Re: Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial

by Phantom Thu 09 May 2019, 8:38 am

Power Play: Significance of staying charge May 8, 2019

Lawyer Leo Adler weighs in on the Crown's decision to stay the charge against Mark Norman and where the case could go from here.

by Phantom Thu 09 May 2019, 8:40 am

Power Play: View from the Hill May 8, 2019

James Bezan, Elizabeth May, Peter Julian and Arif Virani discuss how the Mark Norman case is reflected onto the federal government.

by **Accer** Thu 09 May 2019, 10:12 am

Norman wants his Vice Chief job back but Sajjan says that won’t happen

DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN May 8, 2019

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Vice Admiral Mark Norman says he wants to return to his position as Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, the same job he had before being suspended by Gen. Jon Vance in January 2017.

But that won’t be happening.

Norman was talking to journalists about what he would like to see happens next now that federal prosecutors have stayed the one charge of breach of trust that he faced.

“I believe that for me and for the Canadian Armed Forces the best choice would be for me to go back into my former position,” Norman told journalists at a news conference after the court proceedings.

The vice chief of the defence staff is the second highest ranking military position in the Canadian Forces.

But Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan shot down any return of Norman to the position of VCDS.

“We currently have a vice-chief of defence staff and he will remain in place,” Sajjan told reporters. “I understand that Gen. Vance, as his immediate superior, will be meeting with him and discussing the next steps. Once those discussions have taken place I’ll have further advice given to me.”

Vance issued a statement noting he would be talking to Norman soon and he looked “forward to welcoming him back to work as soon as possible.” The statement did not discuss what position Norman would take over.

The RCMP alleged Norman tipped off Davie Shipbuilding in the fall of 2015 that the Liberal government was considering delaying a project in which the Quebec firm would convert a commercial ship into a much-needed naval supply vessel. Details about the government’s decision were also leaked to journalists, and the resulting embarrassment — along with the potential imposition of $89 million in financial penalties — forced the Liberal government to back down.

The case against the naval officer collapsed Wednesday.

“Vice-Admiral Norman, you entered a plea of not guilty,” Justice Heather Perkins-McVey told him shortly after Crown prosecutors announced Wednesday they no longer had a reasonable prospect of conviction and were staying the charge. “You are presumed to be innocent, and you remain so. You are free to leave.”

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/norman-wants-his-vice-chief-job-back-but-sajjan-says-that-wont-happen

by Glideon Thu 09 May 2019, 1:36 pm

Information from former Conservative cabinet ministers helped put an end to Norman case

Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: May 08, 2019

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mark-norman-working-with-harper-1.5128872

by Glideon Thu 09 May 2019, 1:44 pm

Mark Norman Doesn't Get Job Back and Scheer Would Ban Huawei

CanadaPoli
Published on May 9, 2019

by Glideon Thu 09 May 2019, 1:48 pm

MPs discuss Mark Norman and Crown decision to stay charges

cpac
Published on May 9, 2019

by Glideon Thu 09 May 2019, 1:51 pm

How Vice-Admiral Mark Norman's charges could be linked to the SNC-Lavalin case

Your Morning
Published on May 9, 2019

by Glideon Thu 09 May 2019, 1:54 pm

What was the Mark Norman case all about?

Published on May 9, 2019

by Glideon Thu 09 May 2019, 1:57 pm

Demanding Justice for Mark Norman

Cheryl Gallant
Published on May 9, 2019

by Garrison Thu 09 May 2019, 6:14 pm

In an inspired performance, Norman lawyer Marie Henein did incalculable damage to the Trudeau brand

Richard Warnica
May 9, 2019

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman Trial - Page 10 Marie-henein-1

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/in-an-inspired-performance-henein-did-incalculable-damage-to-the-trudeau-brand

by Jeremiah Thu 09 May 2019, 7:26 pm

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman's pending return raises thorny question for brass

Published:
May 9, 2019

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https://theprovince.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/vice-admiral-mark-normans-pending-return-raises-thorny-question-for-brass/wcm/57fe877b-20d4-4f6f-9534-4d52b8e6fea6

by Jeremiah Thu 09 May 2019, 7:28 pm

It may be untenable for Mark Norman to return to the Canadian Armed Forces

KEN HANSEN
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
PUBLISHED May 9, 2019

Ken Hansen is an independent defence and security analyst and owner of Hansen Maritime Horizons. Retired from the Navy in 2009 at the rank of commander, he is a member of the science advisory committee for Atlantic Oceans Research Enterprise and a contributor to the security affairs committee for the Royal United Services Institute of Nova Scotia.

So after months of legal and political theatre, the trial of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman – accused of leaking cabinet secrets around the lease of a supply vessel – is sunk, and it is unlikely to resurface. After Vice-Adm. Norman was suspended from his job as the Canadian military’s second-in-command in January, 2017, it took more than a year for a single charge of breach of trust to be laid against him. It took another long year – one riddled with controversies and assumptions of guilt along the way – for the whole business to come to its current impasse: a stay and end to the prosecution.

Vice-Adm. Norman has been receiving full pay for the entire period, and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced on Wednesday that the Crown will pay his legal bills. A GoFundMe effort also raised more than $400,000 from more than 3,400 sympathetic supporters that felt the admiral was treated unfairly. Money is the least of his worries.

Having known Mark Norman for more than 20 years, I feel it safe to say that this news-conference statement was absolutely true to his character: “I am confident that at all times I acted with integrity, I acted ethically and I acted in the best interests of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Forces and, ultimately, the people of Canada.” He has never been one to be shy.

But Vice-Adm. Norman is overconfident about his position, especially with respect to military ethics. Chief of Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance has said he looks forward “to welcoming him back to work as soon as possible,” but it remains unclear what his future is with Canadian Armed Forces – and the key will be how much he is seen to be trustworthy again.

