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The crew felt they couldn’t do anything to put a halt to the antics as these very important people were Vance’s guests. Some military personnel have labelled the fiasco the “party flight” while some in the RCAF refer to the Dec. 2-3 2017 incident as the “Mardi Gras at 34,000 feet.”

Williams has been charged with sex assault and assault. He denies the charges. The alleged victim is a military flight attendant.

The $337,000 taxpayer-funded trip was planned by Vance’s office. Vance okayed the booze on the RCAF aircraft.

Conservative MPs James Bezan and Cheryl Gallant grilled Sajjan at the Commons defence committee last Thursday about what he knew about the flight and when. They questioned whether his department and the Canadian Forces tried to mislead the public and the news media, namely the Ottawa Citizen, about what happened on the flight.

Sajjan didn’t give a clear answer on when he found out about the problems on the aircraft but said his department and the Canadian Forces don’t mislead journalists. He noted that the priority for the DND and Canadian military is to ensure a harassment-free environment and helping victims of alleged sexual impropriety.

Jody Thomas, Deputy Minister at the Department of National Defence, told parliamentarians there was no attempt to mislead the Ottawa Citizen. “ Information was released as it became available,” Thomas said.

Not quite.

Here is the internal message that went through the DND and Canadian Forces when the incident happened in December 2017. It was obtained months later after the alleged sexual assault through the Access to Information law by Toronto Star journalist Bruce Campion-Smith. The Ottawa Citizen also received a copy.