Second minister quits over corruption scandal that threatens Justin Trudeau
Mr Trudeau's popularity has taken another hit, according to a poll, as the fallout from the scandal continues.
Tuesday 5 March 2019 11:36, UK
A second minister has resigned from Justin Trudeau's cabinet over a scandal about alleged corruption at a major Canadian company.
Jane Philpott quit as Treasury Board president on Monday, telling the Canadian prime minister she had "lost confidence in how the government has dealt with this matter".
Ministers and government officials are accused of have pressured Ms Philpott's friend, former attorney general and justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, not to prosecute engineering firm SNC-Lavalin.
Ms Wilson-Raybould, who stepped down last month, told Canada's parliament that the director of public prosecutions urged her to negotiate a financial settlement with SNC-Lavalin.
The company is accused of having paid C$48 million (£27.2m) to the Gaddafi family between 2001 and 2011 to win Libyan government contracts.
The proposed remediation deal would see the company fined but avoid a bribery and corruption trial, which could see it banned from competing for government business for a decade.
SNC-Lavalin employs 9,000 people in Canada and about 50,000 worldwide.
Ms Philpott, widely seen as of one of Mr Trudeau's most competent ministers, wrote: "The evidence of efforts by politicians and/or officials to pressure the former Attorney General to intervene in the criminal case involving SNC-Lavalin, and the evidence as to the content of those efforts have raised serious concerns for me.
"I must abide by my core values, my ethical responsibilities and constitutional obligations. There can be a cost to acting on one's principles, but there is a bigger cost to abandoning them," she added.
Mr Trudeau, facing re-election in October and doing badly in the polls, told a rally on Monday night that Ms Philpott "has felt this way for some time. And while I am disappointed, I understand her decision to step down".
The prime minister admits raising the issue with Ms Wilson-Raybould, but has said it was appropriate.
If an election were held tomorrow, Mr Trudeau would receive only 31% of the vote, down three points from a couple of weeks ago, according to an Ipsos Mori on Monday. Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer would get 40%.