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Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial

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Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial Empty Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial

Post by Trooper Fri 12 Jan 2018, 7:19 pm

MAN OVERBOARD


Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial Na0111_mark_norman_2500_face_mf


Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was second-in-command of the Canadian Forces until an RCMP investigation cost him his job. A year later, no charges have been laid, but Norman remains in limbo

David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen
National Post
Jan 12, 2018


It was a chilly -11 C in the nation’s capital last November as thousands gathered at the National War Memorial to remember the sacrifice of Canada’s veterans. Defence minister Harjit Sajjan and veterans affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan, the government’s main representatives at the ceremony, stood at the front of the crowd along with rows of aging veterans, some in wheelchairs. The new governor general, Julie Payette, accompanied Diana Abel, that year’s Silver Cross Mother, representing all those in Canada who’d lost children in the line of duty. With Prime Minster Justin Trudeau at a summit in Asia, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau represented him among the many dignitaries who laid wreaths just steps from Parliament Hill.

Twenty kilometres away, in the east-end Ottawa suburb of Orléans, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman stood quietly somewhere among a much smaller crowd.

An hour earlier, he had dressed in his naval uniform, put on his many medals and made his way to the Orléans Cenotaph near his home. He was relatively anonymous among the Remembrance Day crowd gathered outside the local Legion branch, watching an RCMP pipe band lead a parade of veterans and other marchers to the cenotaph, observing the minute of silence and listening as a bugler played The Last Post. When the ceremony was over Norman left quietly, melting away with the rest of the onlookers.

For the past several years Norman had been part of the official federal government ceremony commemorating the fallen. But not on this day, and perhaps not ever again.

The second-in-command of the Canadian Armed Forces until a year ago, Norman is now persona non grata at the Ottawa headquarters of the Department of National Defence. He has spent the last twelve months under a cloud of suspicion created by as-yet unsubstantiated RCMP claims that he breached the public trust and provided allegedly secret information to a company the federal government had hired to provide a supply ship to the Royal Canadian Navy.

While Norman stood in the crowd at the Orléans cenotaph, 440 kilometres away at Quebec City the supply ship at the heart of the controversy, the MV Asterix, was being prepared for its sea trials in Gaspé Bay, having been delivered on time and on budget — an extreme rarity in the world of Canadian military procurement.

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial Mark-norman-gg
Then-Governor General David Johnston bestows the honour of Commander of the Order of Military Merit to Mark Norman in recognition of his exceptional service on March 5, 2013.

A federal judge has pointed out there has been no suggestion that Norman received monetary compensation, or any other “personal advantage,” for what he is alleged to have done. Hundreds of pages of documents offering insight into the RCMP’s investigation of Norman, unsealed last year after a court challenge by media organizations including Postmedia, offer no challenge to his apparent motivation: to ensure that, in the face of political considerations and procurement uncertainties, the navy actually received a vessel it sorely needed.

These days the 54-year-old Norman spends most of his time at his home in Orléans. While he is still receiving his military salary, his life is on hold. A year ago the RCMP removed from that home thousands of documents — including many with no conceivable connection to the Asterix, like family photos and medical information about Norman’s wife, Beverly. Due to have been returned to the Normans by Jan. 9 of this year, the RCMP recently sought and were granted an extension to keep hold of the material for another 60 days.

Norman has still never officially been provided the reasoning for his unprecedented removal as vice-chief of the defence staff. He has never received a military hearing on the matter, and there has been no independent examination of the facts of his case.

Though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly and boldly predicted Norman would end up in court, the claims made against the sailor have not been tested by a judge or jury. At this point, it is unclear whether they ever will be.

According to sources close to the case, the RCMP presented the evidence it has gathered in the Norman matter to the federal prosecutor’s office last summer; however, the federal prosecutor has laid no charges against Norman or anybody else in relation to this evidence, and the case remains open.

How did the second-in-command of the Canadian Forces end up in limbo for a year, with no end in sight? While Norman declined to comment for this article, Postmedia has compiled this account of events from court records, from documents obtained through the Access to Information law and from a series of interviews with multiple sources in the Department of National Defence, in the defence industry and involved in or with knowledge of the Norman case.

Supply ships may be the least glamorous vessels in the fleet, but they’re critical to the functioning of a proper navy. They make sure warships have enough fuel, food and ammunition to continue operating, and without them, a maritime force is limited in how far from its country’s shores it can travel.

The Royal Canadian Navy had been trying to replace its two aging supply ships since 1999, but those efforts kept failing, victims of a lack of political will and of Canada’s infamously ineffective military equipment procurement system.

A replacement program under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin had gone nowhere. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives tried again in 2006, an effort that flopped within two years. In 2011 the Conservatives launched a new attempt under what they called the National Shipbuilding Strategy, selecting Seaspan Shipyards in Vancouver to build two replacements.

But those vessels would be years away from service. Even as the Conservatives made their latest attempt to solve the navy’s supply problems, behind the scenes Mark Norman was warning politicians the government’s shipbuilding plan was sailing into stormy waters.

Norman comes from a military family. His father had been an army major-general, but the younger Norman had been drawn to the sea and joined the naval reserves in 1980, when he was 17. Trained as a diesel mechanic he transferred to the regular naval force five years later, building an unblemished military career over more than three decades that saw him decorated many times over. In 2003 he was given command of HMCS St. John’s, a Halifax-class frigate; six years later he was named commander of Canada’s Atlantic fleet. In June 2011 he was promoted to deputy commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, and two years later he had command of the service.

