Norman trial set to take place during election
Vice-admiral’s court dates scheduled
OTTAWA • The criminal trial of the former secondhighest officer in Canada’s military, accused by the government of leaking cabinet secrets, is now set to take place during the next federal election campaign.
Dates for the trial were set Tuesday, as Vice-Admiral Mark Norman appeared at the Ottawa courthouse in full military uniform. Norman was suspended from duty as vice-chief of the defence staff in January 2017, and earlier this year the RCMP charged him with one count of breach of trust.
Norman’s supporters allege the government, embarrassed after media leaks in the fall of 2015 forced it to back off a plan to halt a contract for a naval supply ship, has made a scapegoat of the officer.
The trial, which could see the disclosure of sensitive cabinet documents and senior government and military officials testifying as witnesses, is scheduled to start on Aug. 19, 2019, and last seven to eight weeks, possibly with a week’s break in the middle. With the next federal election scheduled for Oct. 21, 2019, the trial could play out during the entire length of the campaign.
The timing of the trial came at the request of the defence, which is bringing pre-trial motions that will take place in shorter hearings in December and March. The first will deal with disclosure of thirdparty records, including from government departments. The second will be a motion to stay the proceedings.
Crown lawyer Jeannine Plamondon said the court had initially offered a trial date of May, but the defence requested more time for preparation and scheduling.
Asked if she preferred the later trial dates for their potentially greater political sensitivity, Marie Henein, lead counsel for Norman, said her request was simply about being fully prepared.
“I wanted it at a time where the disclosure motion and the other motion will be heard,” she said. “So that’s why it’s spaced out the way that it is.”
She declined to comment on how the election might affect the dynamics of the trial. “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask the prime minister about that,” she said.
The case will proceed in the Ontario Court of Justice, the lower provincial court. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled a person should be tried within 18 months of being charged in provincial court, and the scheduled dates put this trial near that limit. Henein warned Tuesday she won’t waive Norman’s right to a timely trial because of government delays in providing disclosure.
There is still an unsolved issue around the disclosure of cabinet confidences, Henein said, which are documents the government has the right to keep secret. She has requested the government waive its secrecy privilege to allow all such documents to be shared fully with the defence, but has not yet received a response.
“The privilege rests with the government to waive the cabinet confidence, not just the ones that they would like us to know about,” she said. “And it’s quite an extraordinary prosecution where really the complainant’s deciding what we get to look at, what’s important and what’s not.”
Speaking to media outside the courthouse, Norman thanked the “literally thousands of Canadians” who have supported him and expressed relief that dates are now set to resolve the matter.
“This has been a really difficult time, and it’s going to continue to be a real challenge, and I just want everybody to know how much that support means to me and my family,” he said.
The case against Norman, 54, centres on a Nov. 19, 2015 meeting of cabinet ministers about Project Resolve, in which the Quebec firm Davie Shipbuilding was contracted to convert a commercial vessel, the Asterix, into a supply ship for use by the Royal Canadian Navy.
Cabinet decided to delay Project Resolve after receiving a letter from Davie’s East Coast rival, Irving Shipbuilding. Though the Irving family is considered to have close ties to Justin Trudeau’s governing Liberals, Irving has consistently denied allegations it has been involved in any political efforts to undercut a rival shipyard.
Details about the government’s decision to pause the project leaked to the media, and the resulting controversy forced the Liberals to back down. The conversion of the Asterix went ahead on time and on budget, and the ship is currently sailing with Royal Canadian Navy warships in the Pacific.
Though Norman did not attend the cabinet meeting, the RCMP’s searches of electronic devices and computers at Davie showed he had exchanged emails on the subject with one of the company’s officials.
Norman has said he did nothing wrong, and he is expected to enter a plea of not guilty.
THIS HAS BEEN A REALLY DIFFICULT TIME, AND IT’S GOING TO CONTINUE TO BE A REAL CHALLENGE ...