By Canadian Press

The Latest: Butts, Wernick testify at justice committee on SNC-Lavalin affair

Mar 6, 2019 | 9:19 AM

OTTAWA — The latest developments at the House of Commons justice committee, holding hearings Wednesday on the SNC-Lavalin affair (all times local):

10 a.m.

Gerald Butts, former principal secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, enters the committee room — one larger than used the week prior for former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould — and takes his seat, alone.

A number of additional MPs not on the committee are attending the meeting today. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is also in the room.

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Butts avoided a phalanx of cameras outside the committee room by arriving through a back entrance.

Butts’ testimony will contradict Wilson-Raybould’s version of events, in some detail, casting a different light on conversations Wilson-Raybould described as part a campaign of pressure tactics and veiled threats to help SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution.

He is backing up his version of events with emails, text messages and other documentation, much as Wilson-Raybould did in her testimony.

Before beginning to speak, the Liberal majority on the committee votes down a Conservative motion for Butts to be sworn in to testify under oath.

Conservative MP Michael Cooper tries in vain to have Butts sworn in, but he’s told the committee has spoken.

“I will tell the truth,” Butts tells the committee as he starts his opening statement.

The Canadian Press