Well, this is novel.
We’re accustomed to the spectacle of others forced to taste the underside of the tires of the most-exercised vehicle in Ottawa. But how often do we get to watch the bus driver exit the vehicle to toss himself under its wheels?
It was during the soft hours of a Family Day afternoon that the principal secretary of the prime minister of Canada publicly committed political seppuku.
Time dilates in politics when you’re having a very rough time. And how very long it must seem, if you’re a Liberal, from that first day of denial (Trudeau: “The allegations are false.”) to Mr. Butts’ self-ejection from the most powerful, influential position, outside that of the prime minister, in Canadian politics.
How often do we get to watch the bus driver exit the vehicle to toss himself under its wheels?
There has been no drama on this scale, not during Adscam, not during the interminable Duffy saga, not even dare I say back to the squalid Gerda Munsinger affair (prostitute, spy, cabinet ministers, bed) to equal Monday’s instalment of the SNC-Jody Wilson-Raybould opera.
And it is the scale of the thing that is its salient feature, its extraordinary factor. It’s one thing, say, to lob an irritating or careless backbencher over the battlements, to sate the anger of the mob below. But, to so speak, for Mr. Spock to hurl himself on the rocks to save Captain Kirk is a scenario none could have contemplated.
So we arrive at the primary question that emerges from this week’s drama.
For Mr. Spock to hurl himself on the rocks to save Captain Kirk is a scenario none could have contemplated
Why was so explosive a gesture thought necessary? Why did Gerald Butts resign? To deter a stronger storm? And what tempest could be stronger than one which necessitates the prime minister of the Prime Minister to annihilate his political career?
We knew this SNC-J W-R story was ominous and threatening already. But no one (outside possibly Robert Fife and Steven Chase) in the sage chorus of the Ottawa press gallery or the wisest lookers-on even dreamed it could pass from “nothing to see here” to Mr. Butts abandoning his near-Siamese counterpart, as a selfless gesture, needful for Mr. Trudeau to weather a greater storm yet to come.
To underscore: no one thought this matter was so threatening that Gerald Butts, Mr. Trudeau’s secret-sharer, mentor, strategist, fixer and friend, would choose to fall on his sword — before there was yet any clear, agreed-upon, set of facts over what is being contested.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves his office with Gerald Butts to attend an emergency cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 10, 2018. Justin Tang/CP
Resignations follow revelations. It is not in the course of political nature that they precede them. The public still does not know what all this is about. Ms. Jody Wilson-Raybould’s silence (as I write anyway) is still intact. Words she has still yet to speak are the Damoclean Sword over Mr. Trudeau’s stay in office and the fate of his government.
But of this we can be certain. Mr. Butts did not resign to make matters worse, to sharpen focus on the drama, to further darken its already bleak overcloud.
He must have chosen to do so because there was some element, more explosive, more turbulent, and more ominous for his friend and prime minister yet to come. Yet to come, and which Mr. Butts’ pre-emptive sacrifice offered some hope of either preventing, deflecting or deflating.
He must have chosen to do so because there was some element, more explosive … yet to come
Either that, or — worse still, he determined there was no point at this point in staying to fight at all. A wild surmise, I admit, but one which must be roiling the sleep of many a Liberal front and backbencher.
Mr. Butts’ leave-taking is all the more remarkable, too, because, as so many have noted, it was replete with declarations, unqualified and trenchant, that neither he nor anyone in the PMO “pressured Ms. Wilson-Raybould.” He emphatically denies all fault. And he should — as long as J W-R’s silence extends itself and no factual contradiction emerges — be taken at his word. But why then leave? This is accepting penance for sins uncommitted, unfamiliar both in liturgy and life.
Jody Wilson-Raybould participates in a Chinese New Year Parade in Vancouver on Feb. 10, 2019. Darryl Dyck/CP
The reason he gives: to save the prime minister from the “distraction” of his presence. There is a mighty quotient of distraction tied up in his resignation itself. What distraction does he think he’s sparing Mr. Trudeau, that could surpass the one he has just created?
The scandal itself, however, is a distraction. It consumes so much attention and coverage that it obscures a second dark melody, the counterpoint of the Vice-Admiral Mark Norman affair. J W-R’s resignation submerged that of Scott Brison, which apart from drollery on Twitter following Mr. Trudeau’s facile attempt to use it to “explain” that of Wilson-Raybould, has inspired very little comment.
Vice-Admiral Mark Norman returns to a courthouse in Ottawa with his lawyer, Marie Henein, following a break in the proceedings on Jan. 29, 2019. Adrian Wyld/CP
The Norman affair crosses many of the same themes as the larger one, rule of law, possible interference from on high, government stonewalling. It, too, has promise of revelations yet to come. Vice-Admiral Norman’s case is under the formidable care of lawyer Marie Henein, who has all the deferential timidity of a lioness protecting its cubs. Water evaporates when she stands in a courtroom.
There are possibly many things Mr. Butts’ resignation may accomplish but I cannot see it will remove any of the pressures Mr. Trudeau is under, and, considering that Mr. Butts was his chief and best consigliere, he (Mr. Trudeau) will be less equipped to deal with them.
Meantime, there is still a country to govern, an election to face
Meantime, there is still a country to govern, an election to face, and a caucus to mollify. There are convoys in Ottawa, Canadians in Chinese jails, quarrels with Saudi Arabia, and — dare we say it — pipelines yet to be built.
We forget sometimes that “staff” is a metaphor — taken from husbandry. It was what the shepherd leaned upon and used to ward off the wolves. It was his first and only weapon. Mr. Butts was Mr. Trudeau’s staff, both metaphorically and etymologically. His weapon and shield.
Without Mr. Butts, how will the prime minister fare? That, like “to be or not to be,” is the question.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex-murphy-is-there-another-storm-coming-that-gerald-butts-was-trying-to-deter?video_autoplay=true
