Liberal MPs to meet, discuss fate of Wilson-Raybould, Philpott in caucus

Rachel Aiello, Ottawa News Bureau Online Producer @rachaiello

The Ontario Liberal caucus will be meeting in the noon hour Tuesday, to discuss whether former ministers and current MPs Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott should be able to remain members of the Liberal team.

Sources tell CTV News that other regional and issue-specific caucuses of Liberal MPs have either discussed the matter already, or plan to meet to discuss it. The Ontario Liberal caucus is the group of Liberal members of Parliament who represent Ontario ridings.

These meetings come after Wilson-Raybould told reporters on Monday evening that she doesn’t think she should be removed from caucus. This was in response to some of her Liberal colleagues questioning whether she should be, after she released secretly-recorded audio of a conversation she had with Canada’s top civil servant about SNC-Lavalin.

“I do not believe that I should be removed from caucus for doing my job and doing what I believe is right,” Wilson-Raybould told reporters on Parliament Hill late Monday.

Wilson-Raybould said she is “committed” to remaining a Liberal MP, though that decision may soon not be hers to make.

CTV News has previously reported that during the regularly-scheduled Wednesday caucus meeting, some Liberal MPs are expected to get up and call for Wilson-Raybould’s removal. Though, it is possible that with these various smaller caucus conversations happening already, these inner-caucus tensions around both Wilson-Raybould and Philpott’s future in the Liberal caucus could be decided sooner rather than later.

On Monday, several Liberal MPs and cabinet ministers spoke out, expressing disappointment and condemnation over Wilson-Raybould’s decision to record and subsequently make public a December conversation she had with Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick about SNC-Lavalin, with some saying their trust has been lost.

full story at

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/liberal-mps-to-meet-discuss-fate-of-wilson-raybould-philpott-in-caucus-1.4362044