08 May 2017

Transport Minister Marc Garneau suggested that the Defence Policy Review, initiated by the Liberal government more than a year ago, will be made public within the next two weeks.

On may 7, while being interviewed on CTV’s Question Period (after Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan declined an invitation to appear), Minister Garneau told host Evan Solomon only that “you’re going to get the details of it very, very soon.” When pressed, he said the Review would be released “before the Prime Minister heads to NATO.”

The alliance’s heads-of-government meeting in Brussels begins May 25, eight days after a meeting of NATO chiefs of defence. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to leave Ottawa May 24.

After the NATO summit, he flies to Taormina, Italy, for a May 26-27 meeting of G7 leaders whose talks are expected to include peacekeeping.

Sajjan, who has since apologized repeatedly for his “mistake”, remains under fire for describing himself as “the architect” of Operation Medusa in Afghanistan in even though he was only one of a number of intelligence officers involved.

The two-week offensive in September 2006 was fought mainly by the 1^st Battallion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group and other elements of the International Security Assistance Force.

Garneau said that despite the defence minister’s hyperbole, he continues to have “the full confidence of […] all members of the cabinet.”

– Ken Pole