The removal of Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott from the Liberal caucus wasn’t surprising, that according to UPEI Political Science Professor.
Don Desserud says this is one of those stories that everyone should have known wouldn’t have a good ending, “Jody Wilson-Raybould tried very hard to make sure that everyone understood that she had a very clear constitutional and ethical principle at stake here, but all of the efforts to try to explain with context or put it in relation to other events have simply made the situation worse and worse.”
Desserud says Wilson-Raybould obviously thought her actions were something she needed to do to safeguard her position as Attorney General.
“You can disagree with whether it is appropriate for the Prime Minister to apply pressure on the Attorney General to have her pressure someone else to make a decision, but that can be debated, but to pretend that is not the issue, is somewhat disingenuous.”
Desserud says some feel Wilson-Raybould is being penalized for her actions, while others question why the Prime Minister isn’t affected, “Basically if you are in caucus, you’re in cabinet, you’re supposed to go along with whatever happens, whether you agree with it or not. That seems to make sense when you are talking about regular ordinary policies, but not when you are talking about constructional issues. It was very clear from the recording we heard that she was arguing this on a constitutional basis.”
