Story #2 – SNC-Lavalin
The SNC-Lavalin affair took the political world by storm in early February. Early that month, reports broke that Justin Trudeau’s aides attempted to pressure former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. Trudeau denied the allegations and Wilson-Raybould resigned as veterans affairs minister the next week.
While the controversy unfolded and competing stories were told – for an excellent timeline of the ordeal, view here – the Angus Reid Institute found Canadians skeptical that Trudeau was telling the truth. Two-thirds said that there was a deeper scandal going on, when asked just weeks after the news broke. The SNC affair led to a drop in approval for Trudeau and a jump in Conservative vote intention. SNC-Lavalin pled guilty to fraud on December 18th and was forced to pay a $280 million penalty.
For more on the #2 story of the year, please visit the original article here: http://angusreid.org/snc-lavalin/
