Roundup: The admiral needs to take the hint

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Things are looking pretty dire for Admiral Art McDonald, the former-ish Chief of Defence Staff, whose little tantrum last week in writing a letter to the general and flag officers to demand his job back (not that they could do anything about it) is looking more and more impolitic. Why? Because the military police are now pushing back to say that he wasn’t “exonerated” as McDonald claimed in his letter, but rather that there was insufficient evidence to lay charges, which is not the same thing as the allegation being unfounded. And McDonald’s accuser is speaking out publicly and pointing to witnesses to the incident, which the military won’t say whether they were interviewed or not as part of their investigation. Nevertheless, the incident makes it even clearer that McDonald doesn’t understand civilian control and doesn’t have the character and temperament necessary to guide the Forces through this particular period of culture change, and it’s better for him – and everyone else – that he get the hint and retire before consequences follow from that letter.

Meanwhile, it seems that the former commandant of the Canadian Forces School of Military Intelligence is serving as a staff officer in Ottawa after being relieved of his command following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct, which signals that there aren’t consequences if people simply get moved around.

Interested observers are wondering what is taking the government so long to take more action on what is going on with the senior ranks in the military, or to formally make General Wayne Eyre the permanent Chief of Defence Staff, formally taking McDonald’s reinstatement off the table (though he should have taken the hint when Eyre got promoted to full general). There is speculation that they are waiting for the Cabinet shuffle, but one would think that they’d want to make changes now, so that a fresh minister won’t have to come in and do the cleaning out on his or her first day rather than letting Sajjan do it now, and let his successor come in fresh. But that might require this minister and this government to have a modicum of self-awareness, and which would be your answer as to why they haven’t.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau was at the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation to apologise for not accepting their invitation to attend the National Truth and Reconciliation Day there.
  • Pfizer has officially submitted its application for vaccine doses for children aged 5-11, which Health Canada will now review.
  • Here is a look at how Crown corporations funds fossil fuel industries – and how that funding is shifting increasingly toward clean tech.
  • Senator Marilou McPhedran resigned from the Independent Senators Group hours before a scheduled expulsion hearing, and will sit as a non-affiliated senator.
  • Charlie Angus wants the government to establish a “digital rights and technology” office to take on web giants like Facebook.
  • Former Liberal Cabinet minister Amarjeet Sohi was elected mayor of Edmonton, while Calgary got its first woman mayor, Jyoti Gondek – both Punjabi immigrants.
  • Susan Delacourt contemplates the planned addition of new MPs to the House of Commons, and why it can be a fascinating exercise in defining communiites.
  • Colby Cosh relives the history of fluoridation plebiscites in Calgary, as the city undertook yet another one on Monday.
  • My Xtra column looks at Canadian Blood Services now accepting plasma donations from gay and bisexual men in two locations, and what this means for the blood ban.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: The admiral needs to take the hint”

  1. I’m tired of the reconciliation project already. It’s politically untenable, a Kobayashi Maru. I wish Trudeau hadn’t naively opened this Pandora’s box and bit off more than he could chew, but you know the old saying about the road to hell and the best of intentions.

    Now he’s going to have to give them everything and the kitchen sink and swing voters will be royally PO’ed when the bill comes due. Look what’s happening in New Brunswick as the canary in the coal mine. It’s going to turn into a race war and this is how you end up with a Canadian Trump.

    His father was right. Something something, “…for as long as they want.”

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