Christy Clark is Going to Bat for SNC-Lavalin and British Columbians Are Not Happy About It
British Columbians call ex-premier's defence of SNC-Lavalin hypocritical, given how many jobs her old BC Liberal government eliminated
Former BC Premier Christy Clark managed to draw widespread anger again, last weekend, after offering another take on the SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal.
During an interview on CBC’s Power and Politics, the former premier said: “everyone will argue” the Trudeau government “shouldn’t have gone about it the way they did” in handling the scandal.
However, Clark then applauded Justin Trudeau’s decision to demote former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould, after the ex-cabinet minister refused to halt a prosecution of engineering giant SNC-Lavalin:
“If you’re talking about 9,000 jobs, and the attorney general is refusing to save them, I think that’s a pretty good argument to move the attorney general and find somebody who wants to support a growing economy,” the ex-premier said.
Clark’s latest comments came after she cast doubt, last month, on Wilson-Raybould’s allegations that she was inappropriately pressured by Trudeau into reaching a remediation settlement with the SNC-Lavalin. The engineering giant faced charges of corruption and fraud.
Despite Clark’s most recent comments, a construction industry analyst recently debunked the claim 9,000 jobs would be jeopardized as a result of SNC-Lavalin being prosecuted.
Additionally, Twitter users were quick to point out the former premier’s old government had a particularly lousy track-record of protecting jobs in BC.
A reminder that under the @bcliberals & @christyclarkbc BC lost approx 30,000 forestry jobs. #bcpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/DlD4mXhX9b
— USW District 3 (@USW_District_3) March 9, 2019
When Deputy Premier in 2002, this individual supported two bills resulting in layoffs of thousands of health care workers & teachers – the largest mass layoff of women in Canadian history. Bills struck down as unconstitutional by @scc_en in 2007 & 2016. @PnPCBC #IWD2019 https://t.co/3hB29dKmEJ
— BCTF (@bctf) March 9, 2019
That’s rich coming from veteran of Gordon Campbell govt that cleared the way for the firing of 8,000 BC hospital workers (mostly women) with a law later found unconstitutional by Supreme Court of Canada. #bcpoli
— Mike Old (@mike_old) March 9, 2019
Her government fired 9,000 healthcare workers without batting an eye, saying it was good for the economy, and lead the most corrupt and incompetent government in BC history. Why does @PnPCBC think Clark has any credibility?? #bcpoli https://t.co/NIcyb67pRK
— Barb Nederpel (@BNederpel) March 10, 2019
Many of the responses, which continued throughout the weekend, also highlighted some of Clark’s own corruption scandals.
I feel like this is the BC Liberals lining up their “we-shut-down-#MoneyLaundering-whistleblowers-to-protect-the-jobs-it-created” defense. #bcpoli https://t.co/VhLDUHAWF2
— Bowinn Ma (@BowinnMa) March 10, 2019
Some noted her BC government had its own SNC-Lavalin scandal:
Worth remembering that when Clark was premier, BC Liberal party accepted $150k from #SNCLavalin chair at time (Gwyn Morgan) #bcpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/UPZSeBQBwO
— Gregor Craigie (@GregorCraigie) March 9, 2019
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