Montreal (AFP)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday that he is "taking responsibility" for his "mistakes", while criticizing some of the findings of a report accusing him of violating the Conflict of Interest Act in a court proceeding. .
"I take responsibility for the mistakes I made," Trudeau told a news conference a few hours after the release of a report by the Ethics Commissioner accusing him of violating codes for putting pressure on his former Minister of Justice. "Although I disagree with some of his conclusions, I fully accept this report and take responsibility for what has happened."
"We will make sure that this never happens again under any government in Canada," he said.
The report, written by an independent senior official reporting to Parliament, is likely to reopen the controversy over a scandal that shook the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau earlier this year.
The Canadian Prime Minister and his entourage were plunged in February into the worst political crisis of his term after being accused by the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould for exercising "inappropriate" pressure on her. "to avoid a lawsuit to engineering giant SNC-Lavalin, which she refused to do.
"Where I disagree, it was on her conclusion that any contact with the Attorney General on this issue was necessarily inappropriate," said Trudeau.
"I can not apologize for defending Canadian jobs because it's part of what Canadians expect of me, and they expect me to stand up for our institutions and, as the ethics commissioner has, stressed, these two elements have come into conflict in an unfortunate way which I assume full responsibility, "said the Prime Minister.
"Canadians understand that we need to be vigilant about those who want to abuse the power of their position and engage in this kind of corrupt behavior, and I think it will be a priority in this election," said Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party and rival Trudeau for the October general election.
© 2019 AFP