Norman probe transferred to Halifax
Mounties reinterviewing federal staff
RCMP officers are reinterviewing some federal employees regarding the alleged leak of sensitive cabinet information that saw Vice-Admiral Mark Norman suspended a year ago from his role as second-incommand of the Canadian Forces, Postmedia has learned.
The Mounties’ renewed efforts on the file come as responsibility for making a potential case against Norman has been transferred from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada’s Ottawa office to a team in Halifax.
Norman was suspended from his job as vice-chief of the defence staff more than a year ago after the RCMP alleged he informed Davie Shipbuilding that the Liberal government was going to delay a program that would see the Quebec firm convert a commercial ship into a supply vessel for the Royal Canadian Navy.
Sources close to the matter told Postmedia the case has been transferred from Ottawa to the PPSC’s Halifax office, but it is unclear why. Nathalie Houle, a spokeswoman for the public prosecution service, told Postmedia the organization cannot discuss any potential investigation or prosecution unless or until charges are laid. “However, in general, it is not unusual for the PPSC to have a litigation team composed of prosecutors from more than one region,” she said.
No charges have been laid against anybody involved in the matter, and Norman has denied any wrongdoing.
The RCMP have declined to comment, but sources told Postmedia the police force turned the evidence it had gathered in the matter over to public prosecutors last summer. The Mounties had interviewed more than 30 individuals in both the defence industry and the federal government, including several cabinet ministers. They have also executed nine search warrants in the course of the investigation, including on Norman’s Ottawa-area home, and have seized a number of electronic devices and extensive email correspondence.
Investigators conducted another round of interviews in December. However, Norman himself has still never been interviewed by the RCMP, sources said. Norman declined Postmedia’s request for comment.
The case centres around a Nov. 19, 2015 cabinet meeting in which ministers decided to delay Project Resolve. Details about the delay leaked quickly to both Davie and the news media. Amid the fallout, the government backed down on its plans — but, furious about the leak, the government called in the RCMP, who eventually focused on Norman.
Though Norman wasn’t at the cabinet meeting, searches of electronic devices and computers at Davie showed he had exchanged emails with a company official.
Based on the RCMP’s allegations, which have not been tested in court, Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance suspended Norman in January 2017.
In examining the public release of documents related to the Norman case, Ontario Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips noted in a 2017 ruling on an application by a group of media outlets — including Postmedia — to unseal the information used to obtain the search warrant for Norman’s home that it was not unusual for the viceadmiral to be communicating with the company since it was involved in the ship project.
Ottawa lawyer Michel Drapeau, who is not involved in the Norman case, told Postmedia it is not unusual for responsibility for a case to be transferred to another prosecutor’s office. It could be a result of a conflict of interest in the Ottawa office, or due to the presence of prosecutors in the Halifax office with relevant experience or specialization, said Drapeau, a retired colonel in the Canadian Forces.
It is unclear how long the investigation will go on.
Last February, Norman’s lawyer Marie Henein issued a statement calling for an “objective investigation” to be concluded quickly. But weeks later Prime Minister Justin Trudeau predicted that Norman was going to trial.
The comments alarmed Norman’s supporters who have raised questions about whether the prime minister’s office is involved in the prosecution.
Postmedia asked the PMO to explain where Trudeau received his information the case was going to trial, and whether the office had had other interactions on the Norman matter. The PMO would not comment.