, 05.08.2019 11:54 AM

My latest: the Trudeau regime gets caught – again

Don’t get caught.

If your political party has been caught obstructing justice — as the political party led by Justin Trudeau assuredly was, in the SNC-Lavalin scandal — what’s the one thing you need to avoid, at all costs?

Getting caught obstructing justice again, of course.

And that’s what the Trudeau regime’s prosecution of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman would have exposed: Senior Trudeau government officials, implicated in a scheme to use the criminal justice system to punish an alleged whistleblower. In this case, the second-highest-ranking officer in the Canadian Forces.

The “crime” Norman was accused of wasn’t a crime at all. In the early days of the Trudeau government, some senior cabinet ministers and political staffers tried to interfere in a multimillion-dollar contract that had been awarded for a much-needed supply ship for the Royal Canadian Navy. As in the LavScam scandal, senior Grits wanted the contract to go to a firm that had supported them politically.

A whistleblower blew the whistle — just like in LavScam — and leaked the story to the media. The Trudeau government was livid. They went after the alleged whistleblower — just like they went after Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott for blowing the whistle on corruption.

Norman — like Wilson-Raybould and Philpott — deserved the Order of Canada, not persecution, for refusing to break the rules to help out a Trudeau government political crony. They didn’t deserve to have their lives and reputations destroyed.

Justin Trudeau — who, angelic visage notwithstanding, is a vengeful and petty little man — went after Norman, viciously. The vice-admiral was criminally charged with breach of trust. Norman vehemently denied he was the source of the leak, and hired one of the best lawyers in Canada, Marie Heinen (who, full disclosure, this writer’s firm has worked with in the past).

That’s when things got interesting.

Back in February, during the pre-trial legal skirmishing over documents Trudeau’s staff were covering up, a shocking revelation came to light. Norman’s lawyers alleged that prosecutors had been talking trial strategy with Trudeau’s personal bureaucrats in the Privy Council Office (PCO).

That’s a big no-no. As in the LavScam case, criminal prosecutions must always be independent of politics. If the likes of Trudeau can use the criminal justice system to reward friends (like SNC-Lavalin) and punish enemies (like Norman), we will have fully become a totalitarian regime. We are no longer a true democracy.

“By all appearances,” one of Norman’s lawyers told the trial judge in February, “this is a more direct influencing of the prosecution … the Prime Minister’s Office, via its right arm the PCO, is dealing directly with the PPSC (Public Prosecution Service of Canada). And the prosecution service is allowing this to happen.”

The presiding judge was not impressed. “So much for the independence of the PPSC,” declared Judge Heather Perkins-McVey.

And, it was at that moment that many of us knew that Norman’s trial — scheduled for August, just weeks before the election writs were going to drop — was never going to happen. In open court, a senior judge had taken note of political interference by Trudeau’s PMO and PCO. And, at that point, for Trudeau and his winged monkeys, it became crucial that the trial never be allowed to happen.

And, now it won’t. As Christie Blatchford revealed in a Postmedia scoop, the Trudeau government abruptly decided to suddenly drop the prosecution of Norman. On Wednesday, they stayed the charges.

After LavScam — and after the attempted show trial of Norman — we can now be left with only one conclusion:

This is the most corrupt federal government in Canada’s history.

And they must — must — be defeated.

27 Comments

  1. Luke says:

    Question from an ignoramus: JWR would have been AG at the time these charges were pursued, no? Would she have had to personally sign off on that or is this sort of thing happening independent to the AG?

  2. Lance says:

    Yes, the must. But I ask you – what and who should they be replaced with?

    • the real Sean says:

      Excluding Bernier, I think we are at the point it doesn’t matter anymore. It is plainly obvious that any of the Federal leaders would be better than this.

    • Montrealaise says:

      At this point, I’m thinking anybody would be better than Trudeau. Sheer, Singh and May aren’t perfect, but at least they’re not as bad as Trudeau.

  3. bryanr says:

    whole heartly agree with your article and surmise

  4. A. Voter says:

    This column is popping up in my Facebook feed a lot, including a posting by a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister.

  5. Fred from BC says:

    So, it’s all okay then because Harper did it first? “Move along, nothing to see here”?

