Andrew Leslie (general)
| The Honourable Andrew Leslie CMM MSC MSM CD PC MP | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Orléans | |
|
Assumed office October 19, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Royal Galipeau |
| Chief Government Whip | |
|
Assumed office November 20, 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | John Duncan |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Andrew Brooke Leslie December 26, 1957 Ottawa, Ontario |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Awards |
Commander of the Order of Military Merit Meritorious Service Cross Meritorious Service Medal Canadian Forces Decoration Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland[1] |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 Canada |
| Service/branch | Canadian Army |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands |
1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Chief of the Land Staff Chief of Transformation |
| Battles/wars | War in Afghanistan |
Andrew Brooke Leslie CMM MSC MSM CD PC MP (born December 26, 1957) is a retired Canadian Forces Lieutenant-General who served as Chief of Transformation and earlier as Chief of the Land Staff. He is the incumbent Member of Parliament for the riding of Orléans, after being elected in the October 19, 2015, federal election.
Background
Andrew Leslie was born in Ottawa[2] in 1957. His father was Brigadier General Edward Murray Dalziel Leslie (née McNaughton), commander of 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (1 RCHA) during the Korean War.[3] Leslie's father changed the family name from McNaughton to Leslie in order to comply with the terms of an inheritance. His paternal grandfather is former Chief of the General Staff and Minister of National Defence General Andrew McNaughton, as well as of former Canadian Minister of National Defence Brooke Claxton.[4]
Military career
Leslie joined the 30th Field Regiment when at the University of Ottawa.[5] He went on to be Commanding Officer of 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in Shilo, Manitoba.[5] While in London, England, as a graduate student he was attached to the Honourable Artillery Company.[6]
Yugoslavia
In 1995 he was promoted to Colonel and sent to the Former Yugoslavia as Chief of Staff for Sector South.[5] He then became the Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia.[5] Leslie was called to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (The Hague) as a witness in the war crimes trial of Croatian general Ante Gotovina. Leslie, an artillery officer, falsely testified to indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas by Croatian forces in August 1995,[7] a conclusion rejected by both the appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Gotovina case and the International Court of Justice in the Croatia–Serbia genocide case.[8] During the attack of the Croatian forces on the Serbian held Krajina region, he was credited with leading an operation which resulted in saving lives of 40 Serbian civilians.[9]
Manitoba floods
He was the Area Chief of Staff during the Manitoba floods in Spring 1997.[5] Later in 1997 he became the commander of 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group which was sent to the South shore of Montreal to help with disaster relief operations.[5] In 2000 he was given responsibility for communications in the Canadian Forces and in 2002 he became the commander of Land Force Central Area.[5] He became Deputy Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan in 2003 and then became Assistant Chief of the Land Staff in 2004.[5] In June 2006 he was appointed Chief of the Land Staff.[10]
Chief of Transformation
In June 2010, General Leslie was replaced as Chief of Land Staff by Lieutenant-General Peter Devlin[11] and was named Chief of Transformation for the Canadian Forces.[12] In this position, Leslie was responsible for releasing the 2011 Report on Transformation, which, among other changes, recommended scaling back the Primary Reserves to boost the Regular Forces and significantly cutting headquarters' budgets and transferring the amounts to front line combat units.[13] Leslie referred to this as transforming the Forces into "more tooth and less tail," a phrase that was used by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay. Some saw Leslie's report as recommending to sacrifice too many sacred cows, namely the bloated headquarters organizations.[14]
Retirement
Leslie retired in September 2011 after 35 years in uniform and was subsequently hired by CGI Group to lead their new Defence, Public Safety and Intelligence unit in Ottawa.[15]
Honours and decorations
Leslie received the following honours and decorations during and after his military career.
_ribbon_(CMM).jpg){kind=small}
| Ribbon | Description | Notes |
| | Order of Military Merit (CMM) |
|
| | Meritorious Service Cross (MSC) |
|
| | Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) |
|
| | General Campaign Star |
|
| | Special Service Medal |
|
| | Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal | |
| | UNFICYP |
|
| | UNPROFOR |
|
| | 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal |
|
| | Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal |
|
| | Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal |
|
| | Canadian Forces Decoration (CD) |
|
| | Legion of Merit |
|
| | Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland |
|
- During His Career Andrew Leslie Also Served as an Aide-de-camp.
- He was a qualified Paratrooper and as such wore the Canadian Forces Jump Wings.
Post-military career
Before Leslie officially retired from the military, Leslie was approached by several members of the Prime Minister's Office to inquire about whether he was interested in heading a federal department or organization. These included discussions with Prime Minister Harper's Deputy Chiefs of Staff Derek Vanstone and Jenni Byrne about potentially heading the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Once Leslie retired from the military he was approached again, this time about heading the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Leslie declined.[20]
Liberal advisor and candidacy
On September 18, 2013, Leslie was named co-chair of the Liberal International Affairs Council of Advisors, providing advice on foreign and defence issues to Liberal Party of Canada leader Justin Trudeau.[21][22] Leslie also ran to be the Liberal candidate in the 2015 general election in the riding of Orléans. He was elected the Member of Parliament for Orléans in the 2015 election ahead of Conservative incumbent Royal Galipeau.[23]
Member of Parliament
Leslie was elected into the House of Commons of Canada as a MP and on November 20, 2015 he was named Chief Government Whip in the Commons.[24] On February 15, 2016, Leslie was sworn in as a Member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada according to his duties as Chief Government Whip.[25]
Electoral history
| Canadian federal election, 2015: Orléans | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Andrew Leslie | 46,542 | 59.7 | +21.72 | – | |||
| Conservative | Royal Galipeau | 23,821 | 30.5 | -14.68 | – | |||
| New Democratic | Nancy Tremblay | 6,215 | 8.0 | -5.98 | – | |||
| Green | Raphaël Morin | 1,410 | 1.8 | -1.06 | – | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 77,988 | 100 | $240,250.25 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 272 | 0.30 | – | |||||
| Turnout | 78,260 | 81.37 | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 96,174 | – | – | |||||
| Liberal notional gain from Conservative | Swing | +18.2 | ||||||
References
- ↑ Monitor Polski 2010 nr 83 poz. 992 – number 8.
- ↑ Laura Stone (18 February 2015). "Lunch with Liberal Andrew Leslie: 'Just going overseas and bombing does not work'". Global News. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
- ↑ "BGen EMD Leslie DSO, CD". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
- ↑ "Andrew Leslie replaced in shuffle of military hierarchy". thestar.com.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Biography at Canadian Forces site Archived July 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ LGen AB Leslie biography, The RCA Museum
- ↑ "ICTY Transcript Page 1927". 22 April 2008.
- ↑ "Application of the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide=3 February 2015=" (PDF).
- ↑ "Canadian army chief grilled at war crimes tribunal". 24 April 2008.
- ↑ "Leslie appointed head of Canada's land forces". CBC News. 15 June 2006.
- ↑ Canada to get new army boss Windsor Star, 31 March 2010
- ↑ Canadian Army To Get New Commander DND/CF Media Advisory, 18 June 2010
- ↑ "Report on Transformation 2011".
- ↑ "General's report calls for dramatic cuts to bloated military staffing". The Globe and Mail.
- ↑ Retired Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie To Head Defence and Intelligence Business Unit at CGI Archived November 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. The