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That‘s what you call a constitutional crisis. The Canadian Constitution simultaneously requires both “a Constitution similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom” and unanimous consent of all provinces and the federal parliament to changes to “the office of the Queen”. The second...

I prefer the traditional interpretation, where the Maple Leaf symbolizes the eternal domination of Canada by the founding provinces over those other, western and northern, provinces where sugar maples do not grow.

General Allard wore pilots wings, and was the first Commander Mobile Command in the 1960’s. Of course, given that he was an infantry battalion and brigade commander in WWII and Korea, he’s probably not best described as a TacHel guy — more like a Van Doo that knew how to fly.

The first person born in what would eventually become Canada to receive the Victoria Cross was Alexander Dunn of the 11th Hussars, for actions during the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava during the Crimean War. Dunn was born in York, in Upper Canada.

There is a bus from Port Elgin to Toronto Pearson Airport — from the airport you’d then take the UP express to Union Station, then VIA. But the bus doesn't run very often, or even every day, https://tokcoachlines.com/schedule-services/ But of all the options you’ve explained, I’d go with a...

With regard to Sudan, it doesn’t appear that there is a very sizeable population of dual nationals. Instead, most Canadians in that country appear to working in either the mining sector or the oil industry. This is ‘legitimate work’ — but it isn’t with the government or an NGO. And in a war...

The two key takeaways I see are that the Phoenix pay debacle clearly didn’t piss off as many people as I expected, or maybe more accurately didn’t piss them off enough to quit, and that the Public Service still knows how to attract, recruit and retain Canadians — which the CAF struggles with.

The prisoners and prison staff all ate the same food, prepared in the same kitchen. Which no doubt helped in keeping the quality at a decent standard.

YTEP were trade qualified. This is something else — non-trade qualified pers that can go to sea in order to… go to sea. Doesn‘t fix the technical trades, but I suppose a generic able hand is better than an empty rack.

Canadians as a whole weren’t exactly enthusiastic about the two World Wars. Canadians certainly did volunteer, but there was a limit to their enthusiasm, otherwise we wouldn’t have had two conscription crises. While there seems to be a pattern of Canadian public interest in volunteering for...

The CAF has largely lost the ability or desire to build and operate Single Quarters for trained personnel. The CAF struggles to do so even for untrained personnel. This puts us out of synch with our closest partners, the UK and the US, who still believe in the value of barracks and mess halls...

That’s a hard question to answer, since CFHA hasn’t published an ‘annual’ report in 3 years — but in fiscal year 2019/20 , the last year for which a report is available, they constructed 12 units and demolished 21, for a net loss of 9 units. The year before was much busier, with 41 new builds...

The 7-year limit in a geographical area seems, on the face of it, to be incompatible with the RCN’s whole concept of home-porting. My initial look at what the numbers mean suggests major damage to the hard sea trades, especially on the west coast. Have we paid for CSC yet? Because we might not...

It also means a pay cut to Cpls and above in Edmonton — who were previously collecting 684 a month in PLD. Now clearly the economy of Edmonton isn’t exactly what it used to be — but the 1CMBG units in Edmonton used to be notorious for high attrition to the oil patch. This allowance risks...

Cubicle dwellers in Ottawa started at 0 under the old (PLD) system — so at least they won’t see an immediate pay cut. But this does seem harsh to MS, POs and CPOs on the coasts, who are exactly the sort of people that would be expected to put down roots and who were previously eligible for PLD.

Is skill fade really an issue, though? The US employs IRR Reservists that haven’t done their job for years. Our own Supp Reserve seems to believe that a trained soldier doesn’t suffer significant skill fade until 5 years off the job. I myself haven’t been in a field unit for over 10 years now...

The Snowbirds don’t charge the taxpayer $100 million a year for something they might be able to get for free (through DEO). The reserve units point is a valid one, though. Heritage buildings don’t maintain themselves.

I crunched the numbers once, and by my count 10 of the 19 Chiefs of Defence Staff were MilCol grads. That’s hardly a monopoly over 50 years. What I found even more interesting is that 8 out of the last 12, and 5 out of the last 5 CDS, have been MilCol. Conversely, the military college system...

The Transpennine Express will do that trip in under an hour, which isn’t too bad, as it’s faster than driving. That’s probably never going to improve — no one’s laying high speed rail through the Peak District. Looks reasonably priced, too, by British standards.

We know how to train infantry, both regulars and reserves. But without sufficient quantities of specialists, and I’m thinking especially RCEME, RCCS, C Int C, RCLS and RCMS — the army is a hollow shell. And those specialist capabilities are some of our most broken, and most difficult to generate...