As Canada’s top soldier, the Chief of Defence Staff serves at the pleasure of the prime minister. That means that, while Canada’s top soldier, you’re not the top dog when it comes to chain of command.
And that means that when you appear in public, or comment in public, it’s a really good idea that you exercise the prudence necessary to ensure that you articulate the policies, goals, and aspirations of Canada’s military in a way that’s consistent with what the political masters are saying, in this case both the prime minister and the Minister of National Defence.
So, for Lieutenant-General Jennie Carignon, it means that she needs to keep all the ducks in the proper row, as she’s ultimately accountable to Prime Minister Mark Carney and his defence minister David McGuinty.
Recently, General Carignan sat down for an interview with the Toronto Star. Whether in the throes of rebellious opinion or because she mis-managed her briefing notes, the general had a lot to say, particularly with respect to the procurement of F-35 fighter jets from the United States, something she claims is “the way to go.”
It’s just that generals aren’t in place to articulate “the way to go,” but rather to articulate how the military will implement the government plan on what they think is “the way to go.” Because its government, the elected politicians, that decide the “way to go” part, with generals left in charge of execution. What generals don’t do is float policy opinions at the very same time that the government is in the process of reviewing them and possibly modifying them.
I wish General Carignan the very best once she steps down, which she will surely do soon, since that’s what you do when the prime minister asks for your resignation.
I won’t get into the whole back and forth around the pros and cons of the American-built F-35, and I don’t have to because that’s not the point here. The point is the need for message consistency among the different people at the higher echelons of national defence. Which means that the person with the three maple leafs on her shoulder boards needs to be singing from the same song sheet. And if you can’t do that, you either become a retired general or one with one fewer maple leaf on your rank insignia.
For a soldier, I’m shocked at the simple naivety and complete buy-in to American talking points and positions. For a general, the shock is even more profound. And so while she whimsically dishes opinion to the Toronto Star, she undercuts the current review of Canada’s defence procurement direction underway at the level of her political masters.
I doesn’t matter if I agree with her or if I don’t, that’s not the point. The issue here is one of chain of command, coherence of command, and unification of messaging. And quite frankly, if the general can’t handle that, then it follows that maybe she can’t handle being a general either.
Canada will not diminish its military capacity one iota if we decide to go in another direction as far as fighter aircraft go. How is it that I know this and the commanding general doesn’t? To give the impression that we’ll go to hell in a hand basket if we don’t cozy up to the Americans is absurd and removes what confidence I may have had in the general prior to Monday.
The only mitigating factor I can think of is that the government threw her out there as a trial balloon, to publicly set the stage for Carney to walk back his ordered review of the F-35 purchase, and provide the government with political cover. Such a scenario would be distasteful, and If it were to be true, then I’d have to turn my criticism to the very people who I’ve speculated just had the rug pulled out from under them, the prime minister and the defence minister. You don’t use your top soldier as a political sounding board, nor do you set her up as a political piñata.
But in the absence of such a political machination, General Carignan, through her own choice or through poor decision-making, has seemingly stepped out of line. If true, and in my mind, that ends her suitability to be Canada’s top soldier.
As such, her resignation would become necessary.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 