After Norman, we need to ask what's happening to our country

For me, the Mark Norman case is not just the most disturbing scandal for this government, but for any that I can recall. To summarize it, it appears that after a long and decorated career, one of Canada’s most senior military officers was charged with a serious offence at the whim of a vengeance-seeking prime minister. Then, in the face of a man determined to stand for his honour and reputation, assisted by an extraordinarily effective (and female, as Marie Henein noted) legal team, that same prime minister backed down. This week, the prosecution announced it would stay the prosecution.

This whole thing smells very bad, and begs many questions. What kind of investigation was undertaken before laying the initial charge? Was the PMO involved in that exercise? Why has the government chosen this moment to stay the charges? Why did the prime minister feel compelled to say he was not involved? Why was Andrew Leslie, a former military officer and current Liberal MP who recently announced he would not run again, so determined to be involved and why has he chosen not to run? Is the prosecution’s decision to stay the charges an indication that it might bring them forward again? Is the offer to pay Vice-Admiral Norman’s expenses an effort to shut him up? Is it just me, or does the whole thing suggest to others that we are becoming something of a banana republic? When I started the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses, some business owners who had escaped oppressive regimes to come to Canada for freedom and opportunity told me, “Jocelyn you need to be careful with what you do, the government can destroy you.” I told them: “Nonsense. This is Canada, things like that do not happen here.” The whole Norman affair makes me wonder if this is indeed the case. Serious concerns about respect for the rule of law are in front of us with SNC-Lavalin and the Norman Affair. We have a prime minister obsessed with image and intolerant of dissent. We have a government determined to restructure an economy based on its own ideological worldview — destroying key sectors by taxing them and regulating them out of existence. These things should describe countries that people have come from to get to Canada, not Canada itself.

If they can do this to Mark Norman, they can do it to any of us

Increasingly, the next election looks to be an election about the fundamentals: of the role of government, of democracy, of freedom, of the rule of law. We need to hold our elected representatives accountable on all of these things. We must show them the standard of conduct we expect is much higher than this government has been able to demonstrate. If we don’t, every politician will not think twice before they decide to destroy someone’s well-being or reputation in an effort to advance their interests. Remember, if they can do this to someone of the calibre and profile and public service record of a Mark Norman, they can do it to any of us.

Jocelyn Bamford——Bio and Archives

Jocelyn Bamford is the president and founder of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada.