Justin Trudeau isn’t looking for a new Gerald Butts. It’s been two months this week since the SNC-Lavalin controversy claimed Trudeau’s right-hand man, and the Prime Minister’s Office is confirming that no new principal secretary will be coming in soon to replace Butts. The position will remain vacant for two reasons, a PMO official said Tuesday on background. First, it’s too close to an election and second, there really isn’t anyone who could step into the very big shoes that Butts filled in Trudeau’s PMO. So while it may be true that no one is indispensable in politics, it turns out that Butts was irreplaceable for this prime minister — at least for the rest of this mandate. Whenever the history of Trudeau’s time in office is written — and two books, by journalists John Ivison and Aaron Wherry, will hit the shelves later this year — the breakup of the Butts-Trudeau working relationship will be seen as a signature moment. Longtime friends, they walked side by side all the way, from McGill University to the office of the prime minister. Many said that Trudeau never would have become prime minister without Butts; now he is prime minister without him. The friendship endures, the PMO spokesman said on Tuesday, but by all reports, the constant contact is definitely over. Butts noted in his March 6 testimony to the Commons justice committee that the two had only spoken once in the weeks after he submitted his resignation on Feb. 18. “This is the longest I`ve gone in 30 years without talking to the prime minister,” he added.Communication between the two men reportedly remains limited, even now that the SNC-Lavalin controversy has died down. Butts, according to his social-media posts, has been touring around North America, looking for what he’ll do next; at this point, no plans exist for him to work in any official capacity on the next campaign. It was hard not to notice that Butts was ...
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