When Norman was appointed to lead the navy it was in dire straits, as the vice-admiral would warn in a 2014 naval business plan which Postmedia obtained via an Access to Information request. “Limited resources, financial and human, and competing priorities continue to test our ability to most effectively and efficiently deliver our mandate,” he wrote. “I have made and will continue to make, some very difficult decisions over the short term to effectively rebalance the resources assigned to Coastal Formations.”

One of those difficult decisions came in late 2014 when Norman ordered the removal from service of the navy’s only two supply vessels. HMCS Protecteur was a burned-out hulk after being crippled by a fire earlier that year. HMCS Preserver, more than 40 years old, had become unsafe to operate because it was literally rusting away.

Vice-Admiral (retired) Peter Cairns, another former head of the Canadian Navy, would point out in a 2015 essay that the loss of the ships “effectively reduced the navy to a well-armed coast guard; unable to form a task group without the assistance of foreign nations.”

Norman laid it on the line for MPs during a November 2014 meeting of the House of Commons committee on national defence. “The retirement of current refuellers and the delay in the construction of Joint Support Ships have led to capacity issues, which have a ripple effect,” he said. “Owing to the capacity issues, Canada is unable to support and maintain those ships at sea if it needs to deploy them elsewhere.”

Canada’s navy was put in the embarrassing position of having to strike a deal with Chile and Spain, two nations willing to lease some of their supply ships to Canada, but only for short periods.

In January 2015, the federal government approved a new plan that could provide at least a temporary solution — it would lease a supply ship from a private firm. Proposals for such a stop-gap measure were received from Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax, Seaspan in Vancouver and Davie Shipbuilding in Levis, Que.

Considerations both practical and political led the Conservatives to choose the Davie proposal.

The Irving family’s pitch was rejected for a variety of reasons, including concerns their shipyard wouldn’t be able to work quickly enough, according to RCN officers. There was also the view that Irving, which under the National Shipbuilding Strategy had already been selected to build the bulk of the RCN’s future fleet, had more than enough work to last their Halifax yard for decades.

Seaspan’s proposal was rejected because of concerns the yard was failing behind in the work it had already been given — commissions to build two new supply ships, a Polar-class icebreaker and four coast guard ships were already behind schedule.

The Davie proposal was attractive politically to the Conservatives as the shipyard was located in the riding of Conservative cabinet minister Steven Blaney. With the country about to go into a federal election, the Conservatives hoped to deal with the navy’s supply ship problem while potentially getting votes in Quebec by providing work to a shipyard that had been passed over for work on the federal shipbuilding program.

Dubbed Project Resolve, the deal was a gamble for Davie. The project was valued at $670 million and would see Davie and its affiliates buy a vessel — a commercial container ship launched in 2009 called the Asterix, owned at the time by a Greek shipping concern and sailing under a Liberian flag — converting it into a supply ship to the navy’s specifications, providing a civilian crew for five years and maintaining the ship over the same period. However, Davie would receive no money until it delivered the ship to the government. What’s more, the Asterix was considered only an “interim” supply vessel, so the deal offered the Quebec yard only a limited role in federal shipbuilding.

Nonetheless, the Conservatives’ deal ruffled feathers in the country’s shipbuilding industry and in some corners of the federal bureaucracy. According to industry and government sources, neither Irving nor Seaspan was happy at the decision to give work to a rival shipyard, one they saw as a potential threat to their hold on future government work. Some federal bureaucrats also saw the Davie deal as a threat to the federal shipbuilding strategy, according to documents Postmedia obtained via Access to Information, and voiced concern within government that Davie’s role needed to be limited.

On the first day of August, 2015, Jason Kenney, the defence minister of the day, announced the government had signed a letter of intent with Davie for the interim supply ship project. Shortly thereafter, Norman began regular email communication with Spencer Fraser, a former RCN officer who headed Federal Fleet, the Davie affiliate that would oversee Project Resolve.

In Canada’s small and tightly knit defence community, it’s common for senior military leaders to be in touch with the industry officials whose firms provide the Canadian Forces with equipment. Norman and Fraser had served together and had known each other socially, meeting from time to time over the years. After Fraser left the navy for an industry job, Norman continued periodic communications with him, as he had done with other navy officers and former colleagues who went into the private sector. That communication had ceased during the selection process for the interim supply ship, according to industry sources, because of Fraser’s involvement with an active bid.

When in the summer of 2015 the two men resumed their correspondence — later collected by the RCMP and used to support a sworn information to obtain a search warrant for Norman’s home — many of Norman’s initial emails reassured Fraser that those in government understood the importance of the project. Though Davie had purchased the Asterix, which arrived at the company’s Quebec yard in early October 2015, and though several hundred workers were standing by to begin conversion of the vessel, the country was in the middle of a federal election and the crucial next phase of the project — the government approving the conversion — was for the time being in political limbo.

On Oct. 8, Fraser emailed Norman to give him an update on the project. He outlined the type of communications gear to be used on the Asterix, the up-front engineering costs and the price tag for the crew and the vessel lease as well as the annual maintenance costs. Fraser told Norman he had met with the NDP, who had voiced support for Project Resolve. With the Liberals edging towards forming a new government, Fraser also said he planned to meet party officials to “confirm their support.” Norman sent him an encouraging email, pointing out that there was consistent support within the federal government for the ship.

