full responsibility. The buck stops with the prime minister,” said Trudeau, adding that he nevertheless disagreed with some of Dion’s conclusions.

The scandal over SNC-Lavalin, which erupted in early February, battered Trudeau’s image as a youthful progressive at the helm of a government that had vowed to be open and transparent. He is the first Canadian prime minister found to have broken federal ethics rules.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-politics-trudeau/canadas-trudeau-accepts-he-breached-ethics-rules-refuses-to-apologize-idUSKCN1V41PK

[applegrove]

1. So many canadian companies have been bought out by hedge funds.

Banning Lavalin, an engineering company, from doing business in canada for years and years would all but ensure it gets taken over. The other option was a fine which is how many western cultures treat corruption (corrupt transaction with libya where the executive is long gone from Lavelin) in their corporations these days. Lavalin being a bilingual french - english international company is huge. Big employer in canada and around the world. PM office was only trying to get the Minister of Justice to do the norm and fine them.