Juno News - Ret. Lt.-Gen. Maisonneuve SPEAKS OUT against DEI in Canada

00:00:00.000 Well, the crumbling state of the Canadian Armed Forces, the horrible treatment of Canada's veterans over the past few decades, the adoption of radical DEI policies throughout our country, and the erosion of Canadian values are concerns and issues that are finally starting to break into the mainstream.

00:00:20.000 And our next guest on the show is a retired senior military officer who has spent a lot of time thinking about these issues and thinking about how Canada can be put back on track.

00:00:31.560 Making his return to the Faulkner Show is retired Lieutenant General Michel Maisonneuve, Canada's former Assistant Deputy Chief of Defense Staff and the former Chief of Staff to NATO Allied Command Transformation.

00:00:43.360 He is also the author of a new book, In Defense of Canada, Reflections of a Patriot.

00:00:49.080 General, welcome back to the show and congratulations on the new book.

00:00:52.540 Thank you very much, Harrison. Nice to be here. Thanks for inviting me.

00:00:55.740 Of course. Well, the most obvious question that you'll get asked after writing a new book is, why now? Why the book and why now?

00:01:03.840 What compelled you to put your experiences and thoughts about our country into this new book?

00:01:09.160 Well, Harrison, as I say in the book, I've been feeling that our country was going in the wrong direction for a long time.

00:01:15.800 And when I received the Vimy Award in 2020, I was presented in 22 and I made this speech that, you know, kind of got a bunch of people in sense, especially the left media and academics and a bunch of others.

00:01:31.980 And I thought, okay, you know, I had 20 minutes, 25 minutes to make this speech.

00:01:38.540 I made a few points. People, some people didn't like it. A lot of others actually enjoyed it very much.

00:01:44.500 And I thought, okay, is there, you know, is there a way that I could actually make this a little bit bigger, you know, and give more details and so on.

00:01:52.280 So that's how the idea of the book came along.

00:01:54.320 And so I based a lot of the book on what I'd already said at the Vimy speech, but I expanded on it.

00:02:02.880 And in the book, you talk at length about the cultural issues that Canada is facing under Justin Trudeau's leadership and some of the symbolism that has resulted in those cultural issues.

00:02:13.640 I want to read a passage from the book to the audience in which you write, Canada has become a country where shame is the only history, indigenous residential schools toppling statues, flag at half mast for months on end, and where the prime minister schedules cross country trips, not to extol our virtues, but to apologize for our past.

00:02:33.420 Where any opportunity is seized upon to condemn our founding fathers and veterans and those who made this country great.

00:02:39.120 Where the focus is on special interest groups, veterans get one day so we may honor their sacrifice, while LGBTQ2 plus get an entire month of parades, classroom lessons, media coverage, even to the point where their flag takes precedence over the red maple leaf.

00:02:54.780 You know, many political commentators will scorn those that talk about symbolism.

00:02:59.380 They say that it's not really that important and just focus on the policy, just focus on what's being said and not symbolism.

00:03:05.580 But you clearly take issue with the symbolism that is being forced in front of us.

00:03:10.660 And I want to know why that is. Why is symbolism so important?

00:03:14.560 Well, I think symbolism is a way to show your patriotism.

00:03:19.920 And that's the one thing that we don't really have much in Canada.

00:03:23.120 We always talk about Americans and how they're over the top. 1.00

00:03:26.340 OK, perhaps they're over the top at times.

00:03:28.760 However, some of their values of patriotism, of supporting their their country.

00:03:34.640 And look, there's no doubt Canada is an outstanding country.

00:03:38.980 We have so much potential.

00:03:41.320 The problem is that nobody's you know, we're focused on kind of trying to cancel the past and cancel our we don't have any heroes.

00:03:48.840 We don't celebrate our heroes, just not only military heroes, but we have many other heroes.

00:03:54.260 And and and so so this is the symbolism that I'm talking about that is not being celebrated.

00:03:59.060 And and frankly, we need to stop, OK, apologizing for the past.