On Oct. 15 Canadians elected a Liberal majority, sending the Conservatives, who had instigated Project Resolve, to the opposition benches. But neither in the navy nor in the federal bureaucracy was the change in government seen as a stumbling block for the project. During the campaign the Liberals had promised to rebuild the military and reinvigorate shipbuilding. Project Resolve would seem to help them deliver on both of those promises. “My sense is that there is little risk of the contract not being supported,” Norman reassured Fraser.

Davie was also promoting the Resolve-class as able to take on humanitarian missions, a specific area of interest for the Liberals. Norman pointed out to Fraser that strategy not only made sense but that it kept “the heat on,” presumably a reference to ensuring that Resolve continued to move forward.

But several weeks later the situation changed. On Nov. 15 Fraser was informed that a member of CFN Consultants, an Ottawa lobbying firm affiliated with one of the Irvings’ partner companies, was predicting that Project Resolve was doomed.

Two days later, a letter from James D. Irving landed on the desks of four members of the new Liberal cabinet: Sajjan, finance minister Bill Morneau, and two politicians from Atlantic Canada, procurement minister Judy Foote and Treasury Board president Scott Brison.

In his letter, Irving accused the previous federal government of having pursued a sole-source deal with Davie, and claimed his company’s competing proposal was never properly evaluated — a situation he now wanted the ministers to rectify.

The government’s reaction to the missive from the powerful Irving family was swift.

The next day Privy Council Office officials had a teleconference with DND procurement staff, asking them who, other than Davie, might be able to provide the navy with an interim supply ship.

That same day — Nov. 18, 2015 — Norman emailed the country’s top soldier, Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance, to tell him about the questions being posed by the Privy Council Office. Such queries were not totally unexpected given that a new government was now in place, Norman acknowledged. “Equally, however, this could be concerning — it took us almost 18 months to get to this point,” Norman wrote to Vance. “Perhaps you can mention to MND.”

At Davie, company officials and their lobbyists tried to figure out what was happening. They had compiled their own document outlining the value of Project Resolve and planned to send it to various ministers. In particular, they wanted to concentrate on Brison, who they saw as a potential threat to the project since he appeared to be the one raising the most questions about the deal.

Brian Mersereau, a big player at Davie’s lobbying firm, Hill + Knowlton, suggested going to the news media to put pressure on Jean-Yves Duclos, the Liberal MP whose riding was closest to the Davie yard. In addition, Mersereau recommended that Davie warn officials in the Quebec government about the potential threat to Project Resolve — and the implied threat to jobs in the province — so they too could raise their concerns with Trudeau’s office.

A federal cabinet committee met the next day. Norman didn’t attend as he and Vance were in Halifax for a security conference, but sources told Postmedia that defence department deputy minister John Forster and Lt.-Gen. Guy Thibault, then vice-chief of the defence staff and second-in-command of the Canadian Forces, were at the meeting. The outcome: a cabinet decision to put Project Resolve on hold for at least two months.

Cabinet’s decision to delay Project Resolve sparked a flurry of emails. In the navy, some worried that a temporary delay turn into an indefinite delay and eventually allow the program to be scuttled. The Liberals didn’t have a good track record on military procurement; Prime Minister Jean Chretien had cancelled a naval helicopter program in 1993, and 24 years later the Canadian Forces was still waiting for replacement aircraft. Those concerns were even more pronounced on the industry side, where huge sums of money were at stake.

On Nov. 19, 2015 Fraser emailed Alex Vicefield, head of Inocea, an international shipping conglomerate that owns Davie, as well as John Schmidt, a Davie official. The subject line read, “From Mark.” The email contained lines regarding Project Resolve, contained in quotation marks. “Most positive interpretation could be govt just unsure and asking questions; cynical view could be folks manipulating new govt to try to kill it. Not sure what the truth is.” (All emails in this story are quoted as they were written.)

Fraser also told the Davie executives that then-CBC journalist James Cudmore had heard rumours about the Irving letter from somewhere inside the government. “So this could get interesting,” Fraser added.

The same day Fraser sent another email to Vicefield with the subject, “From our friend.”

It contained a statement in quotations: “I can tell you that Irving did stick their nose into this and sent a letter to multiple ministers (incl Brison) a couple of days ago that no doubt contributed to the problem.”

That evening Vicefield received a phone call from public works deputy minister George Da Pont and Gavin Liddy, the associate deputy minister at the department.

On the call, pre-approved by the Privy Council Office, the bureaucrats informed Vicefield that cabinet had concerns over Project Resolve and wanted more information before they made a decision. Could Vicefield’s company extend the deal a “couple of months” to accommodate the ministers?

Officials at Davie saw the delay as a scheme hatched by Brison on behalf of the Irvings. (In statements to Postmedia, Irving has vehemently denied any involvement in the Norman matter or any attempt at political meddling.) Others also apparently saw Brison as the main instigator. Fraser would later tell Vicefield that former Conservative defence minister Peter MacKay “really let Brison have it” over the delay when he saw the Treasury Board president during a security conference in Halifax.

“Peter McKay (sic) told Brison to get his head out (of) his ass….not sure it helped but at least he did it,” Fraser wrote.