    • Kelly says:

      No. He’s saying theyre both bad. Conservatives aren’t an option for anyone who cares about democracy. A large chunk of the current con cauces was part of this… https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/08/10/Harper-Abuses-of-Power-Final/

      Personally I think Greens have most rational policies.

      • Fred from BC says:

        The Tyee? Oh, please…

        Just for a laugh, I read as much of the ‘list’ as I could stand. Didn’t take long to get to the first obvious lie (about the Aquatic Sciences Libraries) or to notice that almost all of the ‘scandals’ listed involved individual incidents and behavior involving Conservative MPs or staffers, and *not* Stephen Harper himself, as the title attempts to imply (in classic Tyee fashion). Nice try, though…

  6. Dave Fuller says:

    Would the Libs not win more seats this fall by dumping Trudeau now ? The days of 18 month leadership campaigns are long gone.

    • Fred from BC says:

      “Would the Libs not win more seats this fall by dumping Trudeau now ”

      Absolutely they would. They’re just not smart enough to see it.
      They think they are going to do the same old thing they have always done: promise us the moon and stars (free prescription drugs, government-run free daycare, proportional representation, etc, etc) then deliver none of it when the election is over. To me, the arrogance is frankly more than a little bit insulting at this point.

    • Robert says:

      Trudeau has nothing to worry about. Not with the best job numbers in 43 years.

      • Fred from BC says:

        “Trudeau has nothing to worry about. Not with the best job numbers in 43 years.”

        Really?

        Wow, what a coincidence: the US is experiencing their best job numbers in *49* years! How the hell did Junior manage to boost the Canadian economy AND the American one at the same time?

        He’s awesome!

  7. JRP says:

    Well Bill, the Duffy affair was about disputed expense claims amounting to about $90k, which were paid back and he was acquitted.
    The SNC-LAVALIN and Mark Norman matters involve hundreds of millions of dollars and blatant interference in judicial proceedings so, while both are wrong, the scale and magnitude of Trudeau’s actions are massively worse. By the way, Harper did not direct charges be laid or withdrawn, nor did he persistently and relentlessly try to coerce his AG into interfering in the process, a process which the Liberals gleefully supported and cheerlead all the way. Harper was not clean but nor was he bathing in the pig-sty like Trudeau.

  8. darrenh says:

    I would imagine the prospect of having Mary Henein questioning Jason Kenney as a witness for the defense would have been one of the deciding factors not to pursue as well. Think what you will of JK but those two would have made magic together in the courtroom.

  9. Mark Twain says:

    I seem to recall there was one lonely Liberal voice calling out Jesus Trudeau as not worthy to lead back in 2015…

    No one would listen to that guy, what did know? No one listens to punk no more. Like Moby, he was too old.

    “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

  10. I think it. is time to place these guys in jail. Politicans, CEOs
    what ever, money and power are not going to save you. Anyone
    can make a mistake, normally minor but these government and
    corporate people need real jail time, no extra pensions, etc
    to help them.
    Mostly we need a government down the middle for the country
    Maybe people need to pay attention and have votes thru the
    year on projects. You can not have a PM with an agenda to
    one religious group like this dumby. No agendas. So many ideas to help.

  11. Andrew Jurgen Kaut says:

    You’ve hit it on the head. This is exactly why partisan politics are bullshit; ends justify the means leaves us all without ethic.

    But it should be noted that Blessed Harper wasn’t much better (see Tyee article above) and, I would submit, any majority government eventually tends to tyranny. And some move quicker than others.

    We need to stop giving politicians this much rope; they just keep hanging themselves. Proportionate representation, recall legislation, an elected Senate and, for the love of Goddess –

    No more effing majorities.

  12. Greg says:

    Let’s not forget that the charges were stayed, not dropped.
    The Prime Minister is arrogant enough and dictatorial enough to believe they will win in October and then resume the case against VM Norman.

    • Greg,

      That takes the power of positive thinking to the ultimate plateau.

      • Chris says:

        That plateau is where the PMO has been for the last four years. Above the clouds, unable and/or unwilling to see all the muck down below in their wake.
        Most of these people were in the McGuinty Ontario Liberal office and they got away with cr*p for more than a decade. Some Canadians might just be stupid enough (or unaware enough) to give this crew another term as well.

  13. Simon Schwarz says:

    Norman for PM.

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