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Crown prosecutor Mark Covan said exchanging information was necessary due to the fact the Privy Council Office has responsibility for maintaining cabinet secrets, and had to make decisions on how secret documents requested by the defence team were going to be disclosed, if at all.

Photo by Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press/File

Covan said the conversations were especially important because of how long it was taking for the government to disclose documents — the kind of delay that can jeopardize a trial.

“We were doing what we felt was necessary to get a response,” Covan told the judge. “It took a long time, I don’t deny that … but there’s not a hint of abuse of process here. This is the Crown fulfilling its obligations.”

The dispute over access to the Prime Minister’s Office communications is just one of many that Perkins-McVey will have to settle during the hearing, which is scheduled to run until Tuesday. She will need to decide how many of the defence’s document requests are “likely relevant” to the trial.

Covan argued that many of the requests are unnecessary, and that Perkins-McVey should keep a very high threshold on what counts as likely relevant.

A key issue is whether the defence will be able to enter evidence about Norman’s motivations, which his lawyers argue was to carry out the wishes of the elected officials in the Harper government who wanted the ship. The defence has requested cabinet documents from the final year of the Harper government to support this argument.