dapaterson said:
I would point out that Gen (ret'd) Hillier did overstep his boundaries and at least once should have been subject to a very public termination. (Being a public advocate for changes to Canadian immigration policy is well outside any left and right of arcs for the CDS and interference with matters that properly belongs in Parliament).
He was not helped by weak central staff in DND/CF who were unwilling to support their commander by pointing out obvious flaws and problems in his sometimes grandiose ideas - the ongoing failure that is the dot COMs was noted and observed by many prior to their implementation - better staff would have forced the plan to be better developed or to have had proper mitigation strategies in place, but ultimately Gen (ret'd) Hillier must wear that failure.
Was he successful in many domains? Yes. Was he ego-driven to an extent that is surprising even in the black had community? Yes.
I agree, partially, on your first point. But, as I have said before, I think Gen (ret’d) Hillier adopted an American model of
being CDS and that model was
accepted by the prime minister
s, ministers and top level bureaucrats – not welcomed, not liked, just accepted, tolerated. That model comes with considerable ‘freedom’ of expression. Serving US admirals and generals
routinely periodically address social and economic issues – even very delicate ones like race relations, housing and education. Hillier stretched the limits in Canada but they didn’t seem to break. Opposition parliamentarians
coulda or
shoulda hauled him in front of a committee but they didn’t –
presumably because they, too, drank the Hillier kool-aid.
On your second point: I was long retired so I cannot comment on how ell or poorly Hillier was advised. That being said I continue to believe that the current C2 superstructure is too large and too cumbersome with too many overlaps.
(A former VCDS of my acquaintance actually welcomed one of the steady stream of 10% cuts to HQs that occurred in the 1990s because he wanted to do some housecleaning to make fewer people work
smarter and more
effectively (but he failed, thanks to inertia one level up).)
I do agree that he was successful in most of the things to which he turned his hand – HQ organization being an exception in my
(amateur) opinion. In being so successful he raised expectations within the CF and within the country as a whole. To date the CF and the country have risen to the challenges. Time will tell if both can sustain that.