The Ontario Attorney-General's office is refusing to allow a private prosecution of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for obstruction of justice and breach of trust in the SNG-Lavalin scandal, a decision that Democracy Watch says is based on legally incorrect reasoning.
September 29, 2025 – "Today, Democracy Watch [DWatch] released and criticized the letter it received recently from John Corelli, Director of the Complex Prosecutions Bureau at Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General, exercising the Crown counsel’s power to stop DWatch’s application filed last February in the Ontario Court of Justice in Ottawa for approval from the court to proceed with a private prosecution of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for alleged obstruction of justice and breach of trust by pressuring, and directing others to pressure, then-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to stop the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin in 2018 (now operating under the name “AtkinsRéalis”).
"DWatch also released the letter it sent to Mr. Corelli today requesting that he reverse his decision and proceed with the next steps in the prosecution process because his decision is based on legal reasons that are clearly incorrect. DWatch’s applications included a detailed legal opinion by a retired superior court justice (who did the opinion on the condition of remaining anonymous) setting out the clear evidence and legal arguments for prosecuting the PM for the allegation of obstruction of justice, and possibly also for breach of trust.
"Mr. Corelli requested in June that the Regional Sr. Justice have a judge oversee the next step in the private prosecution application process, called a 'pre-enquête' hearing, at which DWatch would present the evidence it pried out of the RCMP, and key witnesses would be questioned such as Wilson-Raybould, her former Chief of Staff Jessica Prince, and her friend and confidante former Liberal Cabinet minister Jane Philpott, and a judge would decide if there was enough evidence to proceed with a prosecution. Democracy Watch supported that request. The Regional Sr. Justice had not yet made that decision whether a judge or a Justice of the Peace would preside at the pre-enquête hearing.
"Mr. Corelli’s letter staying (i.e. stopping) the prosecution does not set out any valid reasons explaining why the available evidence of Mr. Trudeau’s actions does not cross the lines established by the obstruction of justice (ss. 139(2)) and breach of trust (s. 122) provisions in Canada’s Criminal Code.... Mr. Corelli only claims that 'there is no reasonable prospect the Crown could prove that Mr. Trudeau acted with the requisite criminal intent for either alleged offence.' As Democracy Watch set out in its “will say” document that was included in its court application, this is the same incorrect legal standard that the RCMP used to decide not to prosecute Trudeau for obstruction (the RCMP did not even consider whether Trudeau had committed a breach of trust).
"In fact, the Supreme Court of Canada made it clear in its ruling in R. v. Beaudry, 2007 SCC 5 (CanLII) that, in order to prove obstruction of justice, the Crown is only required to prove that an alleged offender acted 'willfully' to frustrate the course of justice. Proof of 'criminal' (i.e. deceitful or corrupt) intent is not required.
"In addition, the case against Trudeau is unprecedented – so there is no way that the Crown could know there is no chance of proving that Trudeau committed a crime.
"Mr. Corelli’s letter also says that he has concluded that it is not 'in the public interest to hear any evidence that may be adduced by the informant' at the hearing, and that 'new evidence' is unlikely to become available because the RCMP did its own review. This continues the cover-up begun by the Trudeau Cabinet (which refused to disclose internal Cabinet communication records), and continued by the RCMP with its weak, incomplete and delayed investigation that was buried for years, that accepted the Cabinet keeping key records secret, that only interviewed four of 15 key witnesses, that hid key testimony from Wilson-Raybould, Prince, and Philpott, and that trusted without question the biased, self-interested public statements of Trudeau and everyone else who pressured the AG....
“'Crown prosecutors stopping this prosecution for a legally incorrect reason, just like the RCMP did in addition to suppressing key evidence, amount to a smelly cover-up that shows clearly that Canada does not have independent, effective anti-corruption law enforcement and, as a result, corruption in the highest public offices across the country is effectively legal,' said Duff Conacher, PhD (Law) and Co-founder of Democracy Watch. 'This means Canada does not have a rule of law, a rule that violations of the law will be prosecuted no matter who the violator is, which is considered worldwide to be a fundamental requirement for a country to actually be a democracy.'"
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