On the night of Nov. 19, Vicefield sent an email to company executives and lobbyists. Brison’s desire for a review of Project Resolve was strange, he said, as the deal had already been reviewed numerous times by independent agencies brought in by the federal government. And the Inocea CEO was ready to play hardball.

“If it does transpire to be that, I will do a full page plea in the Globe and Mail to Scott Brison asking that this Nova Scotia minister put his regional bias aside for matters of national security. …then I will lay off 400 guys next week.”

Early in the morning of Nov. 20, Norman sent an email to Fraser telling him that CBC reporter Cudmore had somehow obtained a copy of the Irving letter, “which shows they have been interfering.”

Norman was unhappy with the development. “Irving could trace letter to me…assholes…they couldn’t just leave it alone,” Norman added. “Greedy and self-serving.”

At 5:34 a.m. ET that morning the CBC published an article by Cudmore, revealing a cabinet committee had decided to delay Project Resolve for two months. Cudmore also reported that Irving had meddled in the decision by sending letters to cabinet ministers.

That evening Norman emailed Fraser to tell him that Trudeau’s office and the Privy Council Office were “having kittens over references to explicit cabinet discussions in Cudmore article. Launching an investigation…UFB.”

“They’ll all be distracted from the actual capability gap as they execute a which (sic) hunt for who quoted who…..sigh.”

Fraser informed Norman that Davie was preparing to turn up the pressure. The company was going to inform Quebec premier Philippe Couillard that the shipyard would be closed and 1,200 people would be laid off, and that the company planned to sue the federal government.

The plan made sense, Norman replied. He also noted that Irving officials had apologized to him, presumably for sending the letter to the cabinet ministers. “I played nice but knew there were BS’ing me…its personal and vindictive,” Norman wrote.

Later that day, Norman emailed a retired naval officer lamenting what he called Irving’s “intervention” in the supply ship project. The situation, the vice-admiral said, was demoralizing. “They actually could care less about the work, they just (want) to block Davie from getting it!”

In Norman’s view, the delay would put the defence capabilities of the country and the welfare of his sailors at risk. Norman would later tell the same retired officer he was ready to resign over the delay on Project Resolve. “The blatant politics of this (and too many other similar files) is just beyond what should be reasonable,” he explained. “People just don’t give a shit and it actually hurts.”

On Nov. 23, Fraser emailed Vicefield and Schmidt to inform them that Seaspan — the west coast shipyard that was to build two new supply ships for the navy — had sent a letter of their own to the Liberal government, pointing out that they too had proposed an interim ship but were rejected.

Fraser would later send another email with the subject line, “From our friend.”

It read: “Fucking Seaspan just sent a letter to the same folks as Irving (they cc’ed me so I can’t do anything with it.).”

But Fraser had a plan. He suggested talking to Cudmore and then-Postmedia columnist Michael Den Tandt about the latest development, as well as informing the website iPolitics.

The next day Fraser received a copy of the Seaspan letter, which another naval officer had forwarded to the Project Resolve team.

On Nov. 25, both Cudmore and Den Tandt published articles about the Seaspan letter, in which the shipyard claimed its interim supply ship proposal was not properly considered.

That evening, CBC also published another article by Cudmore about the ballooning costs of the federal government’s shipbuilding strategy, citing briefing materials, which had been classified as secret, presented to Sajjan and Foote earlier that month.

Fraser was very pleased with the new article. “Shock and awe baby!,” he wrote to Norman.

But the vice-admiral wasn’t impressed. “He’s (Cudmore) going to draw some really aggressive attention,” Norman wrote. “The source of that document will be investigated by the RCMP and anyone associated with him will be part of their search. This is serious shit.” (Cudmore, now a senior advisor to defence minister Sajjan, declined to comment for this story.)

The leak did its job.

Couillard phoned Trudeau to tell the prime minster the delay was unacceptable and was putting Quebec jobs at risk. The Shipbuilding Association of Canada released a statement questioning the Liberal decision, pointing out Davie won the project after an “exhaustive industry solicitation process” and questioning whether Irving and Seaspan, who were working on other federal vessels, had the capacity to take on a new project.

Trudeau found himself taking questions from journalists about what he would do about the potential layoffs at Davie because of his government’s decision.

Behind the scenes, the Liberal government was furious. The RCMP were called in to investigate the leak. Melissa Burke, an analyst at the foreign and defence policy secretariat at PCO, would tell police the navy had contacts with Davie and that Norman had once played golf with Fraser. (Postmedia has confirmed that Norman has never played golf with Fraser; Fraser does not play golf).

Environment minister Catherine McKenna told investigators she believed that as a result of the leak, “trust and confidence in officials was clearly put into disrepute.”

In his interview with the RCMP, Brison went even further. The minister, who had been in federal politics for 20 years, claimed he had never before seen such a leak of sensitive information. “The rendering of this (classified information) into the public domain did an awful lot to limit our ability to really do what we’d intended to do, and that is more due diligence on this,” he said.

What turned out be more of a limit on the Liberals’ desire for more due diligence was a penalty clause the Conservatives had inserted into the deal. Since Davie had purchased the ship using its own funds and had hired hundreds of workers, the federal government would be required to pay a penalty of $89 million if the project did not proceed.

On Nov. 30 Sajjan and Foote announced that the government had decided against the two-month delay. The ministers pointed out that the Asterix had already been delivered to Davie and that workers were standing by. To restart the project and launch a competition would mean losing “precious time in providing the navy with a critical refuelling and support capability.”

