'Thrown under the bus': Former defence chief's memoir lays bare his battles with the Trudeau government
Former defence chief says he considered resigning 'several times'
Canada's former top military commander considered resigning "several times" during his tenure in battles with the former Trudeau government over the sexual misconduct scandal, and the lack of commitment towards defence spending.
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commander → throw → spending
Retired general Wayne Eyre's new memoir, Into the Breach: A Soldier's Journey, also peels back the curtain on the internal debate that took place over how to end the convoy occupation of downtown Ottawa in early 2022.
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that → retire → 2022
The prologue to the book, titled The Accidental CDS, is a tongue-in-cheek reference to his unusual, unexpected rise to the position of chief of the defence staff.
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prologue → title → staff
Eyre was promoted from being army commander to the top job after now-retired admiral Art MacDonald stepped aside in February 2021 because of allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
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MacDonald → promote → behaviour
Those allegations never resulted in charges and MacDonald didn't return to the defence chief's job.
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MacDonald → result → job
Eyre was left to navigate the wider sexual misconduct scandal and a flurry of allegations which engulfed several high-ranking military leaders — an experience he described as "soul crushing."
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he → leave → crushing
He candidly writes about how, in the first few months, he often questioned whether he was up to the task.
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he → write → task
Eyre's memoir recounts a highly charged incident in June 2021 where he said he felt thrown "under the bus" by former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland.
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he → recount → Freeland
At the time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Freeland both publicly questioned Eyre's decision to allow the now-former commander of the navy, Vice-Admiral Craig Baines, to remain in his post after he took part in a golf game with former chief of the defence staff Jonathan Vance, who had been under military police investigation following allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
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who → question → behaviour
In Eyre's view, Freeland's criticism amounted to forcing the prime minister to choose between his deputy and his senior military adviser.
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criticism → amount → deputy
"If there's no trust between the nation's senior military leader and the nation's senior elected leader, one of them has to go, and it's not going to be the elected leader," Eyre said in an interview with CBC News.
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Eyre → be → News
Support from Trudeau kept him from resigning
The incident culminated, Eyre said, when he was on the phone with the prime minister to discuss the decision to retain Baines.
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he → keep → Baines
He was just about to resign when Trudeau stopped him by saying he still had confidence in him.
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he → resign → him
After his initial criticism, the prime minister made a further statement of support for his defence chief — remarks Eyre had not seen when the phone call was placed.
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call → make → chief
The crisis was defused, but the tension remained.
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tension → defuse → ?
Eyre served another three years after the incident.
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Eyre → serve → incident
Resignation crossed his mind "several times" as internal battles unfolded over defence funding and the deteriorating state of readiness in the military.
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battles → cross → military
Ultimately, he decided to stay because quitting would have precipitated a further crisis in an already wounded institution.
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quitting → decide → institution
"You've got to be very careful as a military leader about resigning.
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You → get → leader
You can fall on your sword, but generally it hurts and you can only do it once," he said.
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he → fall → it
"Resigning is an inherently political act, which could further fray political-military relations, [and] would cause a momentary blip in the media cycle.
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which → fray → cycle
But at the same time, [it would] cause significant turmoil in the institution."
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it → cause → institution
At the time, the Trudeau government faced public criticism about its reluctance to approve lethal aid for the embattled Eastern European country.
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government → face → country
It was a struggle, Eyre acknowledged.
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Eyre → acknowledge → ?
"What we experienced at that time was a collision of ideology with reality," he told CBC.
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he → experience → CBC
"The ideology being, we are Canada, we don't supply weapons to a conflict zone.
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we → supply → zone
The reality was, OK, this is coming, Ukraine is a friend, this [is] one way we can help."
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we → come → ?
Eyre's book is littered with further examples related to Canada's mission to train Ukraine troops and the transfer of M-777 artillery, underlining his frustration with the government's seeming "inability to make decisions at the speed of war."
He did note there were times when Canada later outstripped its allies in the swift delivery of war supplies and equipment, such as Leopard tanks.
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Canada → litter → tanks
The overall sense of frustration came into sharp focus during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's September 2023 visit to Canada, which included a series of speeches in Toronto.
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which → come → Toronto
"Both the PM and Deputy PM Freeland gave bellicose, impassioned speeches about being strong and supporting Ukraine," Eyre wrote, noting the contradiction between the political rhetoric and the fiscal reality that faced the Canadian military at the time.
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that → give → time
"I, like the handful of CAF senior leaders present, had a hard time reconciling these otherwise great speeches with both the billion-dollar budget cut that they had just inflicted on us and their lethargy to approve a new defence policy.
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they → have → policy
The deeper the war in Ukraine became, the more concerned Eyre became about the state of Canada's readiness.
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Eyre → become → readiness
He described how, in June 2022, during the run-up to the unveiling of Canada's new policy commitment to NORAD — the by national aerospace command — no one seemed to know where $38 billion in funding was going to come from, or where it would be allocated.
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it → describe → funding
"Most galling was the 'smoke and mirrors' funding approach, with billions already allocated for other military equipment taken away and reallocated, with most investments only coming years into the future," Eyre wrote.
"With confusion persisting several days later, I drew some government ire when I frankly told a journalist that the source of funds 'wasn’t clear to me.'
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source → allocate → me
The memoir also sheds light on a passing reference that appeared in the public hearings related to the invocation of the Emergencies Act to end the convoy protest.
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that → shed → protest
Former deputy defence minister Bill Matthews testified that the military prepared operational plans as a precaution, but they were dismissed due to significant concerns that deploying troops would escalate tensions and mirror the 1990 Oka Crisis.
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deploying → testify → Crisis
Throughout the convoy protest crisis, Eyre was firmly opposed to the notion that the military had any sort of role whatsoever.
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military → oppose → role
He attempted to correct the public perception by saying there's a difference between planning and scenario spinning.
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He → attempt → planning
"We looked at various scenarios, and it wasn't planning because a plan entails assigning troops to task and warning at all levels and the like," Eyre told CBC News.
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Eyre → look → News
"No, it was more thinking about various scenarios, and what questions would we have to ask, what measures would have to be taken.
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measures → have → questions
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
