Source: NBC News
TORONTO — A second member of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s Cabinet resigned Monday over a scandal that has shaken the government in an election year.
Treasury Board president Jane Philpott, who was considered a star minister, said in a resignation letter that it was “untenable” for her to continue in the Cabinet because she could not defend the government.
Philpott, who was in overall charge of government spending, deprives Trudeau of another powerful female Cabinet minister just months ahead of an election that polls show he could lose.
Philpott’s friend, former Attorney General and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, testified last week that Trudeau and senior members of his government inappropriately tried to pressure her to avoid prosecution of a major Canadian engineering company in a case involving allegations of corruption in Libya.
Wilson-Raybould resigned from Cabinet last month after being demoted to veteran affairs minister weeks earlier.
The scandal has rocked Trudeau’s government. Gerald Butts, his closet adviser and best friend, also resigned last month and is scheduled to testify Wednesday before a Parliament justice committee in Trudeau’s defense.
Trudeau has acknowledged raising the issue with Wilson-Raybould,…
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