The ministers also acknowledged the $89 million penalty.

Davie had approval to proceed with Project Resolve. The RCMP, meanwhile, were ramping up their investigation into who was originally behind the leak.

The Ottawa offices of the global communications and lobbying firm Hill + Knowlton are on Metcalfe Street, just two blocks from Parliament Hill and the same distance from the War Memorial in the capital’s compact downtown. In May 2016, they were raided by the RCMP.

The Mounties had been interviewing government officials through the first part of the year, and that month raided H+K as well as Fleishman Hillard, another lobbying firm that had previously worked for Davie, and the offices of Davie itself, with search warrants that allowed them to collect emails and other information.

The police force soon developed its working theory.

RCMP Corp. Matthieu Boulanger, in charge of the investigation, believed that Norman provided information, alleged to include cabinet confidences, to Fraser. Norman did that, according to the RCMP, “to influence decision-makers within government to adopt his preferred outcome” of providing the Asterix supply ship for the Royal Canadian Navy.

The RCMP also believed that Norman was the “friend” Vicefield had mentioned in a number of emails.

Cudmore’s reporting made clear that someone had disclosed confidential information from the cabinet committee meeting, the police force alleged. Although the RCMP acknowledged it didn’t know how Cudmore obtained the Irving letter, they alleged that Norman knew the journalist had a copy or had been informed about the contents of Cudmore’s article before it was published.

On Nov. 16, 2016 the RCMP launched a surveillance operation against Norman, with a police officer stationed outside Norman’s house in the Ottawa suburb of Orléans. The observations were typically mundane: An officer would report the garage door opening and “an unidentified male wearing white pants” entering a car and drove away. (It was Norman, in uniform, going to work.)

On Monday, January 9, 2017 at 7:22 a.m., seven police officers arrived in three vehicles at Norman’s house. The vice-admiral was off that day and was about to take Beverly, assistant to a veterinarian, to her office. After a brief questioning that left her shaken, police allowed her to leave.

The officers stayed in the house for six hours. They seized a desktop computer, a laptop, two cell phones and three iPads, one owned by Beverly.

Norman had defence department files on some of the devices — he often worked at home at night — but none classified as secret.

Though the RCMP’s warrant allowed them to seize DND files and related material, the police force, Norman’s camp believes, significantly overstepped its legal parameters by also seizing thousands of pieces of personal effects from the Norman family. Those included family and vacation photos, Beverly’s medical records, her personal texts and her pay stubs. They remain in the RCMP’s possession. Close friends of the Normans say the couple feel the police seizure and retention of so much material unrelated to the case was over the top, an uncalled-for invasion of their family’s life.

After the RCMP left the house, Norman phoned his office, asking his assistant to set up a meeting with Vance, his boss. He was unaware that even as police were in his home, a senior RCMP officer was already briefing Vance. Sajjan, the department’s deputy minister John Forster and various bureaucrats were also informed of the police investigation.

Several hours later, Vance’s chief of staff called Norman and informed him that the CDS wanted to see him at 6 p.m. that day.

Norman arrived, unaccompanied, to Vance’s office. The general was there with Forster.

Vance handed Norman a draft notice of his intent to relieve the naval officer of his military duties. “I have compelling, sobering and frightening information,“ Vance told the naval officer, although he provided no details.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Vance asked.

Given the severity of Vance’s statement, Norman said he wanted time to consult a lawyer, and, concerned that his response might be turned over to police and potentially used against him, asked Vance about the legal status of any response he would provide. Neither the general nor Forster could answer his question.

Instead, Vance said he needed a response in 24 hours. Norman asked for more time. Within 45 minutes, the meeting was over.

On Thursday, Jan. 12, Vance once again requested a formal response from Norman, again providing no explanation for his removal.

On Friday, Jan. 13th, Vance informed Norman that he had run out of time. Admiral Ron Lloyd would be appointed as acting vice-chief of the defence staff. Norman was given a formal letter, suspending him from command. In the letter, Vance wrote without explanation that he had lost confidence in Norman’s ability to command.

There would be no internal hearing, and no formal opportunity for Norman to present his side of the story. The decision was based on the unproven claims that underpinned the RCMP’s search warrant.

On the morning of Monday, Jan. 16, Vance’s letter was distributed to various offices at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. It took only 20 minutes to be leaked to media outlets. DND’s public affairs branch would officially distribute it to news organizations later that day.

Beyond that, though, Vance ordered a blackout on all information about Norman. The Canadian Forces refused to say why the vice-admiral had been removed, when Norman was given Vance’s letter, whether Norman was still serving and, if so, in what job or capacity. It also refused to explain why it couldn’t answer such basic questions.

Vance, meanwhile, had left the country — but the military wouldn’t say where he had gone or why, or even when he’d departed. (It would later emerge he was in Europe for meetings.)

Asked about Norman’s removal, Trudeau declined to provide any details. Vance had made the decision, Trudeau said, and his government fully backed its defence chief. Sajjan released a statement that echoed Trudeau’s almost word for word.

Only in Canada could the second-highest-ranking military officer in the nation be removed from office without a word of explanation.

The lack of information fuelled gossipy theories in political, defence and media circles. Military personnel wondered whether it was related to sexual misconduct. Perhaps Norman was a Russian spy, others mused.

