By Scott Taylor
On Wednesday Nov. 9, the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI) hosted their 30th annual Vimy Gala Dinner at the Museum of History in Ottawa.
In their promotional material, CDAI billed this event as “one of the most exclusive formal dining evenings in the country which unites the defence and security community.”
Indeed, the Vimy Gala did bring out over 600 attendees that included Richard Wagner, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Jody Thomas, Trudeau’s National Security advisor, a bevy of senior military officers and the majority of the Ottawa Service Attaché Association (OSAA).
So far so good.
Then Lt-Gen (ret’d) Michel Maisonneuve took to the podium to give his acceptance speech as this year’s recipient of the Vimy Award. The CDA Institute selection committee sought to honour Maisonneuve for his life-long contributions in defence, including his work on military education, support for veterans and his commitment to bilingualism.
Fair enough. Maisonneuve served in the army for 35 years before retiring in 2007 at the esteemed rank of Lt-General.
However, rather than simply accepting his kudos, Maisonneuve chose to climb onto his soapbox to rail against everything from cancel culture to climate change.
He prefaced his speech with a recap of Canada’s past military victories, which oddly enough included the recent war in Afghanistan. Note to the good general, we lost that one.
His segue into crapping on the current state of affairs rang an eerily Trump-like tone. “Canada was a great nation and though we are faltering today, I believe we can be great again,” stated Maisonneuve. Then his tirade began.
His first target was social media and the rise of cancel culture. Then he turned to the state of actual journalism. “The line between “news” and op-eds has blurred and too often we are subjected to sermons written not by seasoned journalists but by first-year graduates of woke journalism schools,” claimed Maisonneuve, adding that “unbiased reporting seems to have died with Christie Blatchford and Matthew Fisher.”
For the record, both Blatchford and Fisher were both unrepentant cheerleaders of all things Canadian military.
It should also be noted that in attendance that evening were CBC’s seasoned defence reporter Murray Brewster and Global News’ Mercedes Stephenson who was recently recognized for her investigative reporting on senior level military sexual misconduct. They are both very much alive.
On the topic of climate change, Maisonneuve pulled no punches. “Canada’s prosperity is being sacrificed on the altar of climate change as opposed to being used to help the world transition to clean energy.” said Maisonneuve. As for those who protest climate change, Maisonneuve opined they should “be punished, not celebrated.”
On the topic of formal apologies to various groups for historical wrongs, Maisonneuve believes that “the phenomenon for collective apologies flourishes in our country” and that “individuals and groups fight over who gets to wear the coveted victim’s cloak.”
Even more specifically, Maisonneuve took issue with Chief of Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre’s recent changes to the military dress code. “I see a military … where uniforms have become a means of personal expression rather than a symbol of collective pride and unity: uniforms are no longer uniform.”
Not unsurprisingly, Maisonneuve’s words were a tonic to the old guards’ ears and the crowd rewarded him with a standing ovation.
However, the sentiment was not unanimous as was admitted in a subsequent statement from Youri Cormier, the executive director of the CDA Institute. “Many attendees were offended by LGen (ret’d) Maisonneuve’s speech. His remarks do not reflect those of the CDA Institute.”
Unfortunately for the CDA Institute and Maisonneuve, the division sown at the Vimy Gala did not remain within the exhibition hall at the Museum of History.
Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese soon broke the story of the standing ovation by serving officers for Maisonneuve’s anti-government policy remarks.
As one would expect, Maisonneuve’s stance served as a lightning rod to polarize the defence community. Many felt that the general was speaking truth to power while many felt just as strongly that Maisonneuve is out of touch with the current social climate.
Minister of National Defence Anita Anand and Lt. Gen. Jennie Carignan, the Canadian Armed Forces Chief of Professional Conduct and Culture, both publicly criticized the speech after the Citizen article published.
It should be noted that Lt. Gen. Carignan was in attendance at the Vimy Gala when the remarks were made.
That said, if the CDA Institute truly thought this dinner would “unite” the defence and security community they could not have picked a worse candidate to give the keynote speech.
As a positive take on this incident, it is heartening to see that there are two separate camps. That means that while some still pine for the dinosaur era, there are progressives in the military community who get the fact that the times have changed.
