Nathan Cullen keeps heat on Liberals over SNC-Lavalin issues

Nathan Cullen calling for the Justice Committee appearance
of former Justice MinisterJody Raybould-Wilson
to be moved to Wednesday morning.
(CPAC screenshot)

Tomorrow could be a pivotal day for the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, with the House of Commons body having  issued its invitation to former Justice Minister and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Scheduling her for an appearance at the Wednesday afternoon session of their ongoing hearings, putting her name on the testimony list for 3:15 PM Ottawa time, 12:15 in BC.

However, that 3:15 PM call to committee could see some change, should Skeena-Bulkley Valley Nathan Cullen, a member of the committee find success with a request from today asking for a shift in time for that testimony.

In comments outside of the House of Commons chamber this afternoon, Mr. Cullen suggested that Ms. Raybould-Wilson's testimony should take place in the morning and not the afternoon.

The NDP MP observed that should the existing schedule hold, the former Justice Minister's comments would come thirty minutes after the Wednesday Question Period in the House chamber.

Which as things turn out by way of the existing parliamentary procedure, will then see three weeks pass by from tomorrow, before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would have to face further questions in the House for Question Period.

Towards that quirk of the parliamentary schedule, the Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP also noted that should the testimony take place in the morning, it would then allow MP's to take note of her overview of the events related to SNC-Lavalin and discussions with the Prime Minister and Senior Staff and then  bring them to the Prime Minister's Question Period tomorrow.

"I think it would be much better for Canadians if we could hear from Ms. Jody Wilson-Raybould first and then be able to hold up her concerns, her answers to questions to the Prime Minister minutes later"

You can review Mr. Cullen's complete commentary of this afternoon from CPAC here.

As we outlined earlier this month, the Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP has been quite effective in his committee work following the fallout of the Justice Minister's resignation from cabinet and the growing interest in the SNC-Lavalin file.

The story picked up some increased attention on February 18th when the Prime Minister's Principle Secretary Gerald Butts submitted his resignation, adding on to the interest level of the Justice and Human Rights Committee hearings.

You can follow the proceedings of Committee on Justice and Human Rights from their House of Commons website home page here.

More background on the political developments in Ottawa can be explored through our political portal D'ArcyMcGee

For an overview of the work of the Skeena-Bulkley MP see our House of Commons archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.