After 10 days of allowing speculation to percolate about the reasons for Norman’s dismissal, Sajjan announced what the government had known all along. “This is not an issue of national security,” the minister told journalists. No other explanation was provided.

So why did it take Sajjan so long to make clear that the investigation wasn’t a matter of national security? Sajjan declined to answer that question but Norman’s supporters say the government and military silence significantly damaged the vice-admiral’s reputation. Some claim it was a deliberate effort to damage Norman in the public eye.

On Feb. 23, the high-profile Toronto criminal lawyer Marie Henein, newly famous for her successful defence of former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi, entered the fray on Norman’s behalf. Her new client, she said in a statement, “has at all times served his country honourable and with the sole objective of advancing the national interest and the protection of Canada.

“It would be a profound disservice to us all if a national hero and widely respected Canadian who has served under numerous governments was caught in the bureaucratic cross-fire.”

Henein said her hope was that an objective investigation be concluded quickly and that Norman would be returned to his military post.

Weeks later, Trudeau made a bold prediction: Norman was going to trial. “This is an important matter that is obviously under investigation, and will likely end up before the courts, so I won’t make any further comments at this time,” the prime minister told journalists on April 6.

The comments alarmed Norman’s supporters. Was the PMO coordinating on strategy with the RCMP and Justice Department? How could Norman get a fair trial — if it came to that — if the Prime Minister’s Office were 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.

At National Defence Headquarters, officials began to remove traces of Norman’s existence. An officer phoned the vice-admiral at home and informed him that his personal possessions were being hauled out of his office so a new acting VCDS, Lt.-Gen. Alain Parent, could move in. Plaques and photos were taken off the wall. Some were put in storage, others boxed and sent to Norman’s home by taxi.

The investigation into Norman has been extensive. Police have interviewed more than 30 individuals — staff at Davie and affiliated firms, at the Department of National Defence, at Public Services and Procurement Canada, and a number of federal cabinet ministers. The RCMP obtained nine search warrants, examining Norman’s home, cell phones and computers, Davie’s offices and those of its lobbyists, and internet- and phone-service providers to Spencer Fraser.

While Norman’s correspondence with Fraser contained raw language and candid observations, there appears to have been no actual transfer of classified information or cabinet confidences in those messages.

The RCMP did find a Memorandum to Cabinet, marked secret, in the office of top Hill + Knowlton official Mersereau, but there is no indication it is connected to Norman. No charges have been laid in relation to the matter against anyone at Hill + Knowlton, and in a statement to Postmedia the firm said none of its officials are under investigation of any kind.

The federal police force has already been warned that its case against Norman may be on shaky ground.

In an April 21 ruling on an application by a group of news organizations including Postmedia to make public the details of the search warrant executed on Norman’s home, Ontario Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips pointed out the problem the RCMP faced: the fact Norman was communicating with industry officials, Phillips said, didn’t mean he was guilty of anything.

“The emails in question are by no means smoking guns,” Phillips said in his ruling.

Phillips also pointed out another possible explanation for Norman’s emails: for decades, Canadian military procurement has been a mess. Norman found himself in the midst of situation where the acquisition of a supply ship the navy badly needed appeared to be headed off the rails due solely to political considerations. The judge specifically noted that none of what Norman did was for financial gain, but was instead to advance ensure well-being of the navy and his sailors.

“At its highest, it appears that the potential allegation against Vice-Admiral Norman is that he was trying to keep a contractual relationship together so that the country might get itself a badly needed supply ship,” Phillips wrote. “A reasonable member of the informed public might understand the frustration of being Vice-Admiral of a Navy that cannot on its own go more than a tank of gas away from port. An officer of his rank would be expected to develop and maintain relationships with those in the business of supply the Navy and his communications with such people are not, therefore, in and of themselves untoward.”

Postmedia’s numerous interviews with military officers and procurement officials support Phillips’ observations. Interactions of this kind between the military and industry, they say, are simply how business gets done in the defence world. As one example, according to documents Postmedia obtained via Access to Information law, DND officials and military officers exchanged significant amounts of information with Lockheed Martin and its lobbying firm, CFN Consultants, in the wake of the Conservative government’s 2010 announcement of plans to buy Lockheed’s F-35 fighter jets. That exchange even included coordination between Lockheed Martin lobbyists and government communications officials on how best to sell the Canadian taxpayer on the purchase — a purchase which, in the typical style of Canadian military procurement, still has not happened, and may never, the acquisition of F-35s having become yet another political football.

Phillips highlighted another potential problem with the RCMP investigation: For a case to stand against Norman, prosecutors will have to be prove that the naval officer was the first in leaky Ottawa to have shared any Cabinet confidences in question. “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,” the judge said. “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? If the information was already revealed, would he necessarily have been engaged in a serious and marked departure from the standards expected of an individual in a similar position of public trust?”

Postmedia has confirmed the identity of a second source whom the RCMP allege to have leaked Cabinet confidences. While the RCMP was aware of the second suspect from the beginning of their investigation, their focus has remained on Norman. The second source, an employee of Public Services and Procurement Canada with no link to Norman, has also not been charged — but unlike Norman, is still in his job in Ottawa. He has not responded to Postmedia’s requests for comment.

There is also the possibility a third individual may have been involved in supplying Davie with insider information. In a Nov. 24, 2015 email, Fraser told Norman that an individual he called “the Wolf” had been providing the company with behind-the-scenes information.

