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Sex Payouts, Character Assassinations: Trudeau Struggles to Contain Corruption Scandal

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As sordid details of the SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal emerge, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are under fire for what many analysts allege were strategic leaks intended to smear Jody Wilson-Raybould.

The former attorney general has accused Canada’s prime minister and top staffers of attempting to interfere in the criminal prosecution of Montreal-based global engineering firm SNC-Lavalin on bribery and corruption charges relating to its government contracts in Libya from 2001 to 2011.

Since the scandal broke in February, Trudeau and the Liberals have taken a hit in the polls, dropping four points behind the Conservatives, CBC News reported in March. And the prime minister’s personal popularity has tanked more than his party’s, dropping six to eight points, with some pundits predicting the growing SNC-Lavalin scandal may be the end of Trudeau’s political career.

In a more unsavory aspect of the affair, Montreal’s La Presse revealed last month that SNC-Lavalin paid $30,000 to Saadi Gadhafi, the son of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, to cover his hiring of prostitutes during his visit to Canada in 2008, according to the National Post. . .

The information was gathered during an investigation of Stéphane Roy, former vice-president of SNC-Lavalin, on fraud and bribery charges, and its publication was allowed after the charges were dropped in mid-February because of court delays, the National Post reported. (Read more from “Sex Payouts, Character Assassinations: Trudeau Struggles to Contain Corruption Scandal” HERE)

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WATCH: Trudeau Arrives at Climate Rally, Protests Erupt, Things Get Crazy

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Embattled Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — who has been implicated in a corruption scandal as well as a #MeToo accusation from two decades ago — appeared at a climate change rally on Monday, and the scene quickly got ugly.

Trudeau is facing increasing political pressure over accusations by Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canada’s former female, indigenous attorney general, that he and other members of his administration attempted to pressure her to “abandon prosecution” of a “corrupt company,” SNC-Lavalin, that is allegedly tied to Trudeau’s political cronies. When she refused to cave, Wilson-Raybould says, Trudeau fired her. The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti reports:

For some time, the story remained uncorroborated — a mere rumor that circulated around Canada’s government officials. But last week, Wilson-Raybould testified in front of Parliament, telling her story in “meticulous detail,” according to Canadian reporter Ezra Levant, parsing out “how Trudeau and his staff tried to get her to drop criminal charges against a corrupt company that he liked.”

In a series of videos published by Global News, Trudeau’s attempt to explain the controversy at a climate change-focused rally on Monday was derailed when protesters erupted.

“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared at a rally on Monday amid the still-unfolding SNC-Lavalin affair, and the tone grew tense at times,” the outlet reports. “The rally, focused on climate change and taking place at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall, saw protesters interrupt the prime minister repeatedly before they were quickly ushered out of the venue.”

(Read more from “WATCH: Trudeau Arrives at Climate Rally, Protests Erupt, Things Get Crazy” HERE)

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Trudeau in TROUBLE: Canadian Prime Minister Is Facing a Political Crisis

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According to the BBC, Trudeau is facing claims that he exerted intense political pressure on Canada’s female, indigenous attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, to “abandon prosecution” of Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, a “corrupt company” with alleged ties to Trudeau and some of his closet political pals. When Wilson-Raybould refused to call off an investigation (and subsequent prosecution) into SNC-Lavalin over fraud and corruption charges, the story goes, Trudeau fired her.

For some time, the story remained uncorroborated — a mere rumor that circulated around Canada’s government officials. But last week, Wilson-Raybould testified in front of Parliament, telling her story in “meticulous detail,” according to Canadian reporter Ezra Levant, parsing out “how Trudeau and his staff tried to get her to drop criminal charges against a corrupt company that he liked.”

“[Wilson-Raybould] refused to bend the law for Trudeau’s cronies. But they didn’t stop. Trudeau; his chief of staff; his principal secretary; even the finance minister. They met her ten times, phoned her ten more. trying to get the charges dropped. She wouldn’t. So Trudeau fired her as A-G,” Levant tweeted in a short “primer” for American audiences — an account substantiated by The Washington Post. Trudeau eventually appointed Wilson-Raybould to a lesser position, handling veteran’s affairs.

Because Wilson-Raybould was silenced by attorney-client privilege, only Trudeau was able to speak fully on the matter, according to Levant’s account, but after weeks of pressure, and several high-profile departures from Trudeau’s inner circle, Wilson-Raybould was invited to testify in front of Parliament, and Trudeau waived privilege.

