Following Friday’s release of the documents and audio tape provided by Jody Wilson-Raybould, and now comes the backlash. Which at this point I think is the backlash to the backlash to the backlash to the backlash, or something. It’s like they’re ships firing broadsides at one another endlessly, and they’re all taking on water, but nobody will stop, and it’s just so exhausting. But here we go (again).

To begin with, Bill Morneau’s office is disputing the characterisation of conversations their staff had with Wilson-Raybould’s staff, and Gerald Butts tweeted that he’s submitting more of his documents to the committee, which will be released publicly when they too are translated. Michael Wernick’s lawyers are saying that Wernick didn’t brief the PM on the call with Wilson-Raybould because of holidays and the fact that Scott Brison’s announced resignation consumed matters subsequently, and that they didn’t talk about SNC-Lavalin until the Globe and Mail story came out (which one former staffer says is entirely plausible, though not everyone is buying it). Patty Hajdu went on television to say that Wilson-Raybould’s recording of that conversation was unethical, and that she doesn’t think she can trust her in caucus not to record their private conversations any further, though she’ll leave any decisions about ousting her to the caucus itself. And then there was a whole tangent arising from those documents about whether Brian Mulroney directed Kim Campbell as justice minister regarding the David Milgaard case, which led to competing versions of what happened in Mulroney’s memoir’s versus Campbell’s (and she tweeted out more clarifications over the weekend).

This is hilarious! It is true the PM worried that my unwillingness to speak to Mrs Milgaard when she blindsided me with tv cameras at a Winnipeg event made me look bad, but the SCC reference was my idea and he does himself no favors in rewriting history. https://t.co/tXt59Cbwx6

— Kim Campbell (@AKimCampbell) March 31, 2019

This is the excerpt from my memoir, published in 1996, that deals with the Milgaard issue. As I said in a previous tweet, the PM thought my response to Mrs M in Wpg was a “lawyer’s” response and made me look bad. Probably did. Mrs. M later apologised. All in “Time and Chance”. pic.twitter.com/TpwCUjiVTx

— Kim Campbell (@AKimCampbell) March 31, 2019

While Mr. Mulroney apparently insists he did something he didn’t in the Milgaard case, I should point out that this was not a prosecutorial decision but an application for the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. (And I actually did get advice from a ret’d SCC justice)

— Kim Campbell (@AKimCampbell) March 31, 2019

As for Wilson-Raybould, she says she’s “absolutely ready” for whatever happens next, and insists she was doing her job and “speaking her truth.” She also stated that Jane Philpott didn’t resign for her benefit, but because of Philpott’s own sense of integrity (which may be a way of trying to shield Philpott from the inevitable calls to have the pair of them booted from caucus, which will only intensify after the revelation of the recording). But a lot of things will now circle back to that recording, something that BC’s former Attorney General says speaks to a “deep fracture” at the heart of the Liberal Party. And he may be right, and it may also be a consequence of doing politics differently, given that one former national director of the party says has a lot to do with Trudeau’s refusal to put any heads on (metaphorical) spikes, which may now cost him in the long run.

Good reads:

• The federal carbon price backstop comes into effect today, which had federal and Ontario Conservatives posing on social media filling up their gas tanks.
• Elections Canada is expecting a surge in expat voters during the next election.
• Parks Canada archaeologists say that atypical ice conditions are making it hard to survey the HMC Erebus wreck, and also causing it to deteriorate faster than usual.
• Chief Justice Richard Wagner is launching a review of the Canadian Judicial Council, looking to modernise its operations and make it more efficient.
• Senator Marc Gold insists that Bill C-59, reforming the national security laws, will be passed before the next election.
• Nunavut turns twenty today, and while it’s a fast-growing territory, it still has many challenges to overcome.

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