I wouldn't hold breath, but I try to stay out of speculating to hard on peoples jobs lol. No idea where Topshee ends up, but I hope it is somewhere that his value is appreciated
SHAPE, Naples Italy seems to be the biggest overseas posting for a Canadian 3 🌟. Deputy Commander, US 18th Airborne Corps & Deputy Commander, NORAD, are usually reserved for Army/Airforce types IIRC.
Carignan out? Of that I’m not surprised. In that first year I thought she was hitting with a good swing, helping to formulate our defence expectations, but she really became unnoticed after she gave us a heads up that we needed to have a high degree of readiness in 5 years. I think that warning still holds true, but from this summer that window of opportunity shrinks to 3 years. The PM/PMO are holding the keys to the F-35/JAS-39 decision, which I think is being held in abeyance for the CUSMA review. So what else is there that can accelerate what the PM wants? Recruiting I guess. Mil housing? A drone force plan? Counter drone plan? Anyway, she broke through the glass ceiling and was groomed to do just that through the Trudeau regime.
I would have thought that Topshee would take over. Given the nature of our geopolitical rupture, the growing importance of our navy, his excellent communication skills and his plans and programmes to increase recruiting, I thought he would be an excellent CDS. His forward thinking, IMO, would be excellent concepts for the whole CAF. This may have been the CDS’s shortcoming, ie not expanding the roles of the reserves in training across the forces to go beyond the 100/300 thousand reserve force from being a concept to project implementation. A sub force of 12, to become a major component of the RCN, will also need a CDS with a strong naval background. Boivin would be the first wearing the Special Forces uniform.
True the Navy is where the new geopolitical focus is shifting to, but others cited Topshee as maybe being too outspoken and might not tow the line of saying what he's instructed to say along party lines, irrespective his coining & success of the Naval Experience Program(NEP) sure gives him legit creds to take over the CDS mantle and not only restructure the recruitment nightmare but go ahead and destroy and then rebuild what retention in a sleeping-giant military like Canada's, should've been like, today.
Might also give ANCU some much needed powers to scale up into the type of advanced formation they're shaping up to be.
Boivin was JTF2, so might be refreshing to have the first CANSOF CDS in CAF history since they got formed, as many said Rouleau should've clinched that role during his time.
McGuinty seems to have at least worked abit harder than the previous, so not sure why the cabinet shuffle to rotate him out is even necessary, to then put which hard man, next?
Mcguinty was always a bit of a temp. He was available, knew a lot on the file from committee, and is a good guy to gold things down. He is up there though, and I feel he would have left outright if not given the position. I think he'll likely dip and ride out the rrst of his term in the backbench. Nothing wrong with that imo.
Not sure how new the de Havilland defense organization is, but after the last bit of news about de Havilland field reminded me that they were still around it was interesting to see where they see their products being used. Do you see any likely hood of any of their products getting orders? Besides the canadair 515, which is really more defense adjacent, the twin otter, dash 8 and Sherpa all seem like interesting little planes, with some emphasis on "little". The dash 8 is big enough, I guess, but the twin otter and Sherpas are pretty small. Does the CAF have roles for them? And if they do, are they going to be shopping to fill those roles anytime soon? Unless there is a project already in the works, I'm not actually asking for speculation about RCAF buying them, just if it was even in the realm of possibility.
I sure hope Topshee ends up as CDS, his willingness to talk to people and the ease that he does so is rare.
I wouldn't hold breath, but I try to stay out of speculating to hard on peoples jobs lol. No idea where Topshee ends up, but I hope it is somewhere that his value is appreciated
Probably a foreign posting; may be NATO?
SHAPE, Naples Italy seems to be the biggest overseas posting for a Canadian 3 🌟. Deputy Commander, US 18th Airborne Corps & Deputy Commander, NORAD, are usually reserved for Army/Airforce types IIRC.
Carignan out? Of that I’m not surprised. In that first year I thought she was hitting with a good swing, helping to formulate our defence expectations, but she really became unnoticed after she gave us a heads up that we needed to have a high degree of readiness in 5 years. I think that warning still holds true, but from this summer that window of opportunity shrinks to 3 years. The PM/PMO are holding the keys to the F-35/JAS-39 decision, which I think is being held in abeyance for the CUSMA review. So what else is there that can accelerate what the PM wants? Recruiting I guess. Mil housing? A drone force plan? Counter drone plan? Anyway, she broke through the glass ceiling and was groomed to do just that through the Trudeau regime.
I would have thought that Topshee would take over. Given the nature of our geopolitical rupture, the growing importance of our navy, his excellent communication skills and his plans and programmes to increase recruiting, I thought he would be an excellent CDS. His forward thinking, IMO, would be excellent concepts for the whole CAF. This may have been the CDS’s shortcoming, ie not expanding the roles of the reserves in training across the forces to go beyond the 100/300 thousand reserve force from being a concept to project implementation. A sub force of 12, to become a major component of the RCN, will also need a CDS with a strong naval background. Boivin would be the first wearing the Special Forces uniform.
True the Navy is where the new geopolitical focus is shifting to, but others cited Topshee as maybe being too outspoken and might not tow the line of saying what he's instructed to say along party lines, irrespective his coining & success of the Naval Experience Program(NEP) sure gives him legit creds to take over the CDS mantle and not only restructure the recruitment nightmare but go ahead and destroy and then rebuild what retention in a sleeping-giant military like Canada's, should've been like, today.
Might also give ANCU some much needed powers to scale up into the type of advanced formation they're shaping up to be.
He definitely has his fans and haters. He is a very passionate leader, and sadly that doesnt always translate to political support.
At the end of the day the choice is for one man to make.
Boivin was JTF2, so might be refreshing to have the first CANSOF CDS in CAF history since they got formed, as many said Rouleau should've clinched that role during his time.
McGuinty seems to have at least worked abit harder than the previous, so not sure why the cabinet shuffle to rotate him out is even necessary, to then put which hard man, next?
Mcguinty was always a bit of a temp. He was available, knew a lot on the file from committee, and is a good guy to gold things down. He is up there though, and I feel he would have left outright if not given the position. I think he'll likely dip and ride out the rrst of his term in the backbench. Nothing wrong with that imo.
Thanks Noah. I usually find you here on substack, but found this article on Gander! Shared both! ✌🏻🍁
Topshee out? 🤯
Not sure how new the de Havilland defense organization is, but after the last bit of news about de Havilland field reminded me that they were still around it was interesting to see where they see their products being used. Do you see any likely hood of any of their products getting orders? Besides the canadair 515, which is really more defense adjacent, the twin otter, dash 8 and Sherpa all seem like interesting little planes, with some emphasis on "little". The dash 8 is big enough, I guess, but the twin otter and Sherpas are pretty small. Does the CAF have roles for them? And if they do, are they going to be shopping to fill those roles anytime soon? Unless there is a project already in the works, I'm not actually asking for speculation about RCAF buying them, just if it was even in the realm of possibility.