'Thrown under the bus': Former defence chief's memoir lays bare his battles with the Trudeau government

[Dr Strangelove]

Wayne Eyre says he considered resigning 'several times'


Eyre says he was about to resign on a phone call with Trudeau before the prime minister told him he still had confidence in him.

He stayed, but says resignation crossed his mind "several times" as the government's handling of defence funding and military readiness wore on.

"You can fall on your sword, but generally it hurts and you can only do it once," he said.
On Ukraine, Eyre says the Trudeau government's reluctance to send lethal aid was "a collision of ideology with reality."

"The ideology being, we are Canada, we don't supply weapons to a conflict zone," he told CBC.

His book is full of frustration with the government's "inability to make decisions at the speed of war.
When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited in 2023, Eyre says Trudeau and Freeland gave "bellicose, impassioned speeches" about standing with Ukraine.

Behind the scenes, they had just cut the military's budget.

"I, like the handful of CAF senior leaders present, had a hard time reconciling these otherwise great speeches with both the billion-dollar budget cut that they had just inflicted on us and their lethargy to approve a new defence policy."

Eyre says the Trudeau government announced a $38 billion NORAD commitment in 2022 with no one able to say where the money would come from.

"Most galling was the 'smoke and mirrors' funding approach, with billions already allocated for other military equipment taken away and reallocated, with most investments only coming years into the future," he wrote.

When he told a journalist the source of funds "wasn't clear to me," he says he drew government ire.
Asked if Canada is ready for a possible major conflict later this decade, Eyre said no.

[al_keda]

Unfuckingbelieveable.

[Dr Strangelove]

This is why JT was reviled. The rhetoric was on point when it came to supporting Ukraine but the reality was the shelves were bare and they knew it. They offered expired and defunct ordnance and whatever they could muster under civilian dual-purpose contracts to look like we were doing something meaningful but at no point was there any serious effort on air defence or drone procurement for either Ukraine or for the CAF. And we are talking about the front line troops in Latvia even. They can't even get proper kit. There was never the stomach or political will until JT was gone and Carney had checked the books and saw we were out of everything. That's why we are getting a flood of big ticket projects all of a sudden but this is like feeding a starving child with a balloon stomach. You can kill the kid by feeding it too much too fast and the same with the CAF and troop levels and training. You can't have a bunch of green troops you press ganged off the street running high speed kit like a 212 Submarine and expect it to work. These things take decades to spin up and there is no investment in the basics.

[Dr Strangelove]

Gen. Wayne Eyre on Canada-US relations: "We've been lucky with our geography in this country. Well, that luck is starting to run out. Many have said that, okay, we only need to wait this out until 2028, and things will go back to the way it was. Things are never going back to the way it was. Alliances are predicated on trust and certainty."


Our luck and time has run out.

[Dr Strangelove]

Military Readiness and Inaction: General Eyre details how decades of under-resourcing and a reliance on favorable geography led to a lack of military preparedness (1:58-2:30). He emphasizes the urgency of rebuilding hard power following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, noting that Canada lacked the industrial capacity to regenerate essential military supplies (4:15-4:41).
Strategic Culture: He explains that Canada’s long-standing reliance on its unique geography and a peaceful relationship with the United States created a "strategic culture" where investing in defense was not prioritized (3:22-4:07).
The Challenge of Leadership: General Eyre discusses the complexity of balancing military professionalism—which requires subservience to elected officials—with the duty to advocate for the safety of Canadian troops based on his past combat experiences (2:53-3:08, 5:18-5:56).
Future Outlook: He warns that the era of relying solely on the United States for security is changing. He advocates for increased defense literacy among Canadians and suggests that while Canada should remain a close partner with the US, it must also hedge by expanding its network of international alliances to ensure national interests (10:10-11:06).
General Eyre also addresses the "extreme tail risk" of a US military attack on Canada, noting that while the probability remains very low, the fact that it is a topic of discussion highlights how significantly the global security environment has evolved (11:38-12:46).


Wow. Pretty much beat for beat of what I posted. Very sobering.

[Dr Strangelove]

But he didn’t resign! Hell no CDN senior General has publicly resigned in protest for 50+ years now!

I actually served with Erye when he was a hard charging junior & field grade officer. He was keen, fit & dedicated to the profession of arms.

I next met him at Lady Patricia’s funeral in London. He had just been promoted to Lt. General. He was definitely still fit but was a very different man. He seemed incapable of speaking with the six young PPCLI soldiers who had just carried the Countess’s coffin & didn’t seem to remember having served in the CAR. I certainly didn’t expect him to remember me, but even though he was only there for a few months, it’s hard to forget that you served in 2 Commando. It’s why he was authorized to wear the wings with the white maple leaf that was on his chest.

Anyway, I didn’t expect him to become the CDS but he did & within a short period of time joined de Chastelain as one of the worst CDS’s in my lifetime.

It’s truly hard to imagine such a talented regiment only producing 2 CDS’s & both of them were politicians of the worst kind.

I lost every last once of respect I had for Erye when he not only agreed to enforce the COVID vaccine mandate on the CAF even after he was informed it was an illegal order but worse when it resulted in a complete misuse of the Code of Service Discipline by unit commanders & some 500 service members being released often with a 5F designation which strips the service members of their veterans benefits & any ability to work for the federal gov.

He also signed off on the insane changes to the dress manual & fitness standards & he wondered why he presided over a retention & recruitment crisis.

As an aside he personally participated in the cover up & promotion to Lt. General of the current CDS after she was relieved of her command in Iraq as a Major General.

Erye definitely falls into the top 5 worst CDS’s ever & a self aggrandizing book won’t change that.



Harsh but he is not the rationale for the lack of recruitment.