OTTAWA—Liberals are lining up behind Justin Trudeau's denial of allegations that his aides pressured Jody Wilson-Raybould over a criminal prosecution, with one even suggesting she was removed as justice minister because she didn’t speak French. Yet the allegations that Wilson-Raybould was moved out of the justice portfolio because she rebuffed pressure from Trudeau’s office to mediate criminal charges against SNC-Lavalin rather than proceed with a prosecution has become an escalating controversy. “There’s a lot of legal issues coming up in Quebec and the prime minister may well have decided he needed a justice minister that could speak French,” Housefather said in an interview with Montreal radio station CJAD. “The prime minister has the undisputed right to choose who is in what cabinet position, and there’s millions of reasons that people can be shuffled from one position to another,” Housefather said in the radio interview. The MP said Trudeau was “confident that we’re OK,” adding that many MPs recognize that “he needs our help and support now.

Source: thestar February 14, 2019 23:15 UTC