Wilson-Raybould, Philpott to announce political futures in ridings

OTTAWA — Two former Liberal cabinet ministers who resigned over the SNC-Lavalin controversy are set to announce their next moves on Monday.

Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott say they’ll announce their political futures at events held at the same time in their ridings.

Wilson-Raybould is the independent MP for the B.C. riding of Vancouver Granville and Philpott is the independent MP for the Ontario riding of Markham-Stouffville.

Neither is saying what they have in mind, other than that constituents have been invited to meet with them as they share announcements about their political futures.

Wilson-Raybould served as justice minister in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet before she was shuffled to the portfolio of veterans affairs in January.

She later revealed she thought the decision to move her out of the justice role was motivated by her handling of a request to intervene in the criminal prosecution of the Quebec engineering giant, SNC-Lavalin.

Wilson-Raybould gave four hours of testimony to the House of Commons justice committee in February detailing sustained pressure she felt over a period of four months to head off the company’s prosecution on corruption charges related to contracts in Libya.

Philpott, a former health minister, Indigenous-services minister and president of the Treasury Board, resigned from cabinet in early March over Trudeau’s handling of the affair.

In early April, both were ousted from the Liberal caucus.

The Canadian Press