Former Justice Minister Lametti to Leave Politics, Join Law Firm

Then-Justice Minister David Lametti speaks during a federal, provincial, and territorial ministers press conference on bail reform in Ottawa on March 10, 2023. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

Liberal MP and former Justice Minister David Lametti has announced he will leave politics at the end of January.

“I am proud of what I have been able to accomplish as part of a progressive government,” the MP from the Montreal riding of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun wrote in his Jan. 25 resignation letter.

Mr. Lametti had been removed from cabinet by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the summer shuffle last year.

“This period has been challenging personally, as one might imagine,” wrote Mr. Lametti, who says he continued to do his best to fulfill his duties as an MP.

Mr. Lametti in his letter goes over a list of things he accomplished while working on various portfolios and said his proudest work relates to his time as minister of justice and attorney general.

He mentions having passed 13 bills, including the removal of some mandatory minimum sentences and the ban on conversion therapy.

The removal of mandatory minimum sentences on firearms offences like armed robbery was presented by the Liberal government as an “anti-racism” measure to reduce the proportion of indigenous and black representation in prisons.

Mr. Lametti also notes with over four years in the role he was among the longest-serving Liberal justice ministers in recent decades.

Mr. Lametti had replaced Jody Wilson-Raybould in 2019 amid the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Ms. Wilson-Raybould had pushed back on pressure from Mr. Trudeau to give special treatment to the engineering firm and was eventually expelled from the Liberal caucus.

The resignation of Mr. Lametti comes two days after the Federal Court ruled that the invocation of the Emergencies Act to deal with the Freedom Convoy in 2022 was not justified. Measures implemented following the invocation were also found to be unconstitutional as they violated two sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

As attorney general at the time, Mr. Lametti’s legal opinion to cabinet would have influenced the decision to invoke or not the act. The government has so far refused to release the details of the legal opinion used to inform the Emergencies Act.

Mr. Lametti addresses the situation in his letter, saying he served as minister during an “extraordinary time: a pandemic, an occupation of border crossings and downtown Ottawa necessitating the invocation of the Emergencies Act, and a war in Europe.”

“I am proud of the role I played in each of these situations,” he said, adding that the two domestic issues required “balancing the protections of the Charter with the rule of law and the health and safety and economic well-being of citizens.”

Mr. Lametti’s office has not returned a request to comment on the Federal Court’s decision, which the government says it will appeal.

In an interview with CBC News, he said he disagrees with Justice Richard Mosley’s decision. “I disagree with his framing of the issue and his treatment of the facts,” he said, adding he’s confident the decision will be overturned. “I believe that we had minimal impairment of rights for a short period of time.”

Mr. Lametti says he will be joining law firm Fasken Martineau DuMoulin as counsel. He will also formally retire from McGill University as a full-time law professor, though he will stay involved as a lecturer.