Top bureaucrats OK’d ship at heart of Norman case
Thumbs up from DND, PCO, Public Services
A plan to lease a supply ship for the Royal Canadian Navy, now the focus of the legal case against Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, received the blessing of the office that supports the prime minister after it determined Canada would be getting value for money on the deal.
The Privy Council Office, Department of National Defence and Public Services and Procurement Canada all approved the lease of a supply ship from Quebec-based Davie Shipbuilding and presented their endorsement to Liberal cabinet ministers at a meeting on Nov. 19, 2015, according to a federal government briefing made public last week as part of the release of court documents pertaining to Norman’s case.
The material, filed with the court by Norman’s lawyers in an effort to obtain other documents held by the government, reveal for the first time details of the battle within the government and bureaucracy over the Canadian navy’s quest to get a much-needed vessel to refuel its warships at sea.
Norman was removed from his post as second-incommand of the Canadian Forces in January 2017 after the government asked the RCMP to investigate what it alleged was a leak of confidential information about the shipbuilding project. He was charged earlier this year with one count of breach of trust, but has maintained his innocence. His trial is scheduled for next summer.
The RCMP allege Norman, also formerly the head of the navy, championed Davie’s proposal to provide such a ship and provided the firm’s officials with information about Liberal government plans to delay the deal.
Assorted documents released Friday point out the Davie plan originated with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, which pushed for the lease to proceed and ordered changes to contracting regulations to allow that to happen.
After the Liberals were elected to government in the fall of 2015, the PCO, which supports the prime minister’s office, produced a briefing for new ministers which pointed out that the Davie deal was unorthodox, as it was a sole-source contract. “That said PCO is of the view that PSP (Public Services and Procurement) and DND have put appropriate risk mitigation measures in place to ensure that Canada is getting adequate value for money, and that risk and liability issues are appropriately shared between the government and the contractor,” the briefing said.
The court documents also provide a more detailed account of Treasury Board President Scott Brison’s activities around cabinet committee discussions on the supply ship, and some of his concerns about the deal.
Norman’s defence team has singled Brison out as the Liberal minister most responsible for trying to put the Davie project on hold. Norman’s lawyers argue they need more documents to show whether Brison was swayed by lobbying from Davie’s rival, Irving Shipbuilding.
Irving had sent a letter to Brison and other ministers requesting the new government reconsider their own supply ship proposal, which had already been rejected. Irving has consistently denied any attempt to undercut its rivals via political interference.
Witness statements to the RCMP show Brison took the lead in questioning the Davie project. A Privy Council official, Les Linklater, told police he chalked it up to the fact Brison was one of the most experienced ministers in the new government, and knew a lot about procurement from his earlier stint as public works minister in the Paul Martin government.
Brison highlighted the Irving letter to his cabinet colleagues. “I said, 'You know, has anyone considered this?'" Brison told the RCMP. “And I expected (Judy Foote, at the time the federal procurement minister, and defence minister Harjit Sajjan) to come back and say, 'Well actually we received that,' and they had not been made aware of it.”
Brison told the RCMP the other ministers may not have seen the letter due to understaffing in their offices so soon after the election. “But I do find it curious that their departments having received a letter like that would not have made their ministers aware,” he added.
In 2014 the Canadian navy decided to remove its existing aging supply ships from service. Without a replacement it had to limit operations or rely on arrangements with allies such as the U.S., Spain and Chile to refuel Canadian warships at sea.
The Privy Council Office briefing noted the Davie proposal was more than what the navy was asking for but it “would offer Canada greater flexibility when responding to domestic or international events.”
That memo in support of the Davie deal stands in contrast to the statement government official Melissa Burke gave to the RCMP officers investigating Norman. She said the Clerk of the Privy Council “strongly disliked” the Davie proposal. Burke, a defence analyst at PCO, also noted that Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson didn’t sign off on the supply ship proposal sent to the Conservative government. In addition, Burke stated that Pat Finn, the procurement chief at DND, “was very unhappy and against this project.”
The Davie supply ship was delivered on time and on budget and has been refuelling Canadian and allied warships for almost a year.