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Lawyers for Vice-Admiral Mark Norman have served notice they intend to probe the actions of one of the Liberal government’s top cabinet ministers as they try to clear the name of the naval officer accused of leaking confidential information.

In newly filed court documents, Norman’s lawyers allege that as a November 2015 deadline approached to sign a deal to lease a much-needed naval supply ship from Quebec-based Davie Shipbuilding, both defence minister Harjit Sajjan and Judy Foote, then minister responsible for procurement, were in favour of moving ahead with the project. Set in motion by the previous Conservative government, the deal also had the backing of senior government bureaucrats.

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But Treasury Board president Scott Brison intervened just before the deadline, the documents claim, raising questions about putting the Davie deal on hold.

Norman’s lawyers claim Brison, a Nova Scotia MP, is close to Atlantic Canada’s wealthy and powerful Irving family. Their shipbuilding firm had submitted its own proposal to provide a supply ship, which the Conservative government had rejected in favour of Davie’s bid. “It will be the defence’s position that Minister Brison was behind the effort to delay and potentially terminate the Davie agreement,” the documents state.