The latest row at DND in Ottawa began in August when since-retired Gen. Andrew Leslie’s report on transforming the Canadian Forces fell into the hands of national news outlets. Media attention over Gen. Leslie’s key recommendation to reduce the number of headquarters and staff to deal with 40 per cent growth in DND and Canadian Forces bureaucracy since 2004 led the government to officially release the report to the public in early September.
In a statement following the report’s official release on Sept. 9, Defence Minister Peter MacKay (Central Nova, N.S.) said that the document would “inform our approach to the Government’s Deficit Reduction Action Plan, the results of which will be presented in Budget 2012,” and praised Gen. Leslie’s work as an “ambitious and complex undertaking.”
As part of the government’s efforts to eliminate the deficit by 2015, departments are in the process of reviewing operations to identify between five and 10 per cent in savings prior to the 2012-2013 budget. For DND, with a budget exceeding $20-billion annually, this means finding between $1-billion and $2-billion in time for next year’s budget.
Ret. Colonel Alain Pellerin, executive director of the Conference of Defence Associations, told The Hill Times that the Defence Department is unlike other federal departments in that responsibilities are divided between the Defence Minister, the chief of defence staff and deputy ministers.
“If you want difficult decisions to be made, such as the Leslie Report’s recommendations, the best way would be for the minister to take hold of that report and [implement it],” explained Col. Pellerin. “Now the way it’s done is by looking at the various recommendations and seeing how they fit into the strategic operating review, and then feeding the recommendations into the review.”
“In the past, the CF has been able to get away with running its own show because the minister usually doesn’t have a very good grasp of the department,” observed Christian Leuprecht, professor of political science and economics at the Royal Military College of Canada. “Minister MacKay has been in place for four years, he knows how the department works and I think he’s seeing some of the problems in terms of trying to get things done, and that it will require a fairly heavy handed, top-down approach.”
It’s this dynamic between the long-serving minister and an entrenched and expanded military bureaucracy that has led some to suggest that there is an effort within DND ranks to push out Mr. MacKay and frustrate efforts to find savings within the Defence department.
In the weeks following the transformation report’s official release, both Minister MacKay and Chief of Defence Staff Walter Natynczyk were the subject of leaks that stirred up public ire over perceived wasteful spending at DND.
On Sept. 15, CTV Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife reported that Gen. Natynczyk had racked up $1-million in Challenger jet flights to sporting events, fundraisers, and vacations since succeeding retired General Rick Hillier as chief of defence in 2008.
A week later media reported that Minister MacKay’s office had requested that he be transported by a Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopter from a fishing retreat in Newfoundland last summer. Minister MacKay defended the move as a test of the Cormorant’s search-and-rescue capabilities, much to the amusement of opposition critics.
It has since been revealed that the Defence Minister has racked up nearly $3-million worth of Challenger flights since assuming the role in 2007, second only to Prime Minister Harper in VIP flights by elected officials.
Although Mr. Fife’s reports have cited military sources, it hasn’t stopped some from suggesting that the leaks are part of a long-standing rift between the Defence Minister and the PMO. It’s been speculated that the PMO has publicly shamed the Defence Minister and Chief of Defence Staff to make future cuts to DND publicly acceptable, while at the same time exerting political influence over Minister MacKay.
However, one government insider questioned how the leaks could originate with the PMO when the Prime Minister has actively defended Canada’s Armed Forces and Minister MacKay in the House of Commons.
“Half of those flights were for repatriation ceremonies, so he could meet the families of those who had lost their loved ones in the service of this country. He goes there to show that we understand their sacrifice, we share their pain and we care about them,” Prime Minister Harper declared in the House of Commons in response to criticism of Mr. MacKay’s $3-million in VIP flights.
The government has adamantly contested claims that the minister has been using military and VIP aircrafts unnecessarily. In defence of Mr. MacKay, the Prime Minister insisted that VIP aircraft usage by the minister was 70 per cent less than that of his Liberal predecessors.
Canadian Press journalist Murray Brewster acknowledged that there were a number of plausible explanations for the leaks, but credited “Official Ottawa’s” tight control over information with motivating many civil servants to leak information that they feel ought to be public knowledge.
“It’s that strangling of information, the absolute desire to control every comma in the story that I think is part of the reason we’re seeing a lot of these leaks,” said Mr. Brewster, who traces Canada’s military involvement in Afghanistan in his forthcoming book, The Savage War. “The right to information is engrained whether in military circles or political circles. The idea that we have a right to information, that we should be told what is going on, is something that is deeply engrained in Canadians.”
Veterans’ advocate and retired Canadian Air Force intelligence officer Sean Bruyea echoed Mr. Brewster’s observation that there is a mounting push back against enforced secrecy in Ottawa’s military and civilian circles.
“In terms of the leaks, there’s really an anal retentiveness in both the military and bureaucracy, that feels that no government business should be known by the public,” Mr. Bruyea noted. “The military fights for openness and democracy, so these leaks, which don’t jeopardize national security in the least, should have been made public, and shouldn’t have had to be leaked.”
Mr. Bruyea discovered that his own health records had been reviewed openly by federal bureaucrats seeking to discredit his public advocacy work in 2006. “Having been a victim of privacy leaks, these leaks that have occurred at DND are the right kind of leaks that should occur, not what happened to me.”
“It’s probably a perfect storm, all of these things coming together,” says retired Colonel and former veterans ombudsman Pat Stogran, who blew the whistle on the government’s inadequate support for veterans before stepping down last fall. Col. Stogran said that the government has an interest in being able to justify cuts to the military, and accused DND headquarters of playing political games. “There’s no doubt in my mind that there are several agendas at play here.”
Origin
Source: Hill Times
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