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Scott Taylor: Spotlight shines on Canada’s chief of defence staff

General highlights hit parade of old favourites

On June 28, while awaiting the start of Canada’s World Cup soccer game against South Africa, I took in the CTV News political show Question Period.

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The segment I was most interested in was an interview between host Vassy Kapelos and Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan.

I was hoping to get some valuable insights into Canada’s evolving defence posture following Prime Minister Mark Carney’s remarks that our relations with our U.S. ally have been “ruptured” in the wake of the annexation threats made toward Canada by President Donald Trump. I was hoping to hear clear and detailed plans for Carignan’s widely publicized expansion of the regular and reserve forces, plus her suggested creation of a 300,000-strong supplementary reserve composed of a core of civil servants with one week of military training and no uniforms.

Carignan is also on the record recently stating that while Canada will not be a part of Trump’s military Operation Epic Fury campaign against Iran, Canada is prepared to help defend our Gulf State allies in the region. The question to Carignan stemming from that statement would be: With what?

Kapelos did not ask Carignan about any of those subjects. Instead, the general was able to bring up all the old favourites.

When asked what she believes is the primary threat facing Canada, the country’s top soldier pointed to missiles developed with new technology coming from Russia.

“The threat to our continent is mostly related to the new missile technologies and the new vehicles of........

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