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Lawyers for Vice-Admiral Mark Norman have taken aim at a key federal cabinet minister with new allegations about Treasury Board President Scott Brison’s links to the powerful Irving family and Brison’s role in the government’s plan to delay a supply-ship contract awarded to an Irving rival.

In court documents released Friday, Norman’s legal team alleges that witnesses have contradicted Brison’s claim a leak of information about a plan to delay the contract with Davie Shipbuilding hurt the government’s ability to review the deal. Norman’s lawyers are also challenging Brison’s claim that an ad hoc government committee meeting convened at the time was examining the integrity of the contracting process.

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In the documents, Norman’s lawyer Marie Henein points to statements federal bureaucrats made to the RCMP. “Other witnesses statements contradict Brison on these key points, namely that the leaks did not impact the government decision to proceed with the Davie contract, and that the concerns at the Ad Hoc Committee were around the integrity of the contracting process,” her submission to the court alleged. “Rather, civil servants who attended and took personal notes of the Ad Hoc Committee meeting stated to the RCMP that a key concern was not having a satisfactory communications strategy for the Liberals to explain proceeding with a contract negotiated by the previous Conservative government.