A Diary of the Defence Review, 1997

Abstract

THE TROUBLES OF THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES over the last five years have been unending: murders in Somalia, with trophy photographs of the killers and their bloodied victim; hazing rituals of the Canadian Airborne Regiment at Petawawa, in full colour on video; scandals in Bosnia; disappearing documents at National Defence Headquarters. The sense that generals were abusing their privileges and the public trust, every detail lovingly propagated in the military scandal sheet Esprit de Corps. The evasive answers, occasional self-abnegation, and even more rare defiance of senior officers in testimony before a commission of enquiry. The resignation of the defence minister and the chief of the defence staff. And for the serving men and women, the never-ending glare of publicity that reportedly has made some embarrassed to be seen in uniform.The problems are serious, and they suggest an institution in crisis, which should surprise no one because the Canadian forces have passed through more than thirty years of all-but-continuous turmoil. The unification crisis of the mid-to-late 1960s, a wrenching experience that shattered old loyalties and traditions, was followed by the imposition of bilingualism on a military that had - to a substantial extent - been an Anglo preserve. Soon there were FLUs - French Language Units - with a brigade group based at Valcartier, fighter aircraft at Bagotville, and naval vessels. Then came the elimination of Canadian Forces Headquarters and its replacement by National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ), with an integrated civilian and military staff. Generals became assistant deputy ministers and a public service mentality, or so many believe, began to develop. The Canadian charter of rights and freedoms in the early 1980s led soldiers to believe that they had rights. Employment equity persuaded women that they had rights too, and before long even the combat arms began to become gender-neutral. And when the cold war came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union, for some the primary reason for the existence of the Canadian forces largely disappeared.In these circumstances, budgets were prey to finance ministers seeking an easy answer to the deficit question. Where budgets are slashed, personnel follow. The result is projections for the Department of National Defence (DND) by the late 1990s of a force of 60,000 regulars and 30,000 reservists within a spending envelope of just above $9 billion. None of these figures holds out very much promise for a modern, high-tech military.Faced with this situation, the defence minister, Doug Young of New Brunswick, apparently came to the fixed view that the Canadian forces were in crisis. In the first Chretien administration, Young was the cabinet troubleshooter, the man who had shaken up the Transport and Human Resources ministries. He had been handed National Defence after David Collenette resigned on 4 October 1996, and it is safe to say he was dismayed by what faced him. The Somalia enquiry dominated the news, and day after day devastating stories of incompetence, malfeasance, and cover-up led the news programmes. His responses were characteristically blunt. General Jean Boyle, the chief of the defence staff (CDS) who spent eight days on the enquiry's witness stand, retired, and the vice chief, Admiral Larry Murray, was named acting CDS in his stead. Promotions were frozen. In the first week of January 1997, Young's directive to the enquiry to cease hearings by the end of March and complete its report by the end of June created a furore. The minister was right, however. The enquiry had a very damaging effect on the forces and on public support for the military, and its dilatory ways of proceeding were less than fair, its incomprehension sometimes monumental. The crimes were serious, to be sure, but so long as the enquiry dragged on, it was very difficult for action to be taken to rectify structural and disciplinary matters. In Young's view, he simply could not wait for the Commission to report in December 1997 or June 1998 or some later date. …