Category: Export Credit

Did our Prime Minister violate the Conflict of Interest Act?

Legal expert Andrew Roman digs deep into the bombshell report on the SNC-Lavalin affair issued by Canada’s Ethics Commissioner, Mario Dion, and criticisms of that report by Errol Mendes, a professor of constitutional and international law at the University of Ottawa. Who was right, who was wrong? Read on.

SNC-Lavalin insider’s bribery allegations spark probe by Crown agency that loaned the firm billions

Export Development Canada launches review of 2011 deal with engineering company. This CBC News report includes comments from Patricia Adams of Probe International who says if there’s any truth to the allegations EDC money was used for bribes, it implicates all Canadians: “[EDC] operates on the Queen’s credit card. That means that it operates on our credit cards.”

The Prime Minister and the Attorney General

The recent controversy between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould over the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin has been front-page news for days. Was this a casual conversation or improper interference with the administration of justice? This blog post by former lawyer Andrew Roman discusses the issues from a legal standpoint. The bottom line: there is no law prohibiting either of them from speaking publicly about their conversation.

DPAs: Meet the legal tool central to the Prime Minister’s Office controversy

What are deferred prosecution agreements (or remediation agreements), how did Canada get them, what are the potential benefits and what are the down sides? Patricia Adams of Probe International is firmly in the latter camp: “… they turn the prosecutor into the prosecutor, the judge and the jury. Because of that they are undermining the rule of law — they are essentially political instruments.”