Threatening to sue Scheer a mistake by Trudeau: Law prof.

A law professor and former Saskatchewan judge says Justin Trudeau’s threatened libel lawsuit against Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer was a mistake that will do further damage to the prime minister’s battered reputation.

Details of the threatened lawsuit came to light over the weekend when Scheer released a letter from Trudeau’s lawyer, Julian Porter, along with a response from Scheer’s own legal counsel.

In the letter from Porter, dated March 31, the prime minister’s lawyer claimed a statement by Scheer “contained highly defamatory comments about Prime Minister Trudeau.” In that statement, which was distributed to media outlets and published online, Scheer accused Trudeau of corruption, political interference in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, and lying to the Canadian public.

In addition to releasing Porter’s letter to the media, Scheer also distributed a response by his own lawyer, Peter Downard, essentially daring Trudeau to proceed with the legal action.

“If the Prime Minister does not commence the lawsuit he has threatened, Mr. Scheer will conclude that the Prime Minister has properly acknowledged that Mr. Scheer’s statements were appropriate and grounded in evidence before the Canadian people,” Downard wrote.

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, a law professor at the University of British Columbia and former Saskatchewan Provincial Court judge, joined CKOM/CJME’s John Gormley on Monday morning to discuss the threatened lawsuit, which she viewed as a political misstep by the prime minister.

“When I saw the legal manoeuvre of threatening the leader of the opposition with litigation to control his message on the matter, I thought that was a bad move,” she said.

“It shows the prime minister is somehow thinking he’s going to help his reputation by threatening to sue someone whose job it is actually to question the government and to hold them to account.”

She said Trudeau’s hypocrisy “jumps out at you” in the letter. She said she expects the legal threat will contribute to the growing public sentiment against Trudeau as it “creates that image of a prime minster who wants to use the law selectively.”

Turpel-Lafond, who has called for an RCMP investigation into the SNC-Lavalin affair since February, renewed that call Monday morning.

“I feel very strongly that the RCMP should review it. It may amount to an attempt at obstruction of justice,” she said. “We need some kind of complete and thorough inquiry into the matter.”

— With files from The Canadian Press