{"id":24046,"date":"2019-06-20T18:39:42","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T22:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=24046"},"modified":"2019-06-20T18:39:52","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T22:39:52","slug":"in-defence-of-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/in-defence-of-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"In defence of democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our democracy\ncontinues to be shaken as we have once again witnessed Justin Trudeau and his\nLiberal government\u2019s attempt to tip the scales of justice and work to destroy\npeople who have stood for what\u2019s right and in defence of the rule of law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Norman served as\nCanada\u2019s Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. He was charged with one count of\nbreach of trust for allegedly leaking sensitive documents related to the\nprocurement of a supply ship for the Royal Canadian Navy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crown recently\nstayed its charge against Vice-Admiral Norman, citing that there was \u201cno\nreasonable prospect of conviction.\u201d However, from the beginning of the trial,\nNorman\u2019s defence team has clearly stated that the Prime Minister\u2019s Office was\nattempting to direct the prosecution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is overwhelming\nevidence that Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government politically interfered\nin this case to defame Vice Admiral Norman, who served honourably for 38 years\nin the Canadian Navy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prime Minister\ninterfered when he refused to turn over critical documents to Norman\u2019s lawyers.\nHe interfered when he refused to waive Cabinet confidence and provided heavily\nredacted, unreadable court-ordered documents. He interfered when the Minister\nof National Defence refused to pay Norman\u2019s legal fees stating he was guilty\nbefore his case had been heard in court. The Prime Minister interfered by\ncounselling key witnesses on what to say during\nNorman\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the\nprosecution made clear: the documents that Justin Trudeau and the Liberals were\nfighting to keep secret were the very documents that resulted in Vice-Admiral\nNorman\u2019s charges being dropped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In accordance\nwith the National Defence Act, Members of the Canadian Armed Forces must be\nfree from real or perceived partisanship and political engagement. So as\nCanadians we must ask why then, did the Minister of National Defence and the\nPrime Minister make public statements presuming Norman to be guilty in 2017\nbefore having his day in court. Why were two unelected, partisan staffers \u2013\nKatie Telford and Gerald Butts \u2013 from the Prime Minister\u2019s Office, who are not\nin the military chain of command, briefed by the Chief of Defence Staff on the\nRCMP\u2019s (claimed independent) investigation into Norman on January 9, 2017? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked these\nquestions to the Minister directly during a Committee of the Whole on May 14,\n2019. In his reply, he takes no responsibility for these politically charged\nactions. Our democracy is based on the fact that a standing army is accountable\nto the elected official (the Minister of National Defence) so that Canadians\ncan trust our military is completely accountable to the will of the citizens.\nThe Minister\u2019s actions call into question his understanding of his sworn\nobligation and jeopardizing the democratic governance of our military. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Vice-Admiral\nsaid, \u201cthe alarming and protracted bias of perceived guilt across the senior\nlevels of government has been quite damaging and the emotional and financial\nimpacts of this entire ordeal have taken a toll\u201d on himself, his career, his\nfamily and our country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why does\nthis matter to Canadians? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democracy is\nfragile. When a government attempts to politically interfere to tip the scales\nof justice, then it brings not only dishonour to the sacred responsibility\nentrusted to those who hold federal elected office, but also of those who\nserved and those who have served \u2013 and have made the ultimate sacrifice in\nservice to Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the\nSNC-Lavalin scandal, the rule of law for both our military and civil laws must\nprevail above all else. At the foundation of our democracy, individuals must\nremain innocent until proven guilty, and all must remain equal under the law as\nits core principles. The government repeatedly politically interfered to punish\nVice-Admiral Norman for standing with honour and integrity. This calls into\nquestion our entire democratic system, the very institution of government\nitself, and the confidence that Canadians have in their government officials,\nwho are entrusted by them to act with the highest ethical standards and\nintegrity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The members of\nour Canadian Armed Forces are willing to give their lives in service to country\nand to die for the values for which our nation stands \u2013 individual liberty,\norder and good government. Those who are responsible for the mistreatment of a\nrespected and honourable colleague must be held to account, to ensure that\nthose who serve in the Canadian Armed Forces are never again prosecuted for\npartisan, political purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have\nwatched the Prime Minister attempt to destroy people who have stood in defence\nof the rule of law \u2013 and the price to those individuals has been high. If the\nPrime Minister behaves this way towards Ministers and to a distinguished and\nhonourable Admiral of the Canadian Navy, then no one is safe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the next\ntime where we need an individual in Canada – from a Cabinet Minister to a\nhighly decorated officer – to a junior public servant to an intern on a co-op\nprogram in a private corporation – will they be willing to stand and be counted\nto do what is right not what is easy? Or will they think twice because they\nknow the price is too high?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leona Alleslev, MP<\/strong>
Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill<\/strong> <\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our democracy continues to be shaken as we have once again witnessed Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government\u2019s attempt to tip the scales of justice and work to destroy people who have stood for what\u2019s right and in defence of the rule of law. Mark Norman served as Canada\u2019s Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6fQ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 18:49:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24046\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}