Trudeau's Petty Vindictiveness

"Don't worry, this isn't our first rodeo. We made sure we never used his name. Send back the nil return [access to information request]."
"He seemed proud to provide that response."
"It just doesn't seem right, the way the whole situation played out, when I was thinking back about it."
"I just wanted to make it known, whether it's relevant or not."
Witness for the defence; name protected

"In spite of the fact that I believe my view is clear, I continue to receive enquiries about my position regarding cabinet confidences pertaining to my government as relates to the case involving
Admiral Norman."
"As I recently indicated publicly, I do not assert cabinet confidence for documents relevant to this proceeding."
Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman's lawyers are accusing the federal government of obfuscation after obtaining an email from former prime minister Stephen Harper confirming he has no objection to releasing secret documents relevant to the case. Vice Admiral Mark Norman arrives to the Ottawa Courthouse in Ottawa on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. Photo: Sean Kilpatrick

"The passive position taken by the Crown throughout this investigation and throughout this application in my respectful submission, is profoundly concerning. [It represents evidence of] obfuscation and gamesmanship [on the part of the Crown]."
"How extraordinary that Vice-Admiral Norman after three years, three years of this investigation, that it is his counsel that has to try to unravel this, that has to try to bring the relevant information before this honourable court."
"To suggest this isn't obfuscation and gamesmanship, when we directly asked again and again [about both the Harper waiver and the government's position on cabinet confidence] they [the government] have refused to answer that question since July."
"After three and a half years, how is it that his counsel has to try to unravel this? And this is the tip of the iceberg."
Marie Henein, counsel for the defence of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman

Mark Norman with his lawyer Marie Henein in September 2018. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press/File

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman who until the RCMP was requested to investigate him for leaking secret government information, was the second in command of the Canadian Armed Forces, has faced an uphill battle to defend himself against the single charge that has ruined his career and blemished his otherwise extraordinary reputation. The charge the Trudeau government has laid against him is a single count of criminal breach of trust relating to the iAOR -- the interim Auxiliary Oil Replenishment vessel for the Canadian navy.

That vessel is a floating energy source for Canadian warships. The Navy once had two in operation, so old and decrepit they were finally decommissioned. The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in recognition of the urgency of such a supply ship had put into motion a temporary replacement until new supply ships could be built. Davie Shipyards in Quebec was given the contract. But when the Trudeau government succeeded the Harper government one of the first things done was to place the contract on hold when a Vancouver shipyard lobbied new government Treasury Board President Scott Brison (a Vancouver M.P.) to cancel with Davie and award the contract to Irving Shipbuilding.

It was Brison's intervention and Trudeau's intention to cancel the Davie Shipyards contract that was leaked to a CBC journalist and to Davie by any number of sources who had access to that information that the Privy Council Office was aware of. The public learned of the expense involved in the contract's cancellation and was not pleased. The result was that the Trudeau government was intent on using Vice-Admiral Norman as a target for punishment for embarrassing the Prime Minister into making good on the Davie contract once the scandal was publicly aired.

Vice-Admiral Norman's lawyers have been frustrated in their attempts to have government files released to them in their defence of the man's innocence of the charge brought against an honourable public servant. Where government lawyers have interfered with normal defence access to witnesses and failing to disclose records useful to his defence. Out of the blue two witnesses for the defence have presented themselves. One, a former analyst at the Privy Council Office who routinely took notes of meetings between the PCO and the office of the Prime Minister (PMO) which it advises.

"I think these notes would be relevant to your defence. I brought them to the attention of the government, and I understand that they will be provided to you. But I wanted to make sure", Melissa Burke wrote to the Vice-Admiral's lawyers. Well, the PMO did have the notes but had no intention of sending them over to the defence. And though most background information requested by the defence dates from the Harper government era, the current government, citing security issues, has stalled on releasing them, even though Prime Minister Harper is in support of his government's documents' release.

Another witness that turned up was a member of the Canadian Forces known as "Witness A", whose name has been withheld to avoid repercussions from government. He recounted how a smiling brigadier-general had him withhold documents relating to a request to release them to the defence. "We made sure we didn't use his (Norman's) name", he was told so the automatic file search would not identify the documents in question since his name had been absent on them. Consequently, lead counsel Marie Henein is now subpoenaing that brigadier-general, along with Chief of the Defence Staff Jonathan Vance and former deputy Department of National Defence minister John Forster.

And Ontario Court Judge Heather Perkins-McVey who is holding the relevant hearings, has commented on the new revelations brought before her as "Troubling. Very troubling".