The result was a bombshell testimony that appears to implicate Trudeau in a major political scandal. (Read more from “Trudeau in TROUBLE: Canadian Prime Minister Is Facing a Political Crisis” HERE)

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Media Attacks Rand Paul for Going to Socialized-Medicine-Canada to Get Surgery, Fails to Mention IMPORTANT Piece of Information

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On Monday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was widely criticized for the announcement that he would have hernia surgery in Canada, a country with socialized medicine. Despite the hospital being private and specializing in hernias, critics cited Paul’s opposition to socialized medicine.

The surgery is related to an injury Paul suffered when his neighbor, Rene Boucher, attacked him while he was doing yard work, leaving him with six broken ribs and damage to his lungs, The Washington Times reports.

Boucher is reportedly being sued by Paul for $4,000 in medical expenses plus the costs of the hernia surgery. The Courier Journal reports the court documents cite the cost of the hernia procedure as ranging between $5,000 and $8,000. Boucher was sentenced to 30 days in prison for assaulting a member of Congress; federal prosecutors are reportedly appealing the case.

Paul’s lawsuit says that he will undergo an outpatient surgery in Canada later this month at Shouldice Hernia Hospital, which claims to be “the only licensed hospital in the world dedicated to repairing hernias.”

“This is a private, world renowned hospital separate from any system and people come from around the world to pay cash for their services,” Kelsey Cooper, a spokeswoman for Paul, told The Hill.

(Read more from “Media Attacks Rand Paul for Going to Socialized-Medicine-Canada to Get Surgery, Fails to Mention IMPORTANT Piece of Information” HERE)

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If China Can Ever Bully the United States Like It Is Canada, We’re in Serious Trouble

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The United States started a trade war with China. The Justice Department requested Canadian authorities to arrest Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of China’s telecom giant Huawei, on allegations that she had violated sanctions against Iran by committing financial fraud.

China hasn’t taken Meng’s arrest very well. It viewed Meng’s arrest as a politically driven “kidnapping” aimed at curbing China’s technological ambition and forcing China to make trade concessions. Beijing feels it has lost face internationally and in front of its domestic, nationalistic audience. Therefore, Beijing has been in revenge mode. However, its main target so far has been not the United States, but Canada.

Since Meng’s arrest, China’s foreign minister has summoned the Canadian ambassador to China, John McCallum, multiple times, to lodge a “strong protest” and tell him Meng’s arrest caused “serious damage to Sino-Canada relations.” Beijing demanded the immediate release of Meng, or Canada would face “grave consequences” for Meng’s arrest. The same Chinese foreign ministry also summoned the U.S. ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, a day after meeting the Canadian ambassador, to protest Meng’s arrest as being “unreasonable.” In diplomatic language, the U.S. ambassador was treated with kid gloves.

The Canadian government has tried very hard to explain to Beijing that Meng’s arrest was not politically driven and its timing, which took place on the same day as the President Trump and Chinese President Xi Xinping’s meeting at the G20 in Argentina, was pure coincidence. The Justice Department launched a criminal probe into Huawei’s dealings in Iran in April 2017. The arrest warrant for Meng was issued in August by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and Meng was charged with “conspiracy to defraud multiple international institutions.” To U.S. authorities, arresting Meng in Canada was a natural choice, because Meng stopped traveling to the United States in 2017, but she does travel to Canada regularly as a legal resident there. . .

Last week, Beijing arrested two Canadians on charges of “endangering national security.” One is Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat and now a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group (ICG). According to ICG’s website, Kovrig “conducts research and provides analysis on foreign affairs and global security issues in North East Asia, particularly on China, Japan and the Korean peninsula.” China declared that ICG is not a legally registered non-governmental organization (NGO) in China. Thus, Kovrig might have also violated China’s notorious foreign NGO law, which gives Beijing the ability to prevent international organizations it doesn’t like, such as human rights organizations, from operating legally in China. (Read more from “If China Can Ever Bully the United States Like It Is Canada, We’re in Serious Trouble” HERE)

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Trump ‘Very, Very Close’ to Moving on Mexico Deal, With or Without Canada

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Canadian officials are running out of time to join the U.S. and Mexico in a trade deal to replace current North American Free Trade Agreement terms, according to an administration source this week.

In a Fox News interview Friday morning, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett pointed to an Oct. 1 deadline in the ongoing negotiations.

“We’re still talking to Canada, and we’re getting very, very close to the deadline where we’re going to have to move ahead with Mexico all by themselves,” he said.

