Strategic communications practitioner. Former senior military public affairs officer. CGAI Fellow. Aussie dad. 🇨🇦
Joined December 2016
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New report by @CAGlobalAffairs tells the story of a 5+ year DND initiative labelled by leaders as "incompatible" with govt policy, and lacking "appropriate authorities & oversight." See: cgai.ca/the_rise_and_fall_of…
“Those who have a general interest in this nation’s military affairs will surely find much to like, including his depiction of operational experiences, background to newsworthy events he was part of, and complexities of leading the CAF during a particularly challenging time.
Many CAF-knowledgeable readers, though, are likely to find the account of his time as CDS to be overly defensive, sometimes performative and selective of facts, particularly about the efforts around culture change (not just misconduct of a sexual nature) in the military.”
“Those who have a general interest in this nation’s military affairs will surely find much to like, including his depiction of operational experiences, background to newsworthy events he was part of, and complexities of leading the CAF during a particularly challenging time.
Many CAF-knowledgeable readers, though, are likely to find the account of his time as CDS to be overly defensive, sometimes performative and selective of facts, particularly about the efforts around culture change (not just misconduct of a sexual nature) in the military.”
What can Canadians learn from the career of the country’s highest military leader? Brett Boudreau of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute reviews Gen. Ret’d Wayne Eyre’s “Into the Breach: A Soldier’s Journey”. Read more 👉 bit.ly/4BpmsIN
#cdnpoli #CAF
Some thoughts on retired General Wayne Eyre’s book Into the Breach.
ottawalife.com/article/refle…
⚓️Historically significant and unique piece of #RoyalCanNavy heritage is up for auction in two days at Sparks International in Ottawa.🇨🇦
On offer is a postal history archive of Lt. William McKinstry Maitland-Dougall, the first Canadian naval officer to command a submarine. He was killed in March 1918, age 23, when a French airship mistakenly bombed HMS D3 in the English Channel, killing all 30 crew.
The mobilization of Canada’s Pacific naval forces is traced through his service aboard the cruiser HMCS Rainbow, gunboat HMS Algerine and submarine tender HMS Shearwater, with historically-significant discussion of Canada’s first submarines, CC-1 and CC-2, including barometric-pressure log recordings made aboard CC-1 and Maitland-Dougall's personal thoughts of entering the submarine service.
Further correspondence follows postings at Naval Headquarters in Ottawa, examination duty on the St. Lawrence aboard HMCS Canada/Speedy, and service aboard HMCS Niobe, with early censor markings.
This is an extraordinary archive documenting the early Royal Canadian Navy and the emergence of submarine warfare. See lot 1080 at
stampauctionnetwork.com/IK/i…
Brett Boudreau retweeted
German general hustled for the NATO job while media-averse CDS Gen. Jennie Carignan touched base with NATO colleagues.
defenceobserver.ca/blog/did-…
Brett Boudreau retweeted
Did Gen. Carignan really lose NATO’s top job because of Trump?
defenceobserver.ca/blog/did-…
Another reputational self-inflicted wound by Defence over withholding information that would be inconsequential excepting for the effort made to conceal it. These regular occurrences demand more active political oversight as CDS and DM aren't fixing it nor holding responsible authority (Public Affairs) to account. These 'own goals' just create suspicion of CAF motives, and fuels mis/disinformation.
My latest article....Canadian military won't release records discussing RCAF commander’s F-35 photo
ottawacitizen.com/public-ser… via @ottawacitizen
Brett Boudreau retweeted
🇨🇦🤝🇲🇳 Only the Canadian embassy in Mongolia posted about CAF participation at Exercise KHAAN QUEST 2026. Only 111 accounts saw that, because none of the DND/CAF official accounts promoted their post, ensuring Canadians were kept ignorant and susceptible to disinformation.
Ambassador Doust was pleased to attend the #KhaanQuest 2026 Closing Ceremony near Ulaanbaatar on July 3. Canada was proud to join this multinational peacekeeping exercise, reinforcing our commitment to defence cooperation across the Indo-Pacific.
Brett Boudreau retweeted
Combat Camera made an album for it, but it wasn't promoted by any Canadian Armed Forces accounts on Twitter, so it's only had 438 views to date. Great pictures. Great work. Another poor effort from public affairs to promote their effort. Normal.
flickr.com/photos/cafcombatc…
Brett Boudreau retweeted
My latest article....Battle of the generals: Carignan versus Breuer
ottawacitizen.com/public-ser… via @ottawacitizen
Interesting vote upcoming this Saturday in Copenhagen to determine whether the German or Canadian chief of defence will win election amongst peers, for the top military job in NATO, working at the HQ in Brussels.
My latest article....Will Canada's top general win vote for key NATO job? Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan will find out on Sept. 19 whether she'll become NATO's next CMC.
ottawacitizen.com/public-ser… via @ottawacitizen
This is what happens when institutional leadership loses its way. A good but painful-to-read first-hand account setting out a shocking indictment of the Canadian military public affairs functional authority and of CAF leaders meant to provide direction, guidance and oversight.
“Canada has seen a ‘decline in transparency about a number of different aspects of defence’ in recent months, said David Perry, who heads the [@CAGlobalAffairs ].”
Shout out to Christy for first reporting this interesting story nearly 2 weeks ago!
Great story in the front page of the National Post today….the story I broke 12 days ago - no credit given.
@nationalpost @tophlambie
thestateofthingsca.substack.…
Good overview of the story from this reporter. The sclerotic security clearance process in Canada is decades overdue a major overhaul. Needs a PCO-led Task Force with discrete yet short timelines to massively improve - implications for sub-optimal outcomes in this space are wide-spread, growing, and pronounced.
CSIS screened 129,740 people for the Government of Canada last year. Did they miss something while vetting alleged NATO spy, Claire Biwei Zhang? A deeper dive into the potential red flags. ctvnews.ca/canada/article/re…
