NEW TWIST IN LEAK OF CABINET SECRETS

RCMP allegation may hurt case against Norman

The RCMP alleges that an employee in the federal government’s procurement department, one who has no links to the military’s nowsuspended former secondin- command, leaked sensitive information about Canada’s troubled shipbuilding program.

The individual works at Public Services and Procurement Canada, according to information gathered by the Ottawa Citizen. He has not been charged with any offence and remains on the job in Ottawa. The RCMP first revealed their suspicions about the individual in a passing reference contained in its application earlier this year for a warrant to search the home of Vice- Admiral Mark Norman and seize his electronic devices. The officer who swore the information included no other details about him.

But the employee’s alleged involvement in leaking information could undercut any case against Norman, suspended as vice- chief of the defence staff over similar allegations.

The RCMP claims Norman leaked sensitive information about the government’s shipbuilding program. It has not charged the senior naval officer, who maintains he is innocent. But the federal police force was warned on April 21 its claims that Norman i mproperly released information from a Liberal government cabinet meeting could be on shaky ground.

“To be found to have been the leak which breached cabinet confidentiality the remainder of the information loop must be found to have been airtight,” Ontario Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips wrote in a ruling in response to an application by a group of media organizations, including Postmedia, to make public the details of the search warrant. “Even if Vice- Admiral Norman was putting information into the public domain, that might not mean he was the first or only one to do so. If he was not the first, was he certainly breaching confidentiality?”

a local cat breeder has been fined $5,000 after 89 animals in poor health needed to be removed from a home. The agency said Ruth Sogz is also prohibited from owning cats beyond two that have been fixed so they can no longer breed. Sogz pleaded guilty to charges under the Animal Protection Act last week. Animal welfare officers were called to a home in April 2016. The senior manager of investigation, Brad Nichols, said officers found many Maine coon cats with severe respiratory conditions because of the amount of urine and feces that had built up. Nichols said about 60 of the cats had to be put down, while the remaining ones were put up for adoption