Trudeau's Spiteful Vendetta

"[Vice-Admiral Mark] Norman appears to be the first person in Canadian history to be criminally prosecuted for a purported violation of Cabinet confidences. This, in circumstances where he was not generally a participant in any Cabinet meetings and did not leak any Cabinet documents."
"[Davie Shipbuilding and then CBC journalist James Cudmore had thus] already obtained information regarding the Cabinet meeting from other sources [prior to communicating with Mark Norman about the project delay]."
"The PCO [Privy Council Office] investigation found that there were six separate leaks related to the Ad Hoc Committee alone, including to two separate CBC reporters, Radio-Canada, and the lobbying firm Fleishman & Hillard. The sources of most of the leaks identified in the PCO investigation remain unknown."
Defence Application for government documents, Ottawa courthouse

One year after Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was suspended from his position, the investigation into allegations he leaked cabinet secrets to a Quebec shipbuilder has yet to result in charges. (CBC)

Justin Trudeau, as prime minister of Canada, has no love for anyone he suspects of having crossed him in any way. His intention of continuing to starve the Canadian military of essential equipment such as the badly needed naval supply ship rather than continue to rely on renting such an essential ship from a foreign country to enable the Canadian navy to carry out its required duties was thwarted when word got out of his intention of scrapping a conversion of a ship to supply ship purposes as a temporary measure until eventually a new one could be commissioned.

Trudeau was furious and ordered that whomever was responsible for alerting the contract holder to the prime minister's intentions giving the news media another Trudeau failure to trumpet, have his feet held to the fire. The easiest target was the vice-chief of the Defence Staff, it appears. That he was second-in-command of the Canadian Forces didn't appear to present as a deterrent; Trudeau wanted someone's head to roll, and Vice-Admiral Norman's was chosen precisely for occupying that elite level of command as an example to anyone else who might consider foiling any of Trudeau's plans.

It's an old, tried-and-true strategy of dictators and autocrats, both of which class of world leaders Justin Trudeau has expressed a measure of admiration for; they deal abruptly and with finality with any who dare detract from their greatness. Vice-Admiral Norman's home was invaded by an RCMP investigative team on orders from the PMO. His home was ransacked, computers, thumb drives, documents, both professional and personal without differentiation, were hauled out of the home into RCMP possession.

Vice-Admiral Norman was left dangling for a year, with no charges levelled, simply accusations. Until finally, charges were finally laid, charging him with violating Cabinet confidences. Trudeau had, during a townhall meeting of questions and answers, been challenged by someone present over the year-long RCMP investigation of Norman, characterizing it as a "witch hunt". Trudeau's response to which was that the investigation would "inevitably" lead to "court processes", irrespective that this naval officer of stellar ranking hadn't been charged with a crime.

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman leaves court with his lawyer Marie Henein following a hearing in Ottawa, Tuesday September 4, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Norman's legal team brings up the simple fact that no evidence exists that he leaked cabinet documents. He had been busy doing his job, executing and overseeing that the orders of elected officials were followed, the while facing resistance from "several senior civil servants", one of whom was responsible for the leak, a government employee. A leak, furthermore when it was a reality that leaks of all kinds from government are business-as-usual, a situation rarely prosecuted.

The application also pointed out that an internal investigation by the Privy Council Office (which advises the PMO) had validated that at least 42 individuals knew of the planned cabinet committee discussion relating to the ship contract beforehand, and at least 73 people knew the results pertaining to the contract afterward, a rather large pool of potential suspects by any measure, yet it was the vice-admiral upon whom suspicion thudded with a vengeance.

In fact then-CBC journalist James Cudmore reported the delay planned of the contract Davie Shipbuilding had been awarded. The embarrassing publicity forced the government to reverse its intentions and proceed with the supply ship award.  Norman's defence, none other than Marie Heinen whose professionalism in criminal-defence trials is becoming legendary, believes that a senior civil servant with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency disclosed the cabinet documents at issue to a lobbyist who then fulfilled his obligations by passing them to Davie Shipyards.

Contained within the defence application is 52 requests for government disclosure on the basis that the documents thus far disclosed represent "selective evidence cherry-picked by the prosecution", and to properly defend their client, the defence requires "the full narrative of government activity as it pertained to the (ship contract)." The more that is revealed about this case and the absurdity of its ongoing persecution of a man whom colleagues hold as a professional in the highest esteem, the more is revealed about the persona of a nasty little man who just happens to be a prime minister of Canada.

A small group of protesters turned up outside the Ottawa courthouse on May 16, 2018 to show their support for Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, who was charged with one count of breach of trust in relation to a shipbuilding contract. (Murray Brewster/CBC News)