Trudeau in trouble

The most unlikely of Prime Ministers, Justin Trudeau, is facing the tremors of government destabilisation. The high profile Jane Philpott, who had held several portfolios in Trudeau's cabinet before becoming treasury board president, announced her decision to leave. In a tweet she said had lost confidence in the government's handling of an inquiry into allegations that officials linked to Trudeau had pressured a former minister to help Quebec-based construction company SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution. "The solemn principles at stake are the independence and integrity of our justice system... Sadly, I have lost confidence in how the government has dealt with this matter and in how it has responded to the issues raised," she said in her resignation letter. With her resignation, she joins Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former minister of justice and attorney general, and Gerald Butts, Trudeau's former top aide, in stepping down. Wilson-Raybould initially brought the firestorm around Trudeau's government, alleging in testimony to the House Justice Committee in February that she faced "veiled threats" and "sustained" pressure from government officials to intervene in a corruption and fraud case against SNC-Lavalin, one of the world's largest construction and engineering companies. Trudeau thanked his former cabinet secretary for her service and said that the growing scandal had opened a critical window on the country's political institutions. "In a democracy like ours, and in a space where we value our diversity so strongly, we're allowed to have disagreements and debate. We even encourage it," he said in Toronto. The scandal now threatens to engulf Trudeau's Liberal party ahead of elections scheduled to take place before October this year. The leader of the opposition Conservatives, Andrew Scheer, said that Philpott's resignation "clearly demonstrates a government in total chaos led by a disgraced prime minister," according to CTV, calling on other cabinet ministers to either resign or demand Trudeau step down. NPD leader Jagmeet Singh also capitalised on Philpott's move as well, tweeting that her resignation "underscores the need for a public inquiry (into the SNC-Lavalin scandal) now more than ever". The controversy comes at an unfortunate time for Trudeau, who is currently facing a full-blown diplomatic crisis with China following the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Meng is a Chinese technology company's chief financial officer. At the request of the US, Canada detained her on December 1 to face possible extradition to the US over charges of breaking Iran sanctions. Beijing has labelled her arrest a political decision and demanded her immediate release. Shortly after Meng was arrested in Canada, two Canadians in China were detained and now are facing serious charges of spying. Another Canadian, imprisoned on drug charges, was rapidly retried in January and sentenced to death.