OTTAWA—Canada’s top public servant is stepping down after opposition MPs openly questioned his neutrality and demanded his resignation for his role in the SNC-Lavalin affair.Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick announced Monday he will “retire” from the public service before the coming federal election.Wernick has been under intense criticism by opposition MPs over his actions in the SNC-Lavalin affair, and accused of partisanship for his defence of the Prime Minister’s Office attempts to influence Jody Wilson-Raybould’s on the SNC-Lavalin file.“Recent events have led me to conclude that I cannot serve as clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to cabinet during the upcoming election campaign,” Wernick wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, released publicly Monday afternoon.Wernick said it’s “now apparent” that “there is no path for (him) to have a mutual trust and respect with the leaders of the opposition parties.”“It is essential during the writ period the clerk be seen by all political parties as in impartial arbiter of whether serious foreign interference has occurred,” Wernick added. “Therefore, I wish to relinquish these roles before the election.”Read more: Michael Wernick, Clerk of Privy Council, addresses critics over SNC-Lavalin affairTrudeau to keep Wernick on election interference file, despite opposition misgivingsMichael Wernick’s part in the SNC-Lavalin affair means he shouldn’t be trusted to sound alarm on election meddling, opposition MPs sayIn two remarkable appearances before the House of Commons’ justice committee, Wernick sparred with opposition MPs over his actions on the SNC-Lavalin file.Wernick met three times with former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould about a potential plea deal for SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal construction and engineering firm facing criminal fraud and bribery charges.Wilson-Raybould ...
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