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She needs an assistant who is a general to do that job, according to the Canadian Forces, although it hasn’t been fully explained why a colonel or lieutenant colonel couldn’t do that job.

Some in the public affairs branch are hoping the branch will retain the two general positions going into the future. In other words, the secondment at the Governor General’s office would become a regular slot for the public affairs branch.

It wasn’t that long ago – it seems anyways – that the branch was run by a colonel.

Having two generals now doing public relations type assignments is part of an overall expansion of the number of generals.

Lee Berthiaume of the Canadian Press reported recently that new figures show the ranks of the Canadian Forces’ senior brass have been growing at a much faster rate than the rest of the military over the last 15 years as dozens of generals and admirals have been added. There were 130 generals and admirals in January 2018 compared with 81 during same month in 2003 — a 60 per cent increase over a period in which the rest of the military grew by less than two per cent, Berthiaume wrote.

The biggest growth, according to figures supplied to Defence Watch, is in the area of brigadier generals.

The size of the Canadian Forces is 71,500 Regular Force members and 30,000 Reserve Force members, according to the Department of National Defence.

The increase in generals came despite a review by then Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, now a Liberal MP, that the upper ranks of the Canadian military should be trimmed.

It also occurred despite a Liberal election promise to act on the headquarters bloat. “We will reduce the size of administration within the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces,” the Liberal’s defence platform noted.

And Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance told Berthiaume that he is going to add even more generals in the coming years.