Oppo asks police to probe Trudeau

OTTAWA: Canada’s opposition on Monday asked police to investigate Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after an ethics probe found he broke rules by arm-twisting his attorney general to settle a criminal case.

Conservative leader Andrew Scheer’s renewed call for a probe into possible obstruction of justice, detailed in a letter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), comes only two months before national elections.

It follows independent parliamentary ethics commissioner Mario Dion’s rebuke of Trudeau over the breach -- which the prime minister rejected -- and the recent disclosure that federal police had earlier this year taken an interest in the case involving engineering giant SNC-Lavalin

"Today, in light of both the ethics commissioner’s finding and the revelations about the RCMP’s previous involvement, I have formally requested the RCMP take another look," Scheer told a news conference. He first asked for an RCMP probe in February.

"I believe (there) are significant grounds for an investigation into whether or not Justin Trudeau violated section 139 of the Criminal Code, obstructing justice," he said. "We know that Justin Trudeau has broken the law. We need to know if he has committed a crime." Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin, one of the world’s major engineering firms, was charged in 2015 with paying bribes to secure contracts in Libya.