Norman’s lawyers continue to fight for secret documents

OTTAWA — Lawyers for Vice-Admiral Mark Norman and the federal government argued Wednesday over the words of Canada’s top bureaucrat during the SNC-Lavalin affair as the suspended military officer’s team pressed for access to secret government emails and memos.

At issue is whether Michael Wernick, the outgoing clerk of the Privy Council, waived solicitorclient privilege on some of those documents — and thus opened the door to Norman’s lawyers seeing them — when he testified before a Commons’ committee in February.

During an appearance to address allegations of political interference in a criminal prosecution against SNC-Lavalin, Wernick at one point told the justice committee he decided to have the courts decide whether to release thousands of cabinet documents requested by Norman’s lawyers.

Previous to that decision in October 2018, it was believed the government would invoke a special legal provision and refuse any court requests for the documents, which Norman’s team say they need to prove his innocence.

“I made the decision, of my own volition, with my own authority, that the easiest way to deal with the Norman matter was to let the judge decide what was relevant,” Wernick said on Feb. 21.

Norman’s lawyers argued Wednesday that the comment amounted to a waiver of solicitor-client privilege, meaning emails and memos related to that decision should be released even though the government says they contain legal advice and should be kept secret.

His legal team believes those documents and others the government is trying to keep secret will prove Norman’s case has been tainted by political interference and boost defence efforts to get the breach-of-trust charge tossed out.