Vanguard Magazine

IntervIew 12 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2016 www.vanguardcanada.com Lieutenant-general (retd) J.o. michel maisonneuve, cmm, msc, cd I IntervIew wIth In Part 1 of the exclusive interview, Gen. Vance discussed the importance of adjusting personnel policies to today's world. Now, the CDS focuses on policy procurement and his working relationship with government. General Jonathan h. vance Chief of the Defence Staff Part 2: Q: Everybody arrives in a new job with a vision for the future of the institution. Aer ten months, have you changed that vision? Honestly, no. I saw my role and any good that I can do fall in two or three categories. One is operations, with which I was quite comfortable and remain so. So I'm com- mitted to making certain as we develop op- tions for government, that those options have tangible deliverables, that we don't over promise. Q: How do you find your relations with the new government, are they getting their feet under them? Are you getting the direction that you need? Yes! First, it is kind of a privileged position to be a senior official in government as a new government comes in and goes from campaigning to governing. That has been a lesson in civics and I feel privileged to have been a part of it. In my working world, the government consists of the senior officials, the Deputy Ministers and Assistant DMs across government that I work with. Then there is the political level, the Ministers' office and the PM's office and sometimes touching one of the other Ministers de- pending on the file. I'll tell you that I've found a whole new world looking at this through the eyes of the Chief of Defence Staff for the first time. First, I was happy and amazed at how respected we are. From the PM down there has been incredible respect. There may in some cases not be full understanding of some of our specif- ics and so there is learning that occurs but the learning and the attitude toward the Armed Forces has been nothing but abso- lutely respectful. That's a pretty good feel- ing to be able to experience. It's amazing that we have Harjit Sajjan as our Minister. We've been on operations together so I've watched him go from being a citizen to an elected official to a Cabinet Minister really fast and the journey continues; he's doing a great job. Q: What about the Defence Policy Review? I think the government was wise, to un- dertake a policy review. It's a different government and the world has continued to change since Afghanistan. A lot of the vision I had when I was first appointed is necessarily held in abeyance right now, but it's still present in the factors underpinning the policy debate. I still present my views but as we are go through this process it is kind of a privilege thing. I'm a respected player in the process; the influence that I have, and so on. There will be national pol-

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