Robert Fife described how his reporting on the SNC-Lavalin affair put his professional standing at risk during a period of government denial.
The account highlights the tension between investigative journalism and high-level political power in Canada. It underscores the risks reporters face when challenging the narratives of the Prime Minister's Office regarding the rule of law.
Fife served as the Ottawa bureau chief for The Globe and Mail. He broke the story in 2019 [1] that revealed improper political pressure exerted on then-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould [1]. The reporting focused on efforts to interfere with the prosecution of the engineering firm SNC-Lavalin [2].
At the time the story broke, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denied the allegations of improper interference [2]. Fife said the pushback from the government was significant. He said that the process of verifying the scoop and publishing the findings put his job on the line [1].
The investigation sought to expose how political interests were used to influence a legal proceeding [2]. By documenting the pressure placed on Wilson-Raybould, Fife provided a public record of the conflict between the executive branch, and the independent judiciary.
Fife has since provided a candid account of this period and other major stories from his career [2]. He detailed the internal and external pressures that accompany reporting on the highest levels of the Canadian government, especially when those reports contradict official statements from the Prime Minister.
“Robert Fife broke the story in 2019 that revealed improper political pressure exerted on then-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould.”
This account provides a retrospective on the SNC-Lavalin scandal, illustrating the friction between government communications and investigative journalism. It demonstrates how the verification of internal political pressure can lead to professional volatility for reporters when the state maintains a public denial of those same events.