00:04:03.860 We have done it. It's of course there were some hugely nasty things that happened that should have never happened.

00:04:11.520 However, you can't judge those those issues and those events with today's kind of, you know, today's values and the way we've progressed.

00:04:21.340 So to my mind, symbolism is very important.

00:04:24.340 We need to have, you know, and our flag is probably the biggest symbol and we need to celebrate it.

00:04:29.760 We need to celebrate our veterans and and our heroes.

00:04:32.940 And it's not happening right now.

00:04:34.520 Why do you think that the government and people kind of in that space, whether they be at our public schools, whether they be deep inside the bureaucracy of this country?

00:04:46.140 Why do you think that they're so, you know, so concerned about pushing this this idea that the Canadian flag needs to be put at half mass?

00:04:54.080 We need to raise other flags.

00:04:55.440 We need to topple our statues and not defend our history.

00:04:58.340 Where do you think that comes from?

00:04:59.780 I think it's it's I mean, I call it radical progressivism, I guess, in the book.

00:05:06.620 And I think that's really one of those things.

00:05:09.380 I mean, when our prime minister says we are a post national state, what does that mean to you?

00:05:14.020 Really, when you think about it, what's a post national state?

00:05:16.020 Well, a post national state really has no really culture of its own.

00:05:20.700 It has no no need for immigration because, you know, or everybody can come here.

00:05:26.440 It doesn't really matter.

00:05:27.240 There's no real need for borders.

00:05:29.020 Borders can be porous.

00:05:30.580 I mean, if you take it to that level, a post national state has no nationalism.

00:05:35.260 It has no no real culture of its own.

00:05:37.820 And so I think it stems from that as well, that that that's kind of been the approach of this government, which I think is overly progressive.

00:05:46.860 And there's no doubt, you know, you need to live in the twenty twenty first century.

00:05:50.060 I mean, you know, there's some things that that that we needed to change and we have changed them.

00:05:55.100 And I tell you, now we need to focus on, OK, what is a Canadian?

00:05:58.860 And that's one thing that I don't think has ever been defined.

00:06:02.100 Does anyone say, you know, here's what a Canadian is?

00:06:05.100 Well, no, we usually say, well, we're not Americans.

00:06:06.660 That's the first thing we'll always say.

00:06:08.220 And then we apologize a lot.

00:06:10.220 We say, sorry, that's not what is a Canadian?

00:06:12.900 What are our values?

00:06:13.900 And I'm so what I'm saying in the book, part of it is, is let's define what a Canadian is.

00:06:18.220 And when an immigrant comes to Canada, here's what you are coming to join, you're coming to join this country with the following values, what's you're joining as a Canadian.

00:06:27.220 And so put your, you know, all the strife and everything that you've gone through, perhaps in your own country, join Canada and improve it and make it better, just like former immigrants in Canada built this country.

00:06:39.220 Immigration has certainly become one of the top issues of mind for most Canadians.

00:06:45.220 It has dominated the political discourse over the past few months.

00:06:49.220 And in the book, you talk about how the idea of immigration in the past, as you just hinted at, is not what we're seeing today.

00:06:56.220 This idea that the government is trying to push forward, that for one, you don't need to celebrate the country.

00:07:01.220 And two, you need to basically maintain all of the cultural practices that you had in your previous country and basically enclave yourself in this country.

00:07:12.220 We're starting to see that, but what part about that concerns you the most going forward for our country?

00:07:18.220 Well, it concerns me because it's divisive.

00:07:21.220 It really is divisive as opposed to being a unifying factor.

00:07:26.220 And to me, I guess you come to Canada because you're happy to join this country with its values, its foundation, how it was formed on Judeo-Christian values.

00:07:38.220 And I'm, you know, that's just the way we were formed and that's the way we are.

00:07:42.220 And so, you know, leave the nasty things that you saw in your country, come to Canada, help us build it.

00:07:49.220 And there are, listen, I'm painting, I'm not painting everyone with the same brush here.

