In January, Canada’s top military commander, General Wayne Eyre, announced his plans to retire from the Canadian Armed Forces. There’s a lot at stake with this change of command, which might explain why after 5 months the government has still not announced his replacement. Eyre was first appointed acting Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in February 2021. He inherited an office whose reputation was in tatters, following the sexual misconduct allegations of the two previous incumbents. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, Eyre also had to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, a resurgent imperialistic Russia, an increasingly hostile China, a personnel shortage, aging equipment and a government that kept cutting his budget.In all fairness, he did as well as anyone could have been expected to do with the cards he was dealt.Yet his decisions around vaccine mandates, the organizations terrible lack of transparency, a shortage of military housing and pursuit of ‘woke policies’ such as gender-neutral dress code, will indelibly mar his time in the role.However, the choice of who will replace him, may prove to be even more controversial than anything Eyre ever did, considering the precarious state of the CAF.How precarious is it? Well, according to numbers provided by the CAF earlier this year, the organization is now short more than 16,000 personnel. Which doesn’t sound too bad until you give it some perspective. Consider it this way, instead. The CAF is essentially short the entire population of Swift Current, SK. or all of Sylvan Lake, AB.Sadly, the CAF also thinks it can actually recruit and train that many people by 2032. This is delusional. And, it will make things no easier when you factor in that the armed forces will simultaneously be struggling with aging equipment, increased operational demands, and ongoing cultural instability.Needless to say the choice of who is going to lead the organization for the next 3 to 5 years is highly critical.Right now many defence insiders are predicting that either Lieutenant General (LGen) Jennie Carignan, leading the CAF’s Chief Professional Conduct and Culture (CPCC) department, or LGen Lise Bourgon, the head of Chief of Military Personnel (CMP), will get the appointment.However, their respective credentials notwithstanding, the main reason many are looking at these two senior officers as Eyre’s potential replacement is that a woman has never held the role of CDS. I recognize that this is a terribly cynical thing to say, but it does not make it untrue.After all, it’s the responsibility of the incumbent government to choose who gets the job of being Canada’s top soldier. This particular government is absolutely obsessed with gender, identity and imagery and that will make the allure of appointing the first ever women CDS too tempting to resist for our self-proclaimed feminist prime minister.That said, there is absolutely no reason at all why a women shouldn’t be CDS. In fact it’s likely overdue. But while both Carignan and Bourgon may be eminently qualified and align well with current government DEI orthodoxy, that doesn’t implicitly make them the right choice for salvaging the CAF.The next CDS needs to be someone who is willing to buck government social engineering efforts within the organization. Yes, stamp out sexual misconduct and yes, increase diversity. But at best, those should be tertiary goals, and always subordinate to operational effectiveness and the ability to field a sustainable fighting, or humanitarian force.Not only that, the next CDS needs to be someone who can relate to the men and women on the business end of operations and possess the ability to inspire them. The past 8 to 10 years of messaging from CAF leadership has been dull and largely patronizing. This is reflected in the current poor level of retention among mid-level leaders like sergeants, warrant officers, captain’s and majors. Inspired people don’t leave an organization.Lastly, and most importantly, the next CDS needs to be able to make a strong case to Canadians why the CAF is worth funding, why they should want to join it, and what Canada will look like if they don’t.Maybe Carignan or Bourgon will fit that bill, maybe they don’t, I don’t know for certain. But my advice to the government is to paraphrase the Grail Knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: “Choose, but choose wisely, for while a good CDS will bring the CAF life, a bad CDS will take it from it.”
