Canada’s chief of the defence staff, Gen. Jennie Carignan, lost a secret-ballot vote Saturday to Germany’s Gen. Carsten Breuer for the chair of NATO’s Military Committee, the alliance’s top military advisory body.
Top military commanders from NATO’s 32 member nations chose Breuer during a closed session of the committee, according to a social media announcement by the current chair, Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone. Dragone congratulated Breuer on his election and said he will take office in July 2027.
Had she won, Carignan would have been the first woman to lead the Military Committee in the alliance’s 77-year history. A Canadian has not held the post in almost two decades; retired general Ray Henault served as chair between 2005 and 2008.
In a statement posted to social media, Carignan congratulated Breuer and said it “was an honour to stand as a candidate and to engage with my fellow Allied Chiefs of Defence throughout this process.”
“There is important work ahead for our Alliance, and I know General Breuer will bring strong leadership to his new role,” she said.
Defence Minister David McGuinty said the federal government does not know the breakdown of the votes. “The important thing is that Gen. Carignan will continue to serve with her colleagues — all 31 other chiefs of defence in the alliance,” he told reporters outside a Liberal caucus retreat in Ottawa on Saturday.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government had backed Carignan’s candidacy. The vote came as Canada and European countries explore closer political, economic and defence co-operation, including a proposal by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for Canada to become the EU’s first “associate member.”
Breuer is a 61-year-old army officer who joined the Bundeswehr in an air defence unit in 1984. He served with NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Kabul in 2014 and led a crisis committee that managed Germany’s COVID-19 pandemic response in 2021 and 2022.
Sources: CBC Politics · CBC Politics