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Fair enough. But what, pray tell, does “leaner” mean?

Leaner could, one supposes, be good news. Even under the last government, the Armed Forces were looking at ways of getting more bang from the buck. In 2011, one of the Army’s most prominent and respected Afghan War veterans, a general no less, undertook a major report into streamlining the our top-heavy military, in shaking personnel and resources out of desk jobs and functions that could perhaps be better handled by non-military personnel. The report ran into bureaucratic resistance from the military — no kidding — and didn’t really go anywhere. It’s author was Lt. Gen. Andrew Leslie. If that name sounds familiar, it may be because of his wartime military service … or it may be because Prime Minister Trudeau just made him the Liberal House Whip. If the Liberals intend reform the military along Leslie’s proposed lines, that could be genuinely good news.

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Even supporting the important “responsibility to protect” principle embraced by a UN task force with Lloyd Axworthy as a leading member, now a formal UN doctrine, requires the “capacity to deploy.” In fact, supporting that doctrine or more engagement in peacekeeping also requires more deployable capacity. As does a commitment to more “on the ground training” in support of Peshmerga and other land forces arrayed against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

To the new government’s credit, it has a rooted, practical and highly skilled brain trust in place to serve both the Prime Minister and the national interest. There’s the new defence minister, who has outstanding battle theatre command credentials from several tours of duty in Afghanistan and as a commander of a reserve regiment. The Chief of Defence Staff has been in serious and complex operational command roles globally. The Chief Government Whip is a retired general staff officer who served in the field. The senior National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister is a former head of CSIS and deputy defence minister. Likewise, the Foreign Affairs minister has the legitimacy of long parliamentary service and the analytical mindset of a distinguished academic before entering public life. Like any compelling mix of outstanding assets, they prove nothing by their mere existence. How they combine to shape policy and priorities with the Prime Minister and cabinet is what will determine their success and impact. Still, with such qualified individuals in government, there is reason for optimism.