Military courses on the ethos of military leadership place pre-eminent importance on responsibility to Sovereign, whose authority is conferred in each officer’s commissioning scroll. The men and women commit to faithfully follow all legal commands and must trust that their leaders are educated and diligent. Society entrusts its family members to the duty of defending the country and its constitution. Any breach of that trust by a leader at any level of command is considered a fatal flaw that almost always leads to a foreshortened career. The importance of this trust is so great that, besides their Oath of Allegiance when first commissioned, every officer promoted to the rank of Colonel, the naval equivalent of which is Captain, is required to sign a declaration of understanding that their service can be terminated for any reason that the Minister of Defence or Chief of Defence Staff consider sufficiently grievous to the reliability and trustworthiness of that officer.

The supporting documents filed with the RCMP affidavit include the text of many e-mails between the admiral and Spencer Fraser of Federal Fleet Services are alleged to show that Vice-Adm. Norman was engaged in secretive communication on almost a daily basis. If these e-mails are accurate and in context, they indicate the admiral and Mr. Fraser worried and schemed about the prospects of the incoming Trudeau government cancelling a single-source contract with Chantier Davie shipyard in the last months of the outgoing Conservative government for an improvised replenishment ship. Crown prosecutor Barbara Mercier said the federal prosecution service still believes Vice-Adm. Norman’s conduct was “secretive and inappropriate,” but acknowledged that “inappropriate does not mean criminal.”

That’s true, but “secretive and inappropriate” behaviour, if that’s an accurate characterization, could undermine the trustworthiness of Mark Norman. Remember, Gen. Vance first learned of his activities from RCMP investigators who were in the process of acting on search warrants of the admiral’s home and office. Trust in the military structure requires the subordinate to keep the chain of command advised about what is happening and why, which these emails suggest did not occur. Prominent security consultant Jeff Mehring writes that “trustworthiness can be broken down into three components: reliability, competency and honesty.” So how, based on this, can trust be restored?

And as the admiral himself said, an organization such as Defence is bigger than one person. But he has even promised to tell his story to Canadians eventually. Where could one employ a three-star admiral that has the kind of hubris that is being alleged? As a former career manager, I cannot think of a place.

One day, this incident will become a case study for officers at all levels of their professional education. But it will be as a cautionary tale and not, as Vice-Adm. Norman may hope, an shining example of ethical conduct for those in the military.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-it-may-be-untenable-for-mark-norman-to-return-to-the-canadian-armed/

by **Powergunner** Thu 09 May 2019, 7:40 pm

[Kenney says he offered to testify in Vice-Admiral Mark Norman’s defence on breach of trust charge

By Brennan DohertyStar Calgary
Thu., May 9, 2019
/size]

CALGARY—Premier Jason Kenney said he was prepared to testify in Vice-Admiral Mark Norman’s defence had the Canadian Forces’ second-in-command gone on trial for breach of trust — and said he provided information that he believed would clear Norman’s name.

The vice-admiral was accused of leaking details of a Liberal cabinet meeting in 2015 to a CBC reporter and a Quebec shipyard executive, including the government’s decision to delay a plan by the previous Conservative government to convert a civilian cargo ship to serve as a military supply vessel until a proper one could be built.

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Norman was supposed to stand trial in August, but on Wednesday, prosecutors stayed the charge — and Kenney attacked the situation as “unbelievably unfair” in a video posted to his Facebook page on Wednesday.

“I simply wanted to say as someone who has a personal knowledge of the issues that have been at play, who knows Admiral Norman, that I am appalled by how he has been treated by his government and I would like to congratulate Admiral Norman on this vindication,” Kenney said in the video.

As the former federal minister of national defence, Kenney once worked with Norman on the Royal Canadian Navy’s supply ship project. He also went a step further after the vice-admiral was charged. In the video, Kenney said he didn’t just donate to a GoFundMe page set up to cover Norman’s legal costs.

“I also met for about two hours with Admiral Norman’s legal defence team last year in Toronto, and I gave them information which I believe would have helped with his exoneration had this case gone to trial,” Kenney said. “I offered to testify in his defence at trial, but thankfully it will not go to that.”

Crown lawyers dropped the breach of trust charge on Wednesday due to the lack of a reasonable chance of conviction, and also thanks to new information provided by Norman’s defence team in March. The case raised questions about whether the prosecution was due to political interference — a situation which echoed criticisms levelled against the Liberal government during the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

Much of Kenney’s criticism can be traced back to his personal relationship with Norman, according to Lori Williams, an associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University. But it also ties into a broader attempt to discredit Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, and hints at Kenney’s ongoing attempts to remain influential in federal circles.

“He’s opposed to the incumbent federal government and this is part of the conservative strategy against Justin Trudeau — to raise questions about interference in legal proceedings and suggest corruption and so forth,” Williams said.

However, Williams didn’t expect Kenney’s response to the stay of charges against Norman to get much attention when compared to some of his past criticisms of Trudeau — including his description of the prime minister as a trust fund millionaire with little understanding of policy. By contrast to other more complicated federal issues, including the ongoing SNC-Lavalin scandal, Kenney’s video response to the stayed charge against Norman doesn’t compare.

[size=18]https://www.thestar.com/calgary/2019/05/09/kenney-says-he-offered-to-testify-in-vice-admiral-mark-normans-defence-on-breach-of-trust-charge.html

by **Powergunner** Thu 09 May 2019, 7:46 pm

Judge weighs in on Mark Norman case and Crown decision

cpac
Published on May 9, 2019

by **Powergunner** Thu 09 May 2019, 7:54 pm

Party observers weigh in on Mark Norman trial and Crown decision to stay charges

cpac
Published on May 9, 2019

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