Chantal Hébert: Former cabinet ministers have Justin Trudeau in their sights
(The Star Theatre)

Had former Treasury Board president Jane Philpott sought to sabotage her government by breathing new life in the SNC-Lavalin saga this week, she would not have acted otherwise.Her first post-resignation interview — given to Maclean’s on the day after the federal budget was presented — raised more questions than it provided factual answers.She blew on the embers of the controversy without adding a solid piece of firewood to it.The main predictable consequence of the interview was to shore up the opposition parties’ contention that the Liberals are engaged in a coverup. Its timing was guaranteed to turn heads away from what was otherwise a relatively well-received pre-election budget.Philpott did not provide a single new fact pertaining to the crux of the affair. That’s not just because she is constrained by cabinet confidentiality — a contention, in passing, that is increasingly challenged by parliamentary experts.The reality is that she was not involved in or present for any of the interactions that are central to the matter. Whatever information she has in her possession about the high-level pressure former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould says she endured over her handling of the engineering firm is either second-hand or would pertain to events that took place after the fact.Read more:Jody Wilson-Raybould to release text messages, emails to justice committee in SNC-Lavalin scandalOpinion | Heather Mallick: Why does Jane Philpott keep knifing her fellow Liberals?As SNC-Lavalin fallout continues, the Liberal government narrowly avoids defeatAt the core of the SNC-Lavalin affair is the allegation that the prime minister and his senior political and public service advisers crossed the line into interference with the justice system over the course of a series of discussions about SNC-Lavalin with the then-attorney general.More specifically, Trudeau and others are alleged to have abused their power by seeking to have Wilson-R ...