Canada's NDP

Skip to main content

April 24th, 2019

Another Day, Another Story of the PMO Working for Liberals and not Canadians

NDP Justice Critic Tracey Ramsey and NDP Ethics Critic Charlie Angus made the following statement:

“The use of an unregulated partisan Liberal database to snoop on judicial candidates’ political histories by the Prime Minister’s Office shows flagrant disrespect for our judicial system. Coming so soon after the SNC-Lavalin scandal and a leaking of a judge’s personal information, it’s clear that for Justin Trudeau’s government, judicial independence, ethical standards and transparency to Canadians, comes after loyalty to the Liberal Party.

Doing quiet political loyalty checks behind the scenes runs against everything the Liberals have told us they are doing on Supreme Court appointments. These are supposed to be above partisan politics. What we’re seeing is a government that is just as cynical, partisan and secretive as Stephen Harper’s – we’re way past Justin Trudeau’s ‘sunny ways’ era.

This is a problem with the Liberals’ approach to privacy, too: they’re refusing to apply the same privacy rules that all organizations and businesses have to follow to political parties despite an all-party recommendation from the Ethics Committee.

We need to break the Liberal-Conservative cycle of scandal and bring in a clean, transparent government that Canadians can trust. Canadians deserve a government that takes the rule of law seriously, even when it’s not politically convenient.”