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OTTAWA — Vice-Admiral Mark Norman and defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance are being given “their privacy and their space,” Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan insisted Wednesday as he was grilled over why Norman has not yet been reinstated into the military.

Sajjan sidestepped questions over whether the Trudeau government has an opinion on Norman’s desire to return to duty after the breach-of-trust case against him was dropped earlier this month.

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“We respect the chief of defence staff’s space to be able to manage the people,” the minister told reporters following a morning speech at the annual Cansec arms-trade show. “When it comes to the management of the people, it’s the chief of defence staff’s space.”

Norman was the military’s second-in-command when he was suspended and then charged with breach of trust last year for allegedly leaking government secrets about a naval contract.