WINNIPEG - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he's surprised and disappointed by Jody Wilson-Raybould's resignation today.

The former justice minister quit as minister of veterans affairs Tuesday morning.

She was demoted in a cabinet shuffle in January.

The Globe and Mail reported last week that her demotion came after pressure from the Prime Minister's Office last fall to make a deal with Quebec construction giant SNC-Lavalin that would have helped it avoid a prosecution on charges it bribed the Libyan government.

No deal was reached and the government is resisting a court appeal the company has filed over it.

Trudeau said in Winnipeg Tuesday that the government did its job on the SNC-Lavalin file and if anyone in the cabinet thought anything improper had happened, they had a duty to raise it with him at the time.

 

Jody Wilson-Raybould resignation letter