defence brass shuffled again.
OTTAWA • The fallout from the failed prosecution of Vice-admiral Mark Norman continued Friday as the Department of National Defence announced another shuffle to the top ranks of the Canadian Forces, including the appointment of a new second-in-command.
Canadian Army commander Lt.-gen. Jean-marc Lanthier has been tapped to become the new vice-chief of defence staff, the fourth officer in that position since Norman was suspended from the office in January 2017.
Lanthier takes over from Lt.-gen. Paul Wynnyk, who linked his surprise resignation Tuesday to an aborted attempt to reinstate Norman as vice-chief after the breach-of-trust case against him was dropped in May.
Lanthier had only last year taken over command of the army, which will now go to Lt.-gen. Wayne Eyre, who just last month had been installed as the chief of military personnel, the Forces’ top human-resources officer.
Those two moves caused a ripple effect further down the chain of command as
IT’S HARD TO DO THAT (JOB) EFFECTIVELY ... IF YOU’RE HAVING PEOPLE THAT AREN’T STAYING EVEN TWO YEARS.
DND said four other senior officers were being moved to fill in the gaps.
While senior ranks are subject to change every year as older officers retire, the pace has accelerated since Norman’s suspension.
The churn in the vicechief’s office has been particularly worrying to many observers given the importance of the position, which is responsible for much of the day-to-day financial oversight and management of the Forces.
“The VCDS position is supposed to be the critical resource-steward,” said defence analyst David Perry of Canadian Global Affairs Institute. “And it’s hard to do that effectively, no matter how good the people you’re putting into those positions are, if you’re having people that aren’t staying even two years.”
Many had believed Wynnyk would stay in the position after Norman’s settlement, and plan to retire, last month. But that was before Wynnyk’s surprise resignation.