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OTTAWA — The next battle in the criminal case of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman will be over redactions to memos written by senior government bureaucrats — especially a 60-page memo from Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that has been entirely blacked out.

Norman’s lawyer, Marie Henein, told an Ottawa court Thursday that the government redacted the memo claiming solicitor-client privilege, prompting the judge to point out that Wernick is not a lawyer.

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Henein said there is a list of redacted documents the defence will challenge the solicitor-client privilege claim, but mentioned two other key documents: a 64-page memo from Privy Council Office lawyer Paul Shuttle to Wernick written on Oct. 19, 2018 and a 13-page memo from Shuttle to Wernick written on Dec. 22, 2017. Wernick’s memo to Trudeau was dated Oct. 24, 2018.

“The issue is whether there is a viable claim of privilege on this at all, and then, if there is a viable claim of privilege, whether or not an exception should apply,” Henein said.