Crucifying an Honourable Man

"I am confident that at all times I acted with integrity, I acted ethically, and I acted in the best interest of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Forces, and ultimately the people of Canada."
"I'm obviously pleased with the Crown's decision to withdraw the charges against me."
"While I am relieved to be exonerated of any wrong-doing, I am disappointed it has taken this long. The alarming and protracted bias of perceived guilt across the senior levels of government has been quite damaging, and the emotional and financial impacts of this entire ordeal have taken their toll."
Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, former second-in-command of Canadian Armed Forces

"Vice-Admiral Norman, you entered a plea of not guilty."
"You are presumed to be innocent, and  you remain so. You are free to leave."
Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey, Ottawa

"No person should walk into a courtroom fighting their elected government of any sort of political factors."
"The government has been at the table. They've been at the table with seven or eight lawyers from the Justice Department. The charges were referred by the [Privy Council Office], the PCO is the holder of records ... to this day, because of the position taken by the PMO [Prime Minister's Office] and PCO."
"To say there was an interest [from political government] in this case puts it mildly; the people standing in the way of ... full disclosure was the government."
"What you don't do is, you don't put a finger and try to weigh in on the scales of justice."
Marie Heinen, Admiral Norman defence team

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman and his lawyer Marie Henein: Norman left an Ottawa courtroom free and vowing to return to duty after federal Crown prosecutors stayed their breach-of-trust case against the military's former second-in-command.  (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

"This new information definitely provided greater context to the conduct of Vice-Admiral Norman, and it revealed a number of complexities in the process that we were not aware of."
"Based on the new information we have come to the conclusion that given the particular situation involving Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, there is no reasonable prospect of conviction in this case."
Barbara Mercier, Crown prosecutor 

It is an open secret and always has been that because the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau felt embarrassed by its clumsy interference in a matter of military procurement of a naval supply ship when in 2015 the Liberal government followed the previous Conservative government by immediately taking steps to reverse all decisions made by their predecessors. a spirit of vengeful spite led the Prime Minister's Office under Trudeau's direction to find and to prosecute whoever they assumed had leaked confidential Cabinet information to a news source.

That the PCO had determined at least six people privy to what had been discussed; a second-thought on proceeding with an already-signed contract to convert a ship to supply capacity by a Montreal shipyard to contracting instead with an East coast shipyard, absorbing a $68-million penalty in the process, did not stop the wheels turning to have the RCMP look into Justin Trudeau's certainty that then-second-in-command of the Canadian military, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, had improperly given secret Cabinet data to alert the Montreal shipyard.

Information that leaked into the public realm when a news source made it public, embarrassing the government so that it had little option but to proceed with the original contract which was delivered on price and on time. What then ensued was a prolonged targeting of Vice-Admiral Norman whose home was invaded by RCMP officers who confiscated all computers, hard drives, files and other material, including personal items, to aid in their 'investigation. Norman was relieved of his position and placed on hold.

His commanding officer, Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance rather than defending his second-in-command appears to have lent himself to the removal of Norman, an act of betrayal hitherto unknown in the Canadian military command. In lock-step with the actions of the Prime Minister of Canada who forecasted a full year before Vice-Admiral Norman was formally charged, that a trial would be forthcoming. Norman declared his innocence to little avail; he was left dangling in the wind for a full year, uncertain of what was happening, distraught at his unforeseen situation.

He had the good sense to hire one of Canada's foremost lawyers in Marie Henein whose past clients have been similarly high-profile personalities, albeit not always sympathetic public figures. She set about putting government on notice that she would require files and records, including Norman's own, to be able to properly represent him in court. In response to which, military command, the PCO and the PMO did their best to obfuscate and demur, dragging their heels in producing relevant files to enable the defence.

It was patently clear over the past year in preparation for the defence of Vice-Admiral Norman that his law team was being blocked from access to significant material that would prove his innocence of the absurd charges. "He has always maintained his innocence from the beginning, and as I hope is clear in the conduct of this case, we were prepared to fight right to the end to establish it. He did nothing inappropriate, he did nothing criminal", stated Ms. Henein, after the Crown withdrew its charge.

The military, which had deigned not to pay Vice-Admiral Norman's mounting legal expenses, as is regularly done in support of their own, now announced that it was prepared to cover those expenses. A retired general who had run in the 2015 election as a Liberal notified Justin Trudeau of his intention to act as a witness on behalf of Norman. Another officer currently in the military testified that he witnessed deliberate obstruction by senior officers in providing necessary files for the Norman defence.

The entire affair of Justin Trudeau's petty vindictive interference in the Public Prosecutorial Service in the previous case of SNC Lavalin, played out like a Tin Pot Dictatorship. This Liberal government has been an absolute disgrace, an embarrassment to the people of Canada, and a hindrance to advancing Canadian interests both domestically and abroad.