Shape up, minister
Jason Kenney, Canada’s minister of national defence, is new on the job. His appointment in February struck us as welcome news — defence is one of the most solemn responsibilities for any government, and this oftenproblematic ministry was in need of capable oversight. It would behoove Mr. Kenney, previously among Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s most trusted ministers, to show some sign that he appreciates how serious a task he has been entrusted with.
More plainly, he needs to smarten up a bit. In his short time on the job, Mr. Kenney has already had three embarrassing missteps. The first was his chest-thumping contention of a few weeks ago that HMCS Fredericton, deployed to the Black Sea to bolster NATO’s defences, had been “buzzed” by Russian bombers. NATO itself contradicted Mr. Kenney. It eventually emerged that, although the NATO battle group to which the Fredericton was assigned had been overflown by Russian flights, there was nothing unusual or unexpected in this; Russian warships, meanwhile, had been spotted on the horizon, but had not approached closely. Ahem. Stand down from battle stations, minister.
Then, of course, there was the minister’s embarrassing tweet on International Women’s Day. Mr. Ken- ney tweeted thanks to our soldiers for fighting ISIS, which is known for its barbaric treatment of women. The tweet included images of Muslim women, under niqabs, literally draped in chains. Problem: The images weren’t of prisoners of ISIS, but of a religious procession in Lebanon, commemorating an historical event from 1,300 years ago, and a recent anti-ISIS protest in London, U.K., where Kurdish women chained themselves. The credibility of a third image, purporting to show an ISIS soldier with his shocking young child bride, is also in question: The image appears to have been taken from an ISIS propaganda video from several years ago, but one that showed a Koran reciting event, not a child marriage. Again, ahem.
And then, last week, Mr. Kenney said that Canada must join the bombing campaign in Syria because only Canada and the United States have the precision-guided weapons needed to get the job done. Ahem, yet again: That’s simply false. Not only do Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates possess comparable weapons, they’ve already used them. Against ISIS, in Syria.
In these times of conflict, Canada needs a serious person at defence. Mr. Kenney is fully capable of being that person. Now would be a good time to start.