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Canada’s chief of defence summoned to cabinet meeting in wake of Norman case

Charges against Vice-Admiral Mark Norman were stayed last week
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Federal prosecutors stayed the charges against Vice-Admiral Mark Norman on Wednesday. (Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Canada’s top general and the deputy minister of national defence are briefing the federal cabinet this morning a week after the criminal case against the military’s former second-in-command fell apart.

Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of the defence staff, and deputy minister Jody Thomas would not stop to discuss the matter on their way into the weekly cabinet meeting this morning.

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was suspended in January 2017 and then charged with breach of trust for allegedly leaking secret information about a navy contract to Quebec’s Davie shipyard.

The charges were stayed last week when prosecutors said new information they’d received from the defence made them believe they had no reasonable prospect of securing a conviction.

Questions are now circling about how the case was handled by both the military and the RCMP after former Conservative minister Peter MacKay said Norman had cabinet approval to speak to Davie about the contract.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says he will not comment on the RCMP investigation.

READ MORE: Opposition force emergency meeting of defence committee on Norman affair

The Canadian Press


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