Jun 26 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — A handful of Canadian troops infected with the novel coronavirus may have been carrying the virus symptom-free when they were deployed to long-term care homes — and may even have contracted it in the hotels where they were billeted — the country’s top military commander acknowledged today.
Jun 25 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — One of the companies bidding to sell Canada a new fleet of fighter jets made a public pitch today highlighting its long-standing, cross-country economic relationships and history of delivering high-paying aerospace jobs. The presentation by Boeing executives and an independent research firm arrives against a background of a pandemic-ravaged economy and a looming federal deadline […]
Jun 23 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — When former master corporal Charles Scott left the army in 2008, a note was scribbled in his Veterans Affairs file warning that he faced a significant risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder. The warning was never followed up on by the department; no one ever contacted him about it and no one ever arranged for […]
Jun 18 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — A little more than a decade ago, aviation magazines were buzzing about the inclusion of cutting-edge fly-by-wire technology on the Canadian military’s new CH-148 Cyclone. It was portrayed as bold. Industry experts said the digital system opened up a world of new possibilities for flight operations and the future of helicopter aviation in general. That […]
Jun 16 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — The Canadian air force has mapped out a plan to return its maritime helicopter fleet to service after narrowing down the possible causes of a fatal crash off the coast Greece earlier this spring — an accident that claimed the lives of six military members. The CH-148 Cyclones will begin flying again “within the coming […]
Jun 14 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — A former Conservative defence minister — now premier of Alberta — once said that if leaking government information was a criminal offence, half of the people at National Defence Headquarters would be up on charges. Jason Kenney’s wry appraisal of the Department of National Defence leaking “like a sieve” distills a widely-held belief in Ottawa.
Jun 3 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — Canadian troops serving in long-term care facilities are not being uniformly tested for the novel coronavirus — an omission that alarms a leading health and safety policy expert. In response to questions from CBC News, the Department of National Defence (DND) said that soldiers, sailors and aircrew throughout the Canadian Forces are tested if they […]
Jun 1 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — Canadian air force crash investigators are looking at a bird strike as the probable cause of the crash of a Snowbird demonstration jet in Kamloops, British Columbia earlier this month. The accident killed Capt. Jenn Casey, the public affairs officer for the aerobatics team. In a preliminary report issued Monday, investigators say video footage from […]
May 24 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — The Canadian-led NATO battle group in Latvia was the target of a pandemic-related disinformation campaign that alliance commanders say they believe originated in Russia. Reports circulated recently in some Baltic and Eastern European media outlets that suggested the contingent at Camp Adazi in Kadaga, outside the capital of Riga, had “a high number” of cases […]
May 15 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — With all due respect to the people of Lethbridge, a lot of people in the veterans community were gobsmacked when the federal veterans ombudsman — the person tasked with looking out for their welfare — decided halfway through his term to become a city manager in the southern Alberta municipality. Craig Dalton, a former colonel […]
May 8 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — As the tragic events in the Ionian Sea off Greece came into focus last week, a sense of dread rippled through a tight-knit community of former military and political staffers — people whose careers have intersected with the long, troubled effort to bring the CH-148 Cyclone helicopter into service. Texts and emails were exchanged. One […]
May 4 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — Call sign ‘Stalker’ — the CH-148 Cyclone helicopter that crashed last week in the Ionian Sea off Greece — was only moments away from a scheduled landing aboard HMCS Fredericton when it went down in full view of horrified shipmates who were preparing to receive it aboard the frigate. “There were eyewitnesses to the accident,” […]
Apr 29 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — As he deployed hundreds more soldiers into Ontario nursing homes on Tuesday, Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin was determined to avoid comparing his new public health mission to anything resembling a war. “As a professional soldier, I have a hard time connecting with terms like ‘front lines’ and ‘it’s a war zone,'” said Fortin, a veteran of […]
Apr 26 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — It’s safe to say that the Canadian military plans for just about everything. It’s also safe to say that nowhere in the dusty stacks of military strategies for various hair-raising scenarios shelved in the Department of National Defence (DND) is a plan for sending soldiers to long-term care homes to backstop failing provincial systems. Hospitals, […]
Apr 22 2020 — Murray Brewster — CBC — As COVID-19 quietly incubated in Wuhan, China, last fall, public health officials in Canada were looking for gaps that needed to be closed in their long effort to upgrade this country’s online pandemic early warning system. Few people outside of a tight circle of highly-specialized epidemiologists and federal bureaucrats had ever heard of the Global […]