Tag: Cape Breton Island

Justin Tang/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press OTTAWA — The top political adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada resigned on Monday, deepening a political crisis over allegations the government tried to interfere in a criminal court case. “Any accusation that I or the staff put pressure on the attorney general is simply not true,” Mr. Butts wrote. “But the fact is that this accusation exists. Mr. Butts was a key player in the successful election campaign in 2015 that defied expectations by raising the Liberals from third place in polls to victory, making Mr. Trudeau prime minister. Since then, Mr. Butts has acted as Mr. Trudeau’s principal secretary and was widely viewed as the most powerful player within the prime minister’s office. “The last year before an election, you don’t leave your boss behind,” Mr. Gossage said. A criminal conviction would bar the company, which has about 52,000 employees worldwide, from working for the government of Canada for 10 years. Mr. Trudeau’s office confirmed last week that Ms. Wilson-Raybould brought the case up in a conversation with Mr. Butts, but declined to offer any details about what was said. Last week, the episode went from involving only anonymous allegations to a major political challenge when the federal ethics commissioner, Mario Dion, said he would investigate the prime minister’s actions. In his resignation letter, Mr. Butts noted that he had encouraged Ms. Wilson-Raybould, a former prosecutor and Indigenous leader from British Columbia, to enter politics.