Roundup: Stuck on the Norman questions

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Yesterday’s somewhat bizarre Question Period, with the Conservatives focusing on a single question around Vice Admiral Mark Norman, certainly got the attention of media outlets, but it wasn’t all positive news, given how they it was also pointed out how they were lacking in any kind of prosecutorial style or killer instinct around it. It was just repetitive. Many of the points they made also didn’t seem to land – such as saying the PM had already “tried and convicted” Norman when he remarked that the courts would sort it out before Norman had even been charged – something that they are trying to use to insinuate that the whole affair is politically motivated.

As a reminder, Norman’s lawyers are looking for records from PMO, PCP, DND, the Department of Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Department of Justice, the Treasury Board, and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and that the documents being demanded include cabinet minutes, briefing materials and memos, and some ask for all forms of communication including emails and Blackberry messages. Those have all been deemed Cabinet confidence, which the Canada Evidence Actallows government to keep secret – the danger there, however, being that the court could decide that if the government doesn’t turn them over that the trial isn’t a fair one, and they could dismiss the case. As I remarked in my QP recap, I think the possibilities exist that some form of access could be negotiated that could mean a court-appointed officer could examine them to determine what is relevant as they do in cases of national security-related secrecy (like terrorism trials or people being held on security certificates), because the laundry list being demanded by Norman’s defence could very well be a fishing expedition and they want as broad a swath as possible to try and find something, anything, of use. (It’s also likely that the information is not only Cabinet confidence, but also commercially sensitive, which adds new layers of complication).

The other interesting fact that is still playing out is the fact that another public servant has been named as an alleged leaker, but he has yet to be charged, and this fact is making the Conservative suspicious that this is making Norman out to be a political scapegoat. Or rather, that’s the claim they’re making as they put on their dog and pony show about trying to make this into some kind of a cover-up, but we have nothing to point to this one way or another – just innuendo, which is enough to make political hay out of.

Good reads:

  • Yesterday was legal cannabis day, and the government says there is more work to do, but they’re starting with pardons for previous possession convictions.
  • New regulations around the asbestos ban were unveiled, and it will still allow Quebeckers to use old asbestos mines to look for magnesium.
  • Bill Morneau says he’s still consulting with businesses about how to respond to competitiveness challenges brought on by US tax cuts (which are debt-financed).
  • The government will use the cultural protections in the New NAFTA to apply CanCon regulations.
  • Between July 2016 and July 2017, government computer networks fended off an average of 474 million hacking attempts per day.
  • Murderer and rapist Paul Bernardo had his parole denied, so that’s one less gruesome line of questions the government will be spared in QP.
  • In case you were worried, the Conservatives say they won’t undo cannabis legalisation, but they’ll look for ways to make the system better.
  • Chantal Hébert tries to explain why cannabis legalisation has been less popular in Quebec than elsewhere in the country.
  • Andrew Coyne wonders about the current government’s particular fixation with China, worrying that it may lead to a poor trade agreement.

Odds and ends:

Andrew Scheer had his portrait unveiled from his time as Speaker.

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