Canada’s top civil servant Michael Wernick to quit as Justin Trudeau faces his biggest political crisis
- Departure leaves prime minister needing to fill top job just months ahead of October election
- Trudeau has been plagued by allegations that senior officials pressured former justice minister to avoid trial for engineering firm SNC-Lavalin Group
The head of Canada’s federal bureaucracy said on Monday he was quitting over his role in handling a corporate corruption case that has gripped the country, dealing another blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he battles the biggest political crisis of his tenure.
Polls suggest that Trudeau’s Liberals – who a few months ago looked certain to be re-elected in October – are now at risk of losing power to the official opposition Conservatives.
Trudeau has been on the defensive since February 7 over allegations that top officials leaned on former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to ensure engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin Group Inc avoided a corruption trial.
Top civil servant Michael Wernick told Trudeau he would be retiring in the coming weeks because opposition leaders had lost confidence in him over the scandal. Two high-profile women cabinet ministers and Trudeau’s closest personal aide had already quit over SNC-Lavalin before Monday’s resignation.
Wernick, the clerk of the privy council, is supposed to be non-partisan, like the rest of the federal bureaucracy. But his strong defence of government officials over the SNC-Lavalin affair and his insistence that no one had done anything wrong triggered widespread criticism from opposition legislators that he was siding with the Liberals.