https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-politics/canadas-top-civil-servant-to-quit-the-latest-victim-of-scandal-idUSKCN1QZ1KK
Canada's top civil servant to quit, the latest victim of scandal
Michael Wernick, the clerk of the privy council, said in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that he wanted to leave well before the election because he had lost the confidence of opposition leaders.
Trudeau has been on the defensive since Feb. 7 over allegations that top officials leaned on former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to ensure engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin Group Inc avoided a corruption trial.
Wernick, who was appointed by Trudeau to the job in early 2016, is the latest victim in a scandal that has already cost the prime minister his closest personal aide and two senior cabinet members.
The civil service and Wernick are supposed to be non-partisan, but his strong defense of government officials and his insistence that no one had done anything wrong triggered widespread criticism from opposition legislators that he was siding with the Liberals.
“Recent events have led me to conclude that I cannot serve as clerk of the privy council … during the upcoming election campaign,” Wernick said in his letter.
“It is now apparent that there is no path for me to have a relationship of mutual trust and respect with the leaders of the opposition parties,” he said.
They look upset.
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>The prosecution is in plea deal discussions with three other defendants.