By Scott Taylor
From the outset, I wish to state that I have the utmost respect and admiration for retired General Rick Hillier. He is a natural leader; a charismatic public speaker and he earned the loyalty of those troops which he commanded.
Hillier parlayed those attributes into a stellar military career, which culminated with him serving as Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff from 2005 until 2008.
During his tenure as CDS, the Canadian Armed Forces were named the 2006 ‘Newsmaker of the year’ for their combat experiences in Afghanistan, and as a result General Hillier was a prominent figure on the national media stage.
Esprit de Corps magazine even ran a nickname campaign which resulted in Hillier being dubbed ‘The Big Cod’ (a Newfoundland expression meaning the catch of a lifetime).
That said, I was still surprised when Ontario Premier Doug Ford named Hillier as the overseer of the province’s COVID-19 vaccine roll out.
Hillier’s military career began as an armoured corps officer, a combat arms trade.
One would have thought that the large scale distribution of a vaccine in the midst of a pandemic would require both logistical and medical expertise rather than martial experience.
Nonetheless, Hillier was hired by the Ford government on 22 November, 2020 to oversee the vaccine task force until at least 21 March 2021.
However given the delays to date in vaccine delivery from suppliers, it is likely that Hillier’s term will be extended well beyond that date.
When the announcement was made appointing Hillier as head of the task force, Hillier told reporters that he took on the job because “duty calls.”
However, it was also reported that the job pays Hillier $20,000 a month, which no matter how you slice it, is a considerable amount of ‘duty.’
In December Hillier drew criticism for halting the vaccination process over the Christmas holiday. However that brief interruption has become a moot point now that the international supply chain has been temporarily suspended.
As that particular challenge is at the federal level, Hillier cannot be held accountable for the subsequent provincial delays in the roll out.
With all the challenges, setbacks and subsequent public unrest over the slow pace of the vaccination’s distribution to date, one would think that Hillier would be heeding that call to duty and burning the midnight oil on this project.
As such I was surprised to receive a press release last week stating that Hillier has taken on additional responsibility as an advisor to a Canadian defence company.
As of last week Hillier is now consulting KWESST on how they can increase international sales of their electronic systems which include counter-drone battlefield technology.
When media questioned Ford’s office as to this potential diversion of Hillier’s full attention from the life saving vaccine effort, a categorical reassurance was offered.
John Williston, a spokesman for the office of the Solicitor General wrote “General Hillier will not be commencing his new part time advisory role until he completes his function here as the Task Force Chair, so there is no possible conflict.”
Unfortunately for Williston, reporter David Pugliese of the Ottawa Citizen thought to put that same question to David Luxton the executive chairman of KWESST.
Luxton told Pugliese that KWESST will be working with Hillier in the coming weeks. Luxton opined that Hillier’s work with the company will only involve “light duties” so it should not interfere with his vaccine efforts.
“Hillier’s obviously going to be preoccupied with his current [COVID] duties.” said Luxton. “But everybody can always find time in that for discussions so that is what we expect to do next.”
As per Williston’s denial, the Ontario government knows that the optics of their vaccine distribution guy moonlighting as an arms dealer will not sit well with the public.
Nor should it.