The Trump administration is fast-tracking the new terms to finalize an agreement before the end of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s term.

Some lawmakers see Canada’s inclusion in a new deal as vital to the preservation of NAFTA framework.

Nieto’s administration has been willing to negotiate with the U.S. and Canada, but leftist president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador would likely be less open to renegotiated terms.

Hassett placed the onus on Canadian officials he believes are refusing to negotiate in good faith.

“I’m a little surprised that the Canadians haven’t signed up yet,” he said. “They’ve got a really, really good deal that they should be participating in. … I worry that politics in Canada is trumping common sense, because there’s a good deal that was designed by Mexico and the U.S. to appeal to Canada, and they’re not signing up.”

Canadian officials have pointed to a key NAFTA provision affecting its dairy industry as a specific sticking point in the negotiations.

According to Hassett, the fact that Canada has not agreed to the terms has “everybody over here a little bit puzzled.”

Among the terms reached by Mexico and the U.S. so far are requirements that would impact the auto industry by requiring an increased amount — 75 percent — of a vehicle’s parts to be made in North America in order for NAFTA to categorize it as a duty-free product.

The renegotiated agreement would also require that at least 40 percent of all workers producing automotive parts earn the equivalent of $16 per hour or more.

Hassett’s comments this week echoed remarks U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin made last month on the issue of North American trade.

He said that the Trump administration prefers to have Canada as an active participant in the negotiations, but it would be willing to move forward with a bilateral agreement if necessary.

“I think our objective is to try to get Canada on board quickly,” Mnuchin said. “This is a great deal for American workers. If you remember one thing, this deal is about more trade for U.S. companies and goods and services, and that’s what we’re focused on.” (For more from the author of “Trump ‘Very, Very Close’ to Moving on Mexico Deal, With or Without Canada” please click HERE)

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And That’s When the Mic Was Taken Away: David Hogg Thought Canadians Could Donate Money to American Political Campaigns

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Well, David Hogg (yeah, remember him) is back at it again. This time forgetting whom his audience was at a premiere for Michael Moore’s latest film Fahrenheit 11/9, which deals with the 2016 election. He, along with Cameron Kasky and Emma Gonzalez, formed the Parkland Three, an anti-gun activist wing that was started after the tragic shooting at their high school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, which left 17 people dead. It placed the National Rifle Association in the crosshairs—again. CNN held a town hall event with the students and surrounding community, which was more of a kangaroo court for liberals to bash gun owners, NRA members conservatives, Republicans, and rural America—pretty much half the country. Since then, other news has taken precedent, but they scored some legislative wins, with Florida increasing the age to purchase firearms to 21. Vermont did the same thing—and both states have pro-NRA governors. It’s also a grossly unconstitutional provision. Other localities in blue America, like Deerfield Illinois and Boulder Colorado, passed ordinances banning so-called assault weapons (i.e. the widely owned and circulated AR-15 rifle).

Well, he wasn’t as effective in Toronto, Canada, where he seemed to forget that he was…in Canada. He told the audience to turn their “shame” into action by voting…in American elections. Oh, and he didn’t know that Canadians couldn’t donate to American political campaigns. That’s illegal, something that even Moore pointed out before taking the microphone away from Hogg. Moore’s film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this month (via Real Clear Politics):

“I have a question for you guys: Who’s ready to save America? Who’s ready to make America the country we say it is on paper and make it the actual country that it wants to be?,” Hogg asked the Canadian crowd. “I think the most important thing to realize, however, is the problems we face as a country, whether it be water in Flint, Michigan or the amount of mass incarceration of people of color that can’t vote.”

. . .

“I think Canadians can donate to political campaigns in the U.S.? They can’t? Well, uhh, vote here. Learn from us, don’t let this happen here. We’ll need to come to you guys if we stay on this track.”

(Read more from “And That’s When the Mic Was Taken Away: David Hogg Thought Canadians Could Donate Money to American Political Campaigns” HERE)

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Canadians Declare a Boycott on American Products to Punish Donald Trump. There’s One BIG Problem.

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Canadian consumers are launching a “boycott” of American goods, The Wall Street Journal reports, in retaliation for Trump Administration tariffs and President Donald Trump’s penchant for poking fun at their beloved Prime Minister.

But there’s one big problem: many of the consumer products Canadians believe are made in Canada are actually made in the United States, or by American corporations.