00:07:53.220 There are lots of excellent immigrants who come here and want to build our country, as I say, the way they did before. 0.71

00:07:59.220 One of my great friends, Tom Rusnav, you know, a Serbian from Croatia who came to this country at eight years old,

00:08:08.220 ended up being vice president of Ontario Hydro, you know, and built this country.

00:08:13.220 He built the transmission lines.

00:08:15.220 I mean, this is the kind of immigrant that we want, that we need, and this country does need it. 1.00

00:08:20.220 However, you need to be able to assimilate them into the country so you don't do it so that there are so many. 1.00

00:08:26.220 And besides, if you think you're a post-national country, there's no need to assimilate them.

00:08:30.220 They come here, and as you say, they form their own enclaves.

00:08:33.220 It's divisive, and that's the main problem, I think.

00:08:36.220 And one of the most divisive aspects, I think, of this country, and from the book I think you would agree,

00:08:42.220 is the adoption of DEI and forcing the concept of DEI into every aspect of Canadian life,

00:08:48.220 especially in the military.

00:08:50.220 I want to highlight another passage in the book specifically regarding DEI in the military when you write,

00:08:55.220 I've discussed it.

00:08:56.220 It is no secret that I no longer feel our men and women in uniform have the same place in the world stage.

00:09:01.220 The CAF has placed DEI above operational readiness and capability.

00:09:07.220 While our soldiers are forced to visit food banks and buy their own helmets,

00:09:10.220 Ottawa continues its obsession with culture change.

00:09:13.220 Going back to the question about where do you think this idea came from?

00:09:17.220 This idea of DEI and culture change in the military, why is the government so concerned about that

00:09:24.220 in an institution where the idea and the focus is pretty clear?

00:09:28.220 And that is to win wars.

00:09:31.220 Yeah, well, again, have we ever said that that's what our military is there to do?

00:09:35.220 Have we ever said that the vision, the mission of our military is to protect Canadians, win our wars,

00:09:41.220 and go out there and fight for our principles and our values, you know, where the government says we should go?

00:09:46.220 So first thing you need to do is declare that that's what you have a military for.

00:09:51.220 The second thing is, you know, instead of trying to kill a warrior, the warrior culture.

00:09:56.220 I mean, the warrior culture, where do you need warriors?

00:09:58.220 Of course, you need them in the military.

00:10:00.220 And, you know, we've tried to, we are, it's like almost taking the employment equity program that the government has tried to put in for 20, 30 years.

00:10:11.220 I mean, I, it goes way far and kind of take it to the next level, which is DEI, where special interest groups get special treatment when they are showing up at the recruiting center.

00:10:22.220 And this means, and I have a number of people I could point to and that I've spoken to me that have applied, you know, white, good,

00:10:32.220 old Canadian boys and girls who, who are their, their, their, their application is put off in light of all these special interest groups we're trying to attract.

00:10:45.220 And Harrison, it's not working. It is not working.

00:10:49.220 So we need to go back to say, okay, operational capability is more important than anything else.

00:10:53.220 So we're going to, you know, put our emphasis on that.

00:10:56.220 We're going to use inclusive meritocracy.

00:10:59.220 Inclusive meritocracy means everyone should be able to apply.

00:11:02.220 And if they have the merit, if they're in the top of the chain of the, of the assessment pool, bring them in and then see how they do.

00:11:11.220 And then if they come in and they're from one of those, you know, those groups, LGBT or women or whatever, and women have been going in in many places as well.

00:11:21.220 If they're in there, then they should be respected and they should respect those that are in as well.

00:11:27.220 There's no doubt about that. And I, you know, I'm, I'm, you know, I can say that anybody who's had sexual misconduct should be tried to the full extent.

00:11:35.220 But again, the other, the reverse is true. If they're in, they are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.

00:11:41.220 And if they're found not guilty, well, let's have some reparations. Let's not destroy their careers before they're proven guilty.

