Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: My question is for Senator Gold. In March, the media reported that the Quebec Court of Appeal had overturned the conviction of someone who had been tried in a secret trial. The Court of Appeal denounced this practice, which, in its words, was contrary to the fundamental principles of justice and “incompatible with the values of a liberal democracy.”

This secret trial was also a serious breach of one of the pillars of the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights, namely the right to information. We also learned from the same media outlet that Minister Lametti was in close communication with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada about this case, after stating a few months earlier that he was steering clear of this case in order to defend the transparency and independence of justice.

Senator Gold, is the Minister of Justice’s intrusion into a court proceeding as reprehensible as the Prime Minister’s interference in the SNC-Lavalin case?

Senator Boisvenu: Senator Gold, I was not talking about the justice system. I was talking about the Minister of Justice’s interference in the justice system.

In the SNC-Lavalin affair, former minister Jody Wilson-Raybould lost her job because she refused to cave to pressure from the Prime Minister to spare SNC-Lavalin a criminal trial. What will become of Minister Lametti? Will he stay or will he go?