Prime Minister Mark Carney has countered claims by Vice Adm. Topshee (DND photo)
By Tim Ryan
Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, the head of the Royal Canadian Navy, has been giving multiple interviews to media outlets of late.
The journalists and outlets selected by RCN Public Affairs were all safe bets. Some were podcasts operated by “defence analysts” who were Canadian Forces stakeholders, meaning they could be counted on to allow Topshee to get his messages across unchallenged. Others were news outlets who journalists had little background in defence, again all but guaranteeing that Topshee could get his narrative across without facing tough questions.
On Sept. 23, 2025 the Canadian Press news service published an interview with Topshee who declared that the Royal Canadian Navy could end up with submarines supplied by both companies vying for Ottawa’s sub procurement contract. So six subs from the South Koreans and six subs from the Germans.
Topshee claimed that there could be advantages to diversifying the fleet like this.
Topshee’s musing sent the defence expert community into overdrive as they scrambled to point out how this option would be wildly expensive.
The interview was also a bridge too far for the Prime Minister’s Office and the Privy Council Office who have been keeping a close eye on the vice admiral’s various media interviews. They wanted to know who had approved this Topshee interview and why was he making such claims?
The answer from the Department of National Defence was that it was Topshee and the navy that was driving this particular media ship.
And then came the slap down.
Later the same day, Prime Minister Mark Carney told journalists that Canada won't be splitting its submarine contract between two suppliers. There's "nothing I see that would suggest that we would have a mix fleet in submarines," Carney told journalists in a none too subtle response to Topshee. "You just get too many efficiencies in economies of having one fleet," Carney said.
The prime minister told journalists the process of procuring submarines is a "major decision" for the navy and for the Canadian government.
Sources tell Esprit de Corps that PCO/PMO is now trying to regain control over the freelancing vice admiral and get him to at least follow the government’s narrative.