00:11:47.220 The, the mismanagement, I would call it chronic mismanagement of the Canadian Armed Forces throughout the Justin Trudeau, Justin Trudeau's government tenure, the nine years, really does, I think, symbolize the general decline in our country standards.

00:12:05.220 But one of the most shocking stories we've seen over the past few years was the reporting that members of the Canadian Armed Forces who are deployed in, in Europe are having to buy their own helmets, chest rigs and belts to stay at the, to stay at the top standard.

00:12:20.220 Um, while on deployment, because the government isn't offering them, uh, what, what is required.

00:12:25.220 Now, I want to ask you, um, in your experience as a general, what do you make of Canada's current former, uh, foreign policy strategy of continuing to give away billions of dollars to foreign countries in foreign aid packages?

00:12:38.220 While our members of the military are struggling to keep up with the basic standards of equipment, and even worse, in some cases, lining up at food banks, not able to afford a house on a base, do you think that, uh, you think that Canada needs to, uh, rearrange our priorities when it comes to foreign aid versus, uh, funding of our own military?

00:12:57.220 Well, I do, I do think, and, and certainly, you know, there's not just the, the fact that we're giving lots of me outside, we're giving lots of money inside to a whole bunch of interest, special interest groups as well.

00:13:07.220 And, you know, I'm, I, I'm, I'm not into, uh, you know, I can't give you exactly where I would get the money from.

00:13:13.220 The point is, Harrison, that whatever government is in power at any time, there are huge, uh, courageous decisions that need to be made.

00:13:22.220 And you need to decide whether the defense of your own country, looking after your men and women in the forces, looking after your veterans once they get out of the forces, is a priority.

00:13:32.220 And if it is, you're going to have to make it a priority by spending enough money on it, becoming more efficient in procurement, getting them the right equipment and tools to do the job that they're meant to do and to be successful to the best of their ability.

00:13:45.220 And I call that the moral contract. I explain it in the book. I'm sure you've seen it. The point is that, um, that, you know, the government needs to have the courage to do that.

00:13:54.220 Once they make the decision, then you explain it to Canadians. And if you explain it properly, I'm convinced Canadians are smart.

00:14:01.220 You're going to say, well, that makes sense that obviously we can't defend ourselves and anybody can come into a backyard.

00:14:07.220 They say sometimes, you know, you either have your own army or you have somebody else's army in your, in your country, really.

00:14:13.220 And, uh, so if you've got somebody else's army in your country, it's going to be pretty hard to have all the, you know, the, uh, the special interests and the, uh, the social programs that, uh, that Canadians are used to.

00:14:23.220 I mean, being a Canadian, being a citizen of our country comes with not only benefits, it comes with responsibilities.

00:14:32.220 And those responsibilities are, you know, you've got to pay your taxes, help, you know, grow our, our economy, you know, get our government, uh, you know, to do the things that you want them to do.

00:14:43.220 And I think, uh, unfortunately Canadians have been too complacent. And that's one of the things I talk about in the book very much is the complacency of Canadians.

00:14:51.220 And, you know, we kind of just sit back and we say, yeah, government's going to do this. We're good with it. It's fine.

00:14:56.220 You know, we don't have Canadians need to have an opinion. They need to have outrage. 1.00

00:15:00.220 And the other day I was, I was at a, uh, a group meeting that we have, we're just, we discuss issues.

00:15:06.220 And one of the participants said, uh, you know, we were talking about the UN and kind of this participation in the UN and all that stuff.

00:15:12.220 And, and, you know, at the beginning, this guy said at the beginning, I was happy. Now I'm angry.

00:15:17.220 And I said, you know what? Good, because you need to be angry, to have a view, to have an opinion, and then to vote and to make sure that opinion is known.

00:15:26.220 I mean, my little book there is just kind of a way of me getting my opinion out there for people to discuss and talk about it.

00:15:32.220 And maybe they'll have an opinion. Okay. I don't want everybody to agree with me.

