Trudeau owes Canadians an explanation as to why this settlement was in the national best interest.  Yes, it may have been to mitigate the risk of even higher costs by continuing the court process.  But this needs to come from the government, not its apologist commentators.  Morals and upholding the law is not the right reason for political intervention, as the courts could have addressed this on their own.  It needs to be about taxpayer money.

And hopefully the opposition moves on from this issue for which both parties are to blame, and focus on bigger issues like fiscal policy choices (e.g. the risks of running large deficits during an economic expansion when interest rates have already bottomed).