Monday, March 04, 2019

Treasury Board President Quits Trudeau Cabinet.



Jane Philpott has had enough with the prime minister's handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair. The Treasury Board President has resigned from cabinet.

“I have been considering the events that have shaken the federal government in recent weeks and after serious reflection, I have concluded that I must resign as a member of cabinet,” she wrote in a letter posted on Twitter moments ago.
It grieves me to resign from a portfolio where I was at work to deliver an important mandate. I must abide by my core values, my ethical responsibilities, constitutional obligations. There can be a cost to acting on one’s principles, but there is a bigger cost to abandoning them. pic.twitter.com/EwO5dtdgG6
— Jane Philpott (@janephilpott) March 4, 2019

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

This seems a bit odd. JWR herself said Trudeau did nothing illegal.

UU

Anonymous said...

I guess she didn’t like the cabinet shuffle either.

UU

rumleyfips said...

Too bad. I was kind of hoping she would move to justice.

The Mound of Sound said...


UU, you're not paying attention. Philpott was clear that her resignation was due to her leader's handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair. As she stated it was a matter of ethical responsibilities and acting on her principles. You might want to believe that's not what Philpott meant. It is what she said.

The Mound of Sound said...

Read her resignation letter. It's there in the link above.

Clarke said...

This smells more and more like a coup in the liberal ranks. JWR and Philpott are staying Liberals. WK seems extremely well informed about this.

Anonymous said...

Drain the swamp!

Anonymous said...

I read it. It’s what between the lines that I’m having some difficulty with.

UU

The Mound of Sound said...


A coup, Clarke? It'll take a lot more than J W-R and Jane Philpott to engineer that. Besides, it's hard to imagine Philpott as a scheming conspirator type.

Clarke said...

Well, we would have to see a straw poll from Liberal MPs to see what they think. Both JWR and Philpott are obviously aiming at causing maximum damage and it seems to be coordinated. If anyone else in cabinet bails, it is pretty clear there is a big question about Junior's leadership. Again, I don't know who all is involved but this is more than two unhappy ex cabinet members.

The Mound of Sound said...


I just don't see Philpott as the "plotter" type. Do you really think she's out to damage the government, some sort of saboteur? I went to Wikipedia and read Philpott's history. That doesn't resemble a schemer to me.

Yet Trudeau's ox does seem to have been grievously gored. How do you see this playing out?

Clarke said...

I do not see Philpott as a schemer either, but this does damage the government and she would have known this. She is also staying a Liberal. I am not trying to push some sort of conspiracy option, but this is odd to be a coincidence. If you were a Liberal elected on a banner of transparency, you are likely not a happy camper if you believed that. If you were a Liberal counting on Trudeau to get you reelected, you are also probably not happy. Either way, Trudeau's internal support might be a bit of a question mark now.

Anonymous said...

There appears to be a connection between Philpott and Warren K. Is he using an inexperienced MP to further his agenda? While Trudeau is not perfect, WK’s hatred of him could cause Canada to suffer.

UU

Anonymous said...

UU....ouch!

The Mound of Sound said...


Having gone through Philpott's background, UU, I doubt she's the sort to succumb to manipulation. From the get go I've wondered what WK is up to. This seems like more than a guy who couldn't get the time of day from a new prime minister.

If you haven't listened to it, check out Kinsella's latest podcast. Tell me how happy Lisa K sounds.

Anonymous said...

She is not an experienced MP. For that matter neither is JWR. They may be great at their profession. However, Trudeau is a pragmatist. And, unfortunately, it may be his downfall. These women resigned cabinet because it is so horrendous to them but remain in a party controlled by Trudeau. Why? What is their endgame? Something is not right here and WK’s fingerprints are all over it. You don’t air your dirty laundry in public if you care about your a Party.

UU

The Mound of Sound said...

In my experience, UU, few parliamentarians develop principles and ethics after they're elected to office. They either have then on Day One or they don't. As if, as I've suggested, you read Philpott's Wiki entry you'll see that principles and ethics were something she had in abundance before she got to Ottawa. Can you say the same for this prime minister?

Anonymous said...

All I am saying is that something really smells about this. It would not surprise me that an operative like WK is behind this. After all, "groper-gate" never caught on.

UU

The Mound of Sound said...

UU, it wasn't pragmatism that Justin Trudeau sold to the voting public in 2015. He pitched virtue and integrity, openness and accountability. He was going to be everything that Harper wasn't. So now he's a pragmatist and that's apparently okay. It's not okay with me but I only get one vote and that has long been reserved for the Green Party.

Purple library guy said...

I do still wonder about all these people who apparently thought they could be important Liberal politicians and also have these "principle" things.