00:15:35.220 I want people to look at it, consider it, say, oh, well, that makes sense. That's not, that's crap. 0.99

00:15:40.220 So, uh, but have an opinion and, and there are too many Canadians that don't. 0.99

00:15:45.220 Absolutely. And, uh, with Remembrance Day coming up, I want to touch on veterans and what you write in the book about veterans and the government's handling of veterans.

00:15:54.220 From my perspective, I think it's shameful, but I want to highlight this passage here.

00:15:58.220 You write that, um, it's clear that the government, the government makes it abundantly clear that veterans in general are very low on the list of priorities.

00:16:06.220 And this should anger all Canadians, not just those who wear or once wore the uniform.

00:16:11.220 Um, general, I want to ask you as a veteran yourself, do you get the sense that anyone in the government is ashamed of how they have treated veterans in this country?

00:16:20.220 In the government? I don't think so. I mean, I, I think maybe the minister of veterans affairs, when she goes out there and is talked to, uh, to by the veterans is probably not very happy, but it's not just a question of, you know, virtue signaling and talking in the good stuff or feeling ashamed or whatever.

00:16:39.220 It's an issue of taking action, doing, doing something. And, you know, I give the example of St. Anne's Hospital in, uh, in Montreal. Uh, I give the example of, uh, Brock Blasich, who, uh, you know, who had lost a leg and, uh, you know, who was told, oh, veterans are asking for too much.

00:16:57.220 This is, this is all virtue signaling. And it went, when, uh, and, and I talked about when the, uh, when the, the, the prime minister, uh, unveiled the, the defense policy update, you know, he, he,

00:17:09.200 he never once in his speech, did he talk about the honor of service, the importance of serving and how our men and women who are serving are really heroes who accept to do those difficult things that we don't, uh, we don't, we are not going to do. Uh, I'm not going to do it anymore. I'm 71 years old now next week. And, you know, they're out there, they're going to fight for our, for our country. They're going to go where they're told to go. And we're just not equipped them right.

00:17:37.200 And then we're not looking after them when they come back. It's a, it should be a cradle to grave thing, you know, where we look after them. And so, so there are a lot of, uh, places we need to improve veterans affairs, uh, support, uh, veterans support. Um, and I'll tell you, um, yes, we need to improve it, but there's also a lot of good people that are working on, uh, on this.

00:17:59.200 There are a lot of, uh, institutions like the Legion and a lot of individuals, some of whom I mentioned in the book who are trying very hard to intercede, to improve service to veterans.

00:18:08.200 I do a little bit myself as much as I can, but, uh, it's, it's, you know, it's almost one at a time and it's, it's not right. We ought to have better policies generally.

00:18:17.200 Absolutely. And, and I'm curious what you think about this, because when I look at the composition of parliament, I don't see a lot of veterans in parliament.

00:18:27.200 Of course, there are a few, um, and they, and they do continue their service, but do you think that the only way the government will fully get to grips with solving the veterans problems for, for real and really, really putting the interests of veterans above the interests of, uh, lower priority, uh, special interest groups would be if veterans were in politics more in more numbers?

00:18:50.200 Well, I would like to see more and more veterans for sure in politics. I know of a few and, uh, and they're, they're doing well. They're, they're, you know, they're, uh, they're contributing to our country. And by the way, let's not forget being a politician is a heck of a service to our country. And so, you know, those who, who, uh, decide to run and are elected, uh, whether they're elected or not, frankly, they're, they decide to run. That's a great service they're doing to our country. And they're, those are people usually that have opinions and we should elect people who have opinions and views.

00:19:19.200 Uh, so this being said, of course, it'd be great to have more, uh, more military folks in there. The issue is always, uh, Harrison, you know, uh, you know, how old am I when I retire or I take the uniform off, you know, kind of thing. And in my case, I was 53. I got another job at the military college in St. Jean. So I continued to serve, if you wish in a civilian capacity. Um, people have asked me if I'd like to run. I'm not going to run. I'm just too old now. And I have no filter. So it would be very short, uh, very short little, uh, political career.

