Key Liberal staffer embroiled in SNC-Lavalin scandal promoted to PMO

Justin Trudeau has appointed two new staffers to the Prime Minister’s Office to fill the gap left by the resignation of his former Principal Secretary Gerald Butts.

Ben Chin will be moving from his position as the Finance Minister’s chief of staff into a senior adviser position with the Prime Minister. Alongside Chin, Sarah Goodman was appointed as the director of policy.

Although he won’t be occupying the principal secretary position, Chin, like his predecessor Butts was mentioned as one of the pressuring actors in the revealing testimony of former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.

According to Wilson-Raybould, Chin was the first to apply pressure on her office to intervene on behalf of SNC-Lavalin.

“Ben Chin, Minister Morneau’s chief of staff, emailed my chief of staff and they arranged to talk. He wanted to talk about SNC and what we could do, if anything, to address this,” claimed Wilson-Raybould.

“He said to her, my chief, that if they don’t get a DPA, they will leave  Montreal and it’s the Quebec election right now so we can’t have that happen. He said that they have a big meeting coming up on Tuesday and that this bad news may go public.”

Chin’s alleged claims that SNC-Lavalin would move their headquarters from Montreal if they were not given a deferred prosecution agreement were later debunked. According to Pierre Poilievre, the company is bound to remain in the province by a financing agreement until 2024.