By Scott Taylor
It is now official. Canada has named the next Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jennie Carignan, the first female to ever command the Canadian Armed Forces.
The choice of General Carignan to replace outgoing CDS General Wayne Eyre was not unexpected. In fact I predicted it in a commentary over three months ago.
While there are currently 11 Lieutenant-Generals on the CAF payroll, only three of those were female and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau clearly wanted his legacy to include the appointment of the first female CDS in Canada.
The three female Lt-Gen's in the running included Vice Chief of Defence Staff Frances Allen and Chief of Military Personnel Lise Bourgon, however it was General Jennie Carignan that possessed the most operational experience. Hence her promotion to the top job.
For those 'unwoke' dinosaurs who publicly denounce General Carignan's appointment being due to the fact that she is a woman, please take a moment to actually study this officer's resume. This inspiring officer was first noticed by Esprit de Corps magazine back in 2017 when she was nominated by her peers and voted by the judges to be one of the Top Women in Defence for that year.
At the time, General Carignan was a Colonel and she was Commandant of Royal Military College, St-Jean. Obviously those who nominated General Carignan and the judges who selected her for the Esprit de Corps award were not wrong in their assessment of her professional merit.
Since that juncture in 2017, she has been promoted four times and as a Major General she commanded the high profile NATO contingent in Iraq from November 2019 until November 2020.
At the time of her appointment to CDS, General Carignan was serving as the Chief Professional Conduct and Culture Command.
Needless to say, there will be grumblings by some of the male candidates who were passed over for promotion. However as an objective observer I applaud the Prime Minister's selection of General Carignan to lead the CAF.
That said, I have to question the judgement of General Carignan in accepting the post at this particular juncture. Since I joined the CAF as an infantryman in 1982, and through 36 years of reporting on defence issues in Canada, I have never seen the CAF institution at such a perilously low point. Morale is in the toilet, causing a recruiting and retention crisis that threatens the very existence of the CAF.
In an effort to address the morale issue, General Carignan's predecessor, General Eyre implemented the controversial repeal of CAF dress and deportment standards. As anyone who understands the meaning of the word 'uniform' would expect, General Eyre's attempt to embrace politically correct policies to demonstrate more 'inclusion' backfired horribly. As a result, as General Eyre packs up his office memorabilia, as of July 2, 2024 a revised, more traditional standard of dress and deportment has come into effect.
Besides restoring morale and addressing the crippling shortage of personnel, General Carignan will need to deal with the political vacuum in which Canada currently finds itself. The Trudeau Liberals are plummeting in the polls and destined for a defeat in the next election. Defence spending is never a popular topic, and not one to win over undecided voters. Defence Minister Bill Blair is hardly the sort of politician to start fist pounding on Trudeau's desk to demand more support for the CAF.
Which leaves General Carignan without a whole lot of support in high places. At this juncture the CAF senior leadership needs to regain the trust of the rank and file, and this will not be an easy task without the political will to effect major changes. In other words, General Carignan may soon discover that she has been sent on a fool's errand. General Eyre seemed all to content to be that errand boy of Trudeau. Let's hope General Carignan proves otherwise.
