Letter to the Editor
Editor,
I happen to think that ethics are important in government.
Canadians’ interest in the SNC-Lavalin affair has lessened, according to the polls. That doesn’t matter to me. What you do when you are in government is no less important than how you govern.
For months, SNC-Lavalin lobbied hard to persuade the Liberals to insert a provision for deferred prosecutions into the Criminal Code. They got it. Then they lobbied hard to have that provision applied to them so they could escape their day in court.
They would have been successful, if not for the Attorney General, Jody Wilson-Raybould, who backed up her chief prosecutor’s opinion that SNC-Lavalin did not qualify for a deferred prosecution.
Jody Wilson-Raybould paid the political price, but the cost to our country is that we no longer know who we can trust in government. One of the things that shocked me about the SNC-Lavalin scandal is the degree to which corporations have access to and influence over our government.
Trust in government is a significant thing, especially when you consider its importance in our day to day lives.
This is why we need a Jagmeet Singh-led NDP, and the ‘New Deal for People’, which is committed to taking the influence of big money out of government and to strengthening conflict of interest rules with real penalties for politicians who break them.
We would completely ban cash for access to politicians. And, we would prohibit corporations facing criminal charges from lobbying public officials.
How many times have I heard people tell me, “All politicians are like that – they feather their own nests and those who give them enough money.” Well, that’s not who I am.
Chris Stephen
NDP Candidate for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound
