Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

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
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RCMP gag order comes after BC NDP catch heat for diverted safe supply (Northern Beat)

In the wake of several high-profile police drug seizures of suspected safer supply that put the BC NDP government on the defensive last month, BC RCMP “E” division issued a gag order on detachments, directing them to run all communications on “hot button” public safety issues through headquarters in the lead-up to the provincial election. “It is very clear we are in a pre-election time period and the topic of ‘public safety’ is very much an issue that governments and voters are discussing,” writes a senior RCMP communications official in an email dated Mar. 11 in what appears to have gone out to all BC RCMP detachments . . . . CLICK HERE for the full story
Post a Comment
Read more

KRUGELL: BC NDP turns its attention from BC United to BC Conservatives

The BC NDP turning its attention, from BC United, to BC Conservatives was reported over the weekend from a variety of sources. It is the result of the surge in the BC Conservative's polling numbers and the subsequent collapse of BC United. The NDP has largely ignored the BC Conservatives, instead they opt to talk about issues directly or attack their old foes BC United. Practical politics says that parties closer to the centre tend to ultimately prevail over the long haul. They do wane but often make comebacks. A good example is the federal Liberals going from third party to government in 2015. Centrism has a lot of appeal on voting day. The NDP shifting its fire from United to Conservative is a reflection of reality. BC United did buy advertising online and radio over the last few months. Did that shift the polls back to them? Nope. The reality is today, the BC Conservatives are the party of the Opposition, and day by day the Conservatives are looking like a party not ready to fig
Post a Comment
Read more

Baldrey: 2024 meets 1991? How B.C. election history could repeat itself (Times Colonist)

NOTE ... not the original image from Keith Baldrey's op/ed 1991 BC general election -- Wikipedia   A veteran NDP cabinet minister stopped me in the legislature hallway last week and revealed what he thinks is the biggest vulnerability facing his government in the fall provincial election. It’s not housing, health care, affordability or any of the other hot button issues identified by pollsters. "I think we are way too complacent,” he told me. “Too many people on our side think winning elections are easy.” He referenced the 1991 election campaign as something that could repeat itself. What was supposed to be an easy NDP victory then almost turned into an upset win for the fledgling BC Liberal Party. Indeed, the parallels between that campaign and the coming fall contest are striking ... CLICK HERE for the full story
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more