A federal government official was accused Tuesday of trying to undermine the cabinet’s decision-making powers by deliberately leaking sensitive documents for a $ 700 million shipbuilding project.
Crown prosecutor Mark Covan filed the indictment during the initial arguments in the breach of trust case against Matthew Mattet, an analyst at the Federal Agency for Atlantic Opportunities in Canada.
“The cabinet consists of ministers who are elected representatives. They make decisions. “They are often among the most important decisions our government makes, and they are accountable to parliament for those decisions,” Kovan told jury members in an Ottawa courtroom on Tuesday.
“This case is about this decision-making process. This is the case with the Crown’s allegations that Mr Machet has tried to corrupt, influence or be biased in this decision-making process. That was not his decision. This decision belongs to the Cabinet.
Matchet was charged with one count of breach of trust in February 2019. He pleaded not guilty.
The trial, which began on Monday, is scheduled for four weeks.
The shipyard in question involved a deal agreed by the Harper government in 2015 for the Quebec shipyard Chantier Davie to lease a converted civilian ship to the government to act as a temporary supply ship to the Royal Canadian Navy.
The first Crown witness, longtime lobbyist Brian Mercero, was Davey at the time. He testified on Tuesday that the deal for all intents and purposes was finalized before Harper’s Conservatives were ousted by Trudeau’s Liberals in October 2015.
That’s why Mercero and his client were surprised and worried to learn that the Liberals were planning to discuss the bill in a secret cabinet meeting in November.
“It was not clear why the new government had to take this and return it, in essence, to a new cabinet,” Mercero said.
Asked by Covan about the potential consequences, Mercero said “the obvious – they can be canceled (or) delayed.”
Mercero, who is currently chairman of Hill + Knowlton Strategies and still represents Davey, said he could not remember exactly how he met Matchet.
However, he testified that he was in semi-regular contact with the civil servant and asked around this time to find out what was happening with the shipbuilding project, which was later approved by the Liberals.
The court heard that shortly after Mercero spoke with Matchet, a plain brown envelope containing several documents was delivered to his office.
Emails between Mersereau and Matchett were filed in court as evidence, including one sent from Matchett’s email address to the lobbyist, which said, “I have everything, motherlode.”
Mercero said he could not recall exactly which documents were in the envelope, except for draft letters to the federal cabinet and some other unclassified material on the federal government’s broader strategy for shipbuilding supplies.
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