We now have the Norman case ... SNC-Lavalin ... and a shipyard dispute where the Prime Ministers Office, or Ministers, are accused of interference in legal issues -- or contracts
'The prosecution should
not be discussing trial strategy with the (PMO's) right hand person' –
Mainville
Murray Brewster ~~ CBC
News ~~ Feb 11, 2019
A pretrial hearing in the breach-of-trust case
against Vice-Admiral Mark Norman took a sudden political turn Monday when the
defence alleged that prosecutors have been talking trial strategy with the
bureaucratic department that supports Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's
office and the federal cabinet.
Former Commander of the Royal Canadian
Navy, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman |
The federal government is fighting defence requests
for the release of un-redacted notes from meetings between officials at the
Privy Council Office (PCO) and Crown lawyers ... that prompted defence counsel
Christine Mainville to accuse the Prime Minister's Office of trying to direct
the case.
Mainville said the discussion with PCO is
"more concerning" than the allegations at the centre of the SNC
Lavalin controversy because it involves direct dealings between the PCO and
prosecutors.
"The prosecution should not be discussing
trial strategy with the Prime Minister's Office's right-hand person," she
said, referring to the PCO legal counsel.
CLICK
HERE to read the full story:
My goodness. This gets more and more interesting.
- That prompted a cutting remark from the judge hearing Norman's case.
- "So much for the independence of the PPSC (Public Prosecution Service of Canada)," said Judge Heather Perkins-McVey.
- The Crown has been ordered to deliver an uncensored version of the requested notes, under seal, to the judge by Friday, when lawyers will argue the question of whether the documents are privileged.
Apparently, the Judge hearing the Norman case is
not as certain as the Prime Minister, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and Privy
Council Office (PCO) that legal privilege is sacrosanct.
We now have the Norman case ... SNC-Lavalin ... and
a shipyard dispute where the Prime Ministers Office, or Ministers, are accused
of interference in legal issues -- or contracts. They are trying to hide behind lawyer-client
privilege, or cabinet confidentiality, or other excuses for keeping the highest
levels of government operations secret.
We have not seen similar efforts to hide government
actions since Mackenzie King issued an Order in Council effectively attaching
the Privy Council to the Prime Minister’s Office, rather than acting as counsel
to the Governor General and Queen.
Paul Wells’ column ‘Canada, the show’ in Maclean’s is worth a read,
but too long to include here.
John Feldsted
Political Consultant
& Strategist
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Comments
Post a Comment