“I am, to put it lightly, disappointed and I would say that if you stand up for what you believe is right and you hold strong to your principles, the truth and principles must always come first,” Wilson-Raybould, the former minister of justice and attorney general, said Wednesday.
That’s why I did it and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
Philpott, who quit her cabinet post as president of the Treasury Board in March because she had “lost confidence” in how the Trudeau government handled allegations of political pressure on Wilson-Raybould, acknowledged that recent weeks have been “very difficult.”
She said she made her decision “on the basis of what I believe is best for Canadians, to stand up for the truth, and to stand up for the independence of the justice system.
“It’s very unfortunate that it has come to this but we have to make difficult choices in politics,” she said. “We aren’t always in control of all of the things that will happen,” the Markham-Stouffville MP said.
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“But you have to be able to hold your head high and look at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and say that the choices that you made were the best ones under the circumstances.”
Wilson-Raybould and Philpott spoke with reporters before taking their new seats in the Commons as independent MPs, no longer sitting in the Liberal benches after being ejected from the party caucus.
“What happened yesterday was not something that I anticipated would happen, certainly in the manner that it happened,” she said. Asked if she was disappointed in Trudeau, she said in French that “I’d like to say the prime minister has led our country well in these past years and I wish him the best. I wish him the opportunity to continue his good work.”
Philpott, a medical doctor, said she could return to her former career, “which I loved,” but felt politics was a way she could use her experience to “contribute in a significant way.”
full story at https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/04/03/jody-wilson-raybould-and-jane-philpott-say-they-were-defending-the-independence-of-the-judicial-system.html
Bruce Campion-Smith is an Ottawa-based reporter covering national politics. Follow him on Twitter: @yowflier
Tonda MacCharles is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics. Follow her on Twitter: @tondamacc
