Canadian budget overshadowed by SNC-Lavalin scandal

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Normally, the day when the Canadian government releases report on the state of Canada's economy and how and where the government will spend taxpayers' dollars, it dominates the news, and it is likely that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government hoped that would be the case this year.

But the SNC-Lavalin scandal, in which Trudeau and senior officials from his office and government have been accused by Trudeau's former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould of trying to pressure her into dropping a criminal case on fraud and corruption charges against the Montreal-based construction and engineering company, found its way back into the Canadian news cycle on Tuesday.

Liberal members of the Parliament who form the majority of members of the House of Commons Justice Committee indirectly raised the issue on Monday when they decided that their work of investigating the SNC-Lavalin scandal was complete. Wilson-Raybould, who left Trudeau's cabinet in February, would not be called back to testify despite her desire to provide "further clarity" on the issue.

The official opposition Conservatives were having none of it and used an unrelated vote on a motion to delay Finance Minister Bill Morneau's budget speech in the House, which is usually delivered at 4 p.m. Eastern time (2000 GMT) after the markets close.

Morneau tabled the budget and left the chamber, and when he returned about an hour later to deliver his speech, desk thumping and loud shouts of "let her speak" regarding Wilson-Raybould and "cover-up" regarding the SNC-Lavalin scandal from the opposition side of the House were loud enough to make it nearly impossible to hear the finance minister.

Opposition leader Andrew Scheer and his Conservative caucus members walked out of the House during Morneau's speech to protest what Scheer called Trudeau's attempt to "distract Canadians from his corruption" before the October general election with "massive" spending in the budget. Such political drama surrounding the presentation of the annual Canadian government budget was a first in recent memory.

The budget itself was far less dramatic in terms of when Ottawa will balance its books, despite the Trudeau Liberals promise to eliminate the federal deficit by 2019 as part of the platform they campaigned to form government in 2015.

Based on the numbers revealed in Tuesday's budget, Canada's deficit will actually increase from 11.2 billion U.S. dollars to 14.9 billion dollars in 2019-2020 and eventually decrease to 7.4 billion dollars by 2023-2024.

Morneau's focus has been on reducing the net debt-to-GDP ratio, and on that score, Canada's debt as a percentage of GDP will drop from 30.7 percent in 2019-2020 to 28.6 percent in 2023-2024.

But in an election year, the Trudeau government's focus is on spending rather than saving, and on maintaining at least some commitments made in 2015.

The Liberals sought office hoping to achieve reconciliation with Canada's indigenous peoples. Almost one-quarter of the 15-billion-dollar expenditures announced on Tuesday will be allocated to indigenous services.

But between now and October, Trudeau's challenge will be to keep the focus on that funding initiative and away from any further fallout from Wilson-Raybould's allegations. She was also Canada's first indigenous attorney general and the opposition will be quick to make that connection to voters.