In their sworn information to obtain the search warrant against Norman, the RCMP said they don’t know the identity of “the Wolf.” Sources close to Norman say the officer also has no idea who “the Wolf” is, nor has Postmedia yet been able to confirm the person’s identity.

Liberal Senator Colin Kenny points out that the details of the Nov. 19 cabinet meeting would have been known initially by dozens of government officials.

Such details are quickly disseminated to various senior bureaucrats for planning purposes, explained the senator, whose job in the office of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was at times to coordinate and prepare cabinet-confidential information. Those bureaucrats, in turn, pass the information on to their subordinates. In addition, political staff are also aware of the information their cabinet minister bosses have discussed. In the Norman case, information collected by the RCMP indicates at least four senior bureaucrats had initial knowledge of cabinet’s decision on Project Resolve.

“To claim that Mark Norman is the only one with such information is ridiculous,” said Kenny. “He appears to me to be the designated fall guy.”

Norman’s supporters remain astonished by the RCMP’s pursuit of the naval officer given that leaks of secret information and cabinet confidences to trusted journalists have been part of the media strategy of every government in memory — including the current one.

Portions of the 2017 federal budget were provided to CTV days in advance of the document being made public. A “senior Liberal official” confirmed to the Globe and Mail the decision to name Julie Payette as Governor General before it was made public, telling Globe reporter Daniel Leblanc, “She is perfectly aligned with the image that we want to project. It’s such a nice nomination.” The Globe also revealed details of a Canadian special forces sniper’s killing of an Islamic terrorist, an incident officially classified as secret. And CTV was provided advance details about the government’s decision to legalize recreational marijuana.

“It’s all part of the Ottawa political game,” said retired naval Capt. Kevin Carle, who held senior positions in the media relations branch at Department of National Defence headquarters. “Information is leaked by the government of the day in a controlled method to journalists. No investigations are launched because it’s all sanctioned by the government.”

In the weeks before the raid on Norman’s home, reports indicated construction on the two Joint Support Ships being built at Seaspan in Vancouver had fallen behind schedule, and not for the first time. The cost of the project had grown, and though a DND performance report suggested the ships would be built by early 2021, some doubt that will be the case.

The Asterix, the vessel for which Norman fought, was launched in October and will be the Royal Canadian Navy’s main lifeline for warships at sea for the foreseeable future. There is widespread acknowledgement in the navy — privately, at least — that without Norman’s advocacy for Project Resolve the navy would for years have continued to have no supply capability of its own.

Canada’s community of retired naval officers has voiced little public support for Norman. As is the nature of this country’s close-knit military-industrial community, many have their own lucrative contracts with defence companies courting the government, and they are loath to do anything that might compromise their business.

In December, approaching the one-year anniversary of the removal of his number two, Postmedia returned to Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance with questions about the state of the Norman matter.

How long would Norman continue to be suspended from duty? “As a matter of policy, removals from command should be temporary, except in the most exceptional of circumstances, with a decision to continue or cease that removal provided at a later date when all of the information is known and full procedural fairness can be accommodated,” said Vance’s spokesman, Lt.-Col. Jason Proulx.

Did Norman receive a hearing before being removed from command? The spokesman declined to comment, out of deference to what he called an ongoing investigation.

In some Ottawa military circles there is a belief that the government intends to make an example of Norman — that, his legal bills mounting as his state of limbo stretches on indefinitely, his family will at some point be under enough financial stress that the vice-admiral will be forced to resign.

Norman, however, has told friends he isn’t going anywhere.

In May, just before Canadian Forces personnel were to strip his office of his mementos and awards and send them to his home, Norman phoned defence headquarters and informed officials there to carefully record the process. “I want you to photograph exactly where each of those items are in the office,” Norman told officers. “Because I’m coming back — and they are going back up on the wall where they belong.”

http://nationalpost.com/feature/man-overboard
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Post by Dannypaj Sat 13 Jan 2018, 7:52 am

"Canada’s community of retired naval officers has voiced little public support for Norman. As is the nature of this country’s close-knit military-industrial community, many have their own lucrative contracts with defence companies courting the government, and they are loath to do anything that might compromise their business."

Funny how fast people turn their backs on you?
Unfortunately he'll never be back to his position of power.
Once out of the click, "your out!"

We are all just toggles.
The people playing political games with our military?

"Many have their own lucrative contracts with defence?" Well, isn't that something!

Scratch my back and I will scratch yours

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Post by JAFO Sat 13 Jan 2018, 2:13 pm

So 5 MP's, 5 MP staffers, 4 senior bureaucrats and their staff, the PM, the PMO's office staff had the information.

Irving shipbuilders contacted the 4 Maritime Liberal MP's, one of them married into the McCain family another large Maritime employer, sends letters about a contract that was already finalized for a supply ship saying the contract bid wasn't proper.

Yet out of all these "politicians, staffers, bureaucrats" the Navy guy gets thrown under the bus? Oh sorry the guy who left Norman's house in white pants according to the RCMP.

Typical Liberal crap when it comes to the Canadian Armed Forces. The idiots can't say no to mission requests even when we tell them we don't have the material, personnel and equipment for the mission. But when it comes to military procurement they definitely know how to say NO.

