By Scott Taylor
Last week was another public relations fiasco for the senior leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces. Ottawa Citizen defence reporter David Pugliese released a story with the headline "Soldiers Leaving Canadian Forces over 'Toxic Leadership', top adviser warns'.
The Citizen article was based upon video footage of an April 23 virtual townhall hosted by Chief of Defence Staff, General Wayne Eyre. This virtual event was for the CAF's top military leaders to discuss the Liberal government's recently released Defence Policy Update.
An official request by the Citizen for a copy of that video was initially denied by the Department of National Defence, with the explanation that it was 'for internal use only'.
However, a copy of the video had already been leaked to Pugliese by an anonymous source. Most likely this footage was provided to the Citizen by a military member who had grown frustrated with the senior brass' attempts to clamp down on information that could be considered embarrassing to the senior leadership of the CAF.
In this case it was a blunt assessment from the Canadian Forces Chief Warrant Officer Bob McCann. In addressing the current crisis in retention of trained personnel, McCann downplayed the notion that members were fed simply up with their constant postings. "A lot of our members leave this organization not necessarily because they are not going where they want to be," McCann told the senior officers on the virtual townhall. "They leave because of toxic leadership or bad leadership. This is one aspect that we need to address if we are going to support our members better as they serve."
For Chief Warrant Officer McCann to make this statement to those very same toxic leaders while seated next to CDS Eyre, the very individual whom he directly advises, is ballsy in the extreme. It is a true litmus test of how far morale in the CAF has plummeted when the senior individual representing the concerns of the non-commissioned ranks tells the general officers and flag officers that their toxic leadership is to blame for the exodus.
The fact that their first reaction was to try and prevent those video comments from being made public indicates that McCann's words fell on deaf ears.
The story broke during the annual CANSEC defence show in Ottawa where the defence industry showcase their wares to the CAF and government procurement officials. This year's event drew a record 7,200 attendees on the first day alone, creating essentially the world's biggest water cooler. Given the composition of the crowd - mostly serving and retired senior officers - the 'toxic leadership' story generated plenty of discussion.
Perhaps somewhat unfairly, a lot of the focus was on soon-to-be retired CDS, General Eyre. It was on his watch that the CAF announced the relaxing of the dress and deportment standards which now allow for any and all hairstyles, piercings and tattoos. Uniforms are still worn but members can now choose the gender specific clothing which they wear.
For many of the retired officers now employed in the defence industry, this year's CANSEC show was the first time they witnessed what those changed standards have produced in terms of the appearance of currently serving members.
Needless to say there were a lot of gob-smacked Colonel Blimps 'tut-tutting' and bemoaning the fact that the CAF has 'gone to hell in a hand-basket'.
What was most often discussed was the fact that none of the dress and deportment changes were actually necessary. The claim by Eyre was that it was necessary to attract sufficient recruits due to the existential personnel shortage.
However recent media reports highlighted the fact that last year alone 71,000 people applied to join the CAF but only 4,100 were administratively processed. In other words, General Eyre lowered the CAF's standards to fix a problem that did not exist. That will be his legacy.
It is anticipated that General Eyre's yet to be named successor will re-establish more professional dress and deportment standards shortly after they assume office later this summer
