Retired general Wayne Eyre, Canada’s former chief of the defence staff, is publicly urging the new government of Prime Minister Mark Carney to accelerate military investment, arguing that the current public and political willingness to fund the armed forces is a time-limited opportunity.
In interviews and his new memoir, Into the Breach: A Soldier’s Journey, Eyre said Canada needs more “urgency” in rebuilding its military. He said the “social licence” for increased defence spending may not last, and the government should act quickly to take advantage of it.
Eyre served as chief of the defence staff from February 2021 to July 2024. He said he considered resigning “several times” during his tenure, including over disputes with the former Trudeau government about defence funding and the state of military readiness.
In the memoir, Eyre recounts a June 2021 incident in which he felt thrown “under the bus” by then-deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who publicly questioned his decision to keep Vice-Admiral Craig Baines in his post as commander of the navy. Baines had played golf with former chief of the defence staff Jonathan Vance, who was under military police investigation at the time. Eyre said he was on the phone with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and about to resign when Trudeau said he still had confidence in him.
Eyre also describes frustration over defence funding decisions. He wrote that in June 2022, ahead of the announcement of Canada’s new NORAD commitment, no one seemed to know where $38 billion in funding would come from or how it would be allocated. He called it a “smoke and mirrors” funding approach, with billions already allocated for other equipment taken away and reallocated, with most investments coming years in the future.
He also noted a billion-dollar budget cut that the government had inflicted on the military around the time of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s September 2023 visit to Canada, when Trudeau and Freeland gave “bellicose, impassioned speeches” about supporting Ukraine.
Eyre said he stayed in the job because resigning would have caused “significant turmoil in the institution.” He said, “Resigning is an inherently political act, which could further fray political-military relations.”
Eyre’s memoir and comments come as the Carney government faces decisions on defence spending and military modernization. He said the window for action is now, before the “social licence” for major investment closes.
Sources: CBC Politics · Global News Canada