SNC Lavalin scandal continues to develop
The Opposition used Question Period to hammer Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with questions about the SNC Lavalin scandal.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer suggested that based on dates and times of meetings, it looks like the PMO interfered in a justice department decision on how to pursue corruption charges against the Quebec-based engineering firm. However, Trudeau calmly fired back, referring to Scheer’s suggestions as “snide remarks” and said meetings held with former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould could have been held on a number of topics. Trudeau has admitted an airing of the facts is needed in the case, he stresses he is confident in examinations underway by the federal ethics commissioner and the House of Commons justice committee.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau losing support according to new poll
Meanwhile, It appears the SNC-Lavalin controversy is lowering Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s standings on the question of which party leader would make the best prime minister.
A Leger poll done for The Canadian Press gives Trudeau the backing of 26 per cent of respondents, down seven points from last November. For the first time since the 2015 election, Leger has found the Conservatives ahead of the Liberals in terms of party preference by a margin of 36 to 34 per cent.
Vigil to be held to remember children killed in Halifax house fire
Halifax’s main square is expected to be packed Wednesday night for a vigil to remember the seven children of a Syrian refugee family who were killed in a devastating house fire.
The parents survived the fire but the father, suffered life-threatening burns and remains in critical condition in hospital.
Fake news probe scheduled for Ottawa
An international committee is inviting the heads of the world’s largest digital and social-media firms to testify on disinformation and “fake news” when it meets in Ottawa this May.
The group has already been stymied in its efforts to hear from some of them including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg who declined several requests to appear at a first meeting in London, back in November.