OTTAWA — General Rick Hillier, the architect of Canada's controversial military mission in Afghanistan, is stepping down from his post after more than three years on the job.
He announced the move in a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying his departure becomes effective this July.
In a press conference later in the day, Gen. Hillier said he has no firm plans for the future, but wants to spend the summer with his family and practising his golf swing.
“Whatever I do next is going to have to be pretty exciting to lure me back,” he said.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier prepares for his appearance on Afghanistan before the Commons standing committee on foreign affairs earlier this month. (The Canadian Press)
Related Articles
Internet Links
He also said he is proud of Canadian accomplishments in Afghanistan, but has always been realistic about its progress there.
“I am a realist and understand that it's very tough to make progress in a place like Kandahar,” he said, adding that Canadians' work in the region has helped to foster growth in the rest of the country.
“We've contained the Taliban, we've taken the initiative away from them and we've allowed the rest of the country to actually flourish in the development of an economy,” Gen. Hillier said.
Three candidates expected to be in the running to replace him are Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, the current head of the army, Lt.-Gen. Walter Natynczyk, vice chief of the Defence staff, and Lt.-Gen. Angus Watt, chief of the Air Staff.
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who accepted the General's resignation Tuesday, praised the commander and said they worked well together.
"He has done an excellent job in rebuilding Canada's armed forces. He is a great Canadian and we are very proud to have worked with him."
Defence Minister Peter MacKay lauded Gen. Hillier's efforts at re-equipping the military.
“General Hillier has worked very hard to rebuild the Canadian Forces,” Peter MacKay said. “We want to say thank you to General Hillier for the great service he has given to our country.”
Gen. Hillier, in his press conference, said Mr. Harper “did not ask me to stay. He understood that I had made my decision to take my retirement."
"Staying for three and a half years was a little bit longer than I planned," he said, adding that he came to the position expecting to stay for two years.
Gen. Hillier said he had a good working relationship with Mr. Harper, saying “to have someone you get along with 100 per cent of the time ...would be very unusual and exceptional.
“When I did have a bad day here in Ottawa I had the great opportunity to go mix with sailors or airmen and airwomen ... and that would inspire me to come back for another round,” he added.
In a letter to the Forces, Gen. Hillier said his goal was to set conditions to succeed in critical and “often dangerous tasks in defence of Canada, Canadians, and Canadian interests and values.
“We have achieved those key objectives, and reached the critical milestones I originally set out for us to reach by the end of my time as CDS. We have moulded our culture to one which recognizes that operations are our raison d'être; that our efforts, all of them, must concentrate on achieving the missions and tasks given to us by the Government of Canada, on behalf of all Canadians,” he writes.
Gen. Hiller said at his press conference that “the worst thing in the job is that phone call at three o'clock in the morning,” referring to getting news of a soldier's death.
Appointed just over three years ago as chief of defence staff, Gen. Hillier, 52, has been the most visible military leader in a generation and a political lightning rod over his often blunt assessments of both Canada's enemies and the country's defence policy.
Gen. Hillier has been both a blessing and a curse for the Conservative government, making a case for the combat mission in Kandahar when political leaders seemed unable or unwilling to defend it.
But his popularity has often overshadowed his political masters and he became a liability last summer.
Gen. Hillier ended up in a public tussle with former defence minister Gordon O'Connor over how long it would take for Canadian troops to train their Afghan counterparts — a key pillar of the war's exit strategy. The contradiction between the two was widely believed to have cost Mr. O'Connor his job.
Both Mr. Harper and his Liberal predecessor, Paul Martin, have said they relied heavily on Gen. Hillier's military advice.
It is up to Mr. Harper whether to accept the resignation.
Although the top defence job, by custom, is supposed to rotate between services, Gen. Hillier's replacement is widely expected to come from the army.
Born in 1955, Gen. Hillier was known as the soldiers' soldier, an outspoken advocate who put the welfare of his troops before all else.
His legacy will be a renewed military, equipped with new aircraft, vehicles and other equipment depleted by years of budget cuts and neglect.
Having earned a science degree from Memorial University in his native Newfoundland, Gen. Hillier joined the army 36 years ago and trained as an armoured officer.
He said when he joined he had no ambitions to be a general: “I just wanted to be a soldier.”
His career took him from regimental duties in a tank unit to staff jobs in Montreal and National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, where he eventually became army, then defence, chief.
He has served across Canada, twice in Europe and the United States, and did a term as the senior NATO officer in Afghanistan.
His predecessor, air force Gen. Ray Henault, served five years in the job, while Gen. John de Chastelain served two separate appointments — from 1989 until 1993, and again in 1994-95.
