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The RCMP are trying to find out who leaked information in 2015 that the Liberal government was considering shutting down the project, which is on schedule to deliver the ship to the navy this fall.

The Mounties interviewed Spencer Fraser, chief executive officer of the Ottawa-based Federal Fleet Services, as well as Brian Mersereau, chairman of Hill + Knowlton Strategies Canada. Mersereau is Federal Fleet Services’ Ottawa adviser and is registered to lobby the federal government on behalf of Davie.

On Jan. 9, 2017, the RCMP also raided the Ottawa home of Vice-Admiral Norman. Just hours later, Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance made the unprecedented decision to remove Norman from his job as second-in-command.

Norman has been off the job with full pay since Jan. 9. No charges have been laid against him or anybody else as a result of the ongoing investigation, on which the RCMP has declined to comment.

A spokesman for Hill + Knowlton told Postmedia that “neither H and K Strategies nor any of its employees are the target of an investigation.”

A representative of Federal Fleet Services said that “Federal Fleet Services, Davie and its employees are not under investigation.”

Under Project Resolve, Federal Fleet Services is converting a commercial vessel to provide fuel and supplies to Canadian warships at sea, a project approved by the previous Conservative government and supported by navy commanders, who see it as critical to the country’s defence.