The “boycott” officially began in July, in response to the Trump Administration’s new 20% tariff on Canadian steel (and a host of other, less significant tariffs on things like Canadian aluminum), and after President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “weak” at a meeting of the “group of 7.” Angry at being disrespected, Canadians pledged to purge their shopping carts of anything made below their southern border.

“Usually we don’t pay that much attention to it,” one Canadian consumer told the WJS. “You tend to buy the products that taste good or you buy the products that are low in price where taste isn’t an issue.” But, he added, this summer it got personal.

Most products assumed to be Canadian, though, are actually American. Old Dutch chips, for example, are mostly consumed in Canada, but are made in Minnesota. And, it turns out, Americans make a lot of products that people use every day. Canadians might be able to do without Heinz ketchup, but they probably won’t give up drinking Starbucks or Coca-Cola, using Apple and Microsoft technology, eating at McDonalds and Pizza! Pizza! (the local iteration of Little Caesars) or wearing American-made clothing. If they do, they’ll hurt local Canadian franchise owners before they harm American business interests. (Read more from “Canadians Declare a Boycott on American Products to Punish Donald Trump. There’s One Big Problem.” HERE)

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Trudeau on Groping Allegation: I Did Nothing Wrong but Someone May Have Experienced It ‘Differently’

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By Townhall. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded again Thursday to allegations that he groped a female reporter nearly 20 years ago at the 2000 Kokanee Summit festival. . .

Initially the Canadian Prime Minister told The Washington Post that he remembered “no negative interactions from that day. . .

However, on Thursday, Trudeau admitted that he did apologize to the reporter and that he respects that she “might have experienced” the interaction “differently.”

“If I apologized later, it would be because I sensed that she was not entirely comfortable with the interaction that we had,” he said, before finally admitting, “I apologized in the moment.”

“I’ve been reflecting very carefully on what I remember from that incident almost 20 years ago,” he added. “I do not feel that I acted inappropriately in any way. But I respect the fact that someone else might have experienced that differently.” (Read more from “Trudeau on Groping Allegation: I Did Nothing Wrong but Someone May Have Experienced It ‘Differently'” HERE)

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Woman Who Accused Trudeau of Groping Breaks Her Silence

By CBC. The woman who alleged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touched her inappropriately some two decades ago issued a statement Friday saying the incident happened as described — but she now wants to be left alone.

“I issue this statement reluctantly, in response to mounting media pressure to confirm that I was the reporter who was the subject of the Open Eyes editorial, published in the Creston Valley Advance in August of 2000,” Rose Knight, the former journalist, wrote.

“The incident referred to in the editorial did occur, as reported. Mr. Trudeau did apologize the next day. I did not pursue the incident at the time and will not be pursuing the incident further. I have had no subsequent contact with Mr. Trudeau, before or after he became Prime Minister.”

Knight, who said she has since left journalism, added she will not speak any further about the incident. (Read more from “Woman Who Accused Trudeau of Groping Breaks Her Silence” HERE)

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Canadian PM Slammed With Sexual Assault Accusation

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While on tour to celebrate Canada Day this past Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denied groping a female reporter who tried to interview him almost two decades ago at the 2000 Kokanee Summit festival. Trudeau’s comments about the allegation of sexual misconduct came nearly a month after the incident was first brought to national attention by Canadian media in early June.

“I remember that day in Creston [the site of the festival] well… I had a good day that day,” Trudeau told reporters in Regina, Saskatchewan. “I don’t remember any negative interactions that day at all.”

Trudeau’s denial marked the first time that he has publicly responded to the accusation, which was originally levied in an editorial in the Creston Valley Advance, a small local paper in the western province of British Columbia. The unsigned article (almost certainly written by the reporter who claimed to have been sexually assaulted) was published shortly after the conclusion of the festival in August. In the piece, the writer provided scant details of the encounter, only obliquely referring to Trudeau “inappropriately ‘handling’ the reporter” and “groping a strange young woman.”

But in a seemingly damning bit of evidence, the article also suggested that Trudeau acknowledged the grope and apologized to the reporter for assaulting her because she reported for a national newspaper (she was also working for the National Post and the Vancouver Sun at the time), allegedly telling her: “I’m sorry. If I had known you were reporting for a national paper, I never would have been so forward.” Moreover, according to a recent investigation by the same National Post, the reporter had (and still has) the full faith and credit of her former superiors at the Creston Valley Advance. (Read more from “Canadian PM Slammed With Sexual Assault Accusation” HERE)

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