00:19:48.200 But, but, um, but I think it would be great to have more, uh, more of them in there. And it would be great to have more in Veterans Affairs Canada. It'd be great to have more civilians or, um, ex-military as well.

00:19:58.200 And I think Veterans Affairs, when they're looking out for personnel should give extra kind of, um, an extra look at people who have served so that, so that those who are serving veterans now are ones who have served in the military before.

00:20:11.200 Absolutely. And, uh, the last question I have for you, General, is something you touch on near the end of the book. When you talk about how our political leaders today don't present what you describe as a grand vision for the country. They don't present big ideas and big projects that unify the country anymore.

00:20:30.200 I want to ask you a, why, why do you think that is why, why do we not have these, these leaders that are projecting this grand vision for the country? And what do you think it will take for that to come back to our political leadership?

00:20:42.200 Um, well, why is a good question. I would probably blame a lot of the, uh, the social media onto that. The, uh, the, the, you know, we go by, by bite bite size kind of, uh, information. Um, and it's also a huge part of leadership. I mean, a leader has a grand vision. Uh, normally a good leader will have a grand vision for, for his institution, whatever it is. If it's a country, he'll have, he or she will have that, that, uh, that vision.

00:21:11.200 That vision. And the, the thing is though visions and, and, you know, you look at the, in private business, the, uh, organizations, uh, uh, businesses would develop their own vision.

00:21:23.200 The way they did that is to bring together a group and they would discuss it and it would take a couple of days, three days, and they would distill it down to kind of one statement.

00:21:32.200 And perhaps with some kind of, uh, bullets that, that explain it a little further. Well, we've never really done that in Canada. That's what I propose. I mean, in the book is to,

00:21:41.200 let's develop, okay, let's figure out what Canada is. What is our vision? First of all, let's decide what our country is.

00:21:47.200 What's a Canadian, uh, and then develop a vision for our country where we want it to be. It should be aspirational.

00:21:53.200 It should be something that we want to be in, in, uh, in 20 years or 30 years or whatever. And it shouldn't be, you know, net zero by 2030.

00:22:00.200 To me, that's not a vision. That is a, that is a, it's virtue signaling, first of all. And it's not based on, in my view, uh, any reality.

00:22:09.200 Um, so you need to have a group that's going to get, come together. And I think it's got to be government. What's it going to take to change?

00:22:15.200 I think it's going to take the right leader. It's going to take someone, uh, who has the, uh, who has the leadership and the courage to actually do that.

00:22:24.200 Because after you develop the vision, then everything you do kind of aims towards that vision to make that vision happen.

00:22:31.200 It's, it's, uh, it's a simple yet complex, uh, thing to do, but, uh, but really, we really need to do it in Canada.

00:22:38.200 And that goes along with those big ideas I was telling, uh, I talk about in the book where if you've got the vision, the overall grand vision for our country,

00:22:46.200 then you've got these big ideas that kind of will lead you to that. And then you start talking to Canadians about it.

00:22:52.200 You start explaining those ideas and you don't do, you don't lead by polls. You lead by, uh, by courage.

00:23:00.200 And you say, okay, this is where we're going. And that's the vision of our country. And then you, uh, you explain.

00:23:09.200 Well, that's, uh, I hope, I hope that our future leaders take some of those lessons in leadership, uh, from you general, because you have the experience.

00:23:16.200 And I think that, uh, it's, it is, it's, it's advice that should be listened to. That's all the time we have.

00:23:21.200 The book is in defense of Canada, reflections of a patriot. That was Lieutenant General, uh, Michel Maisonneuve.

00:23:28.200 General, thank you once again for joining us in the show.

00:23:31.200 Merci beaucoup, Harrison. Take care.

00:23:33.200 Thank you.

Juno News - November 04, 2024

Ret. Lt.-Gen. Maisonneuve SPEAKS OUT against DEI in Canada

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript