Military men and women serving in the Canadian Armed Forces are being offered boxing gloves personally signed by the Prime Minister as part of a campaign to raise money for a charity. Other departments also participating.

By Kris Sims

OTTAWA - Military men and women serving in the Canadian Armed Forces are being offered boxing gloves signed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as part of a campaign to raise money for a charity. Other federal departments are also participating by offering the prize gloves to civilian public servants.

CFRA news has obtained an internal email that encourages military men and women to participate in a silent auction benefiting young people, using an image of what appears to be a star-struck young woman.



“In almost 20 years in the CAF (Canadian Armed Forces) I have never seen anything so blatantly political distributed among the ranks," a military source told CFRA's Ottawa Now with Evan Solomon in a statement.

The message was sent Tuesday morning and is available to approximately 100 thousand people serving on Canadian Forces Bases in Canada and overseas.

A source at the Department of National Defence confirms to CFRA that the message is part of the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign (GCWCC) and that National Defence is a participant.

The promotional email states that the Canadian Armed Forces member has a chance to win “a Pair of Leather Boxing Gloves Signed by Justin Trudeau! Help fight youth mental illness and addictions by participating in the Twelve Days of Bidding silent auction to win a pair of boxing gloves signed by Justin Trudeau himself. All proceeds will go towards Project Be, an initiative endorsed by the Clerk of the Privy Council.”

The email shows several images and links including an open mouthed young woman delightedly putting her hands over her cheeks, with the caption “Make a donation to the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign and enter your chance to win cool prizes.”



Another image shows Prime Minister Trudeau himself surrounded by four pictures of happy public servants with the caption “Hear what the Prime Minister has to say about the generosity of public servants and the difference it makes in people’s lives.”

A link to an internal intranet site is included so the soldiers, sailors and aviators can hear Trudeau’s message about public servants.

“My initial reaction was shock,” the military source told CFRA's Ottawa Now with Evan Solomon. “In the military we are trained to separate politics from duty. We are apolitical and would never think to blur the lines. I'm shocked that our political leaders would jeopardize our political neutrality.”

The military source says the offering of personal prizes signed by the Prime Minister is unprecedented in their experience.



“In almost 20 years in the CAF (Canadian Armed Forces) I have never seen anything so blatantly political distributed among the ranks. This email is trying to hawk ‘Justin Trudeau's’ boxing gloves as if he were a celebrity and not the Prime Minister. Out of respect I'm more comfortable referring to him as the 'Prime Minister'," the serving military source told CFRA in a message. "CAF members are now in a unique and compromising position: can we buy raffle tickets to support this worthy cause without jeopardizing our neutrality and appearing partisan? Or are we compromised if we don't buy a ticket, because after all, who wouldn't want Justin's boxing gloves? This is why our political leaders should never put the members of the CAF in such a compromising position.”



The message was sent through an internal email service as a “defence team message” which usually makes announcements twice a week about things like new boots, exercises in the arctic, and on-base functions for military members.



"The Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces participate in the annual Government of Canada Charitable Campaign (GCWCC). So far this year, we have raised $ 1,093,682." Department of National Defence Spokesperson Daniel Le Bouthillier confirmed to CFRA in a statement. "CAF members and DND (Department of National Defence) employees demonstrate their care for the communities in which they live and work every year through this initiative and recognize the importance of giving back. In this particular instance, we are informing members through our Defence Team message of this GCWCC initiative. This message – sent to all internal members and employees with email accounts – was done so with managerial consent and support."

It is not yet known if personal items or prizes autographed by previously elected Prime Ministers have ever been offered to serving military members or civilian public servants.