As for General Johnny he is the boss meant to protect his men....until his overlord PM Selfie says not to. Bad General Johnny!
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Post by RunningLight Fri 19 Jan 2018, 1:39 pm

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Post by Wolfman Tue 23 Jan 2018, 4:11 pm

No charges, no investigation — but DND declares Vice-Admiral Mark Norman is guilty

The government has rejected the vice admiral’s request for help with his legal bills because it has determined he is guilty of disclosing confidential information

http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/dnd-declares-mark-norman-is-guilty-even-though-no-charges-have-been-laid-document
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Post by Accer Fri 02 Feb 2018, 8:22 pm

Suspended vice-admiral's case will 'inevitably' lead to 'court processes': PM

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
Published Friday, February 2, 2018 10:33AM EST
Last Updated Friday, February 2, 2018 3:26PM EST


https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/suspended-vice-admiral-s-case-will-inevitably-lead-to-court-processes-pm-1.3786806
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Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial Empty Re: Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial

Post by Forcell Fri 09 Mar 2018, 5:10 pm

Mounties charge suspended Vice-Admiral Mark Norman with breach of trust

By The Canadian Press - March 9, 2018


OTTAWA — Following a two-year investigation and months of political intrigue, the RCMP have charged Vice-Admiral Mark Norman with breach of trust for allegedly leaking government secrets.

The Mounties announced the charge on Friday, more than a year after Norman was suspended as the military’s second-in-command without public explanation.

Court documents later showed that he was being investigated on suspicion he leaked cabinet secrets to a Quebec shipyard in November 2015 over fears the Trudeau government would cancel a key shipbuilding project.

Norman has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer, Marie Henein, released a strongly worded statement Friday denouncing the RCMP’s decision to charge her client and promising to fight the allegation in court.

“Vice-Admiral Norman has devoted his entire career to serving Canada and our military,” Henein wrote.

“This is a very sad day for an extraordinary Canadian who we should be celebrating rather than prosecuting. Our public resources should be put to better use.”

Norman is scheduled to appear in court April 10.

The RCMP first launched its investigation in December 2015 in response to an allegation that classified information about a naval supply ship contract had been leaked.

The previous month, the newly elected Liberal government had decided to reconsider a $700-million contract the Harper Conservatives had awarded to Quebec-based Davie Shipbuilding.

The contract was to convert a civilian vessel, the MV Asterix, into a temporary resupply ship that would be leased for five years, with another five-year option, until permanent replacements could be built in Vancouver.

According to court documents released last year, the RCMP believed Norman — commander of the navy at the time — was upset with the Liberal decision and feared the government would cancel the project.

The navy had recently retired its last two resupply ships, which are considered essential for supporting overseas deployments.

Norman allegedly worked with Davie to try to pressure the government to stick with the project, according to the documents. None of the allegations against Norman have been tested in court.

The Liberals ultimately decided to proceed with the project; the MV Asterix was delivered to the navy this week.

Critics had recently started questioning the length of the investigation, with some calling for Norman’s reinstatement as vice-chief of the defence staff.

Defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance announced last week that Lt.-Gen. Paul Wynnyk will take over from Lt.-Gen. Alain Parent as acting vice-chief of defence when Parent retires later this year.

The official Opposition Conservatives also accused the Liberals of political interference after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau predicted in April 2017 that the case would end up in court, even though Norman hadn’t been charged.

Trudeau sparked another uproar last month when he suggested the case would “inevitably” lead to “court processes,” though his office later said he was referring to police and prosecutors deciding whether to lay charges.

https://www.thepostmillennial.com/mounties-charge-suspended-vice-admiral-mark-norman-with-breach-of-trust/
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Post by Scorpion Wed 11 Apr 2018, 6:41 am

Vice Admiral Mark Norman in uniform at court sends a message to PMO – the battle is on

DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN
Published on: April 11, 2018

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial 20180410norman-mark07-jpg

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Post by Kizzer Wed 11 Apr 2018, 9:49 am

Admiral keen to deal with criminal charge, get back to 'serving the people'

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Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial Empty Re: Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial

Post by JAFO Wed 11 Apr 2018, 11:46 am

This is such a joke!

Changes in the ruling political party ALWAYS screws with the previous parties purchase of military equipment by mainly canceling a contract with a manufacturer......regardless of the cash penalty.

So to cover the "kindergarten attitude" of politicians the VCDS gets thrown under the bus!

I cannot recommend to any teenager to enlist in the CF with a clean conscious. I know how pitiful the equipment is and these donkey's called Members of Parliament have no f'n idea what a deployment involves!

And now these same donkeys are sending aged helicopters that can be brought down with a RPG into a war zone in Mali. God Bless (and please Protect) our women and men.
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Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial Empty Re: Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial

Post by Falcon Thu 19 Apr 2018, 4:09 pm

Will Gen. Vance permanently remove Vice Admiral Mark Norman from his position?

DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN
Published on: April 19, 2018

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial 0118_na_norman_11-e1517352589974

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Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial Empty Re: Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial

Post by Vexmax Tue 15 May 2018, 11:47 am

Defence chief kept open line with Norman after vice-admiral’s suspension, e-mails show

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Post by Vexmax Tue 15 May 2018, 11:49 am

The fall of Mark Norman

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Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial Empty Re: Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial

Post by Vexmax Tue 15 May 2018, 11:50 am

RCMP investigating vice-admiral

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Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial Empty Re: Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial

Post by Vexmax Tue 15 May 2018, 12:06 pm

Vice Admiral Mark Norman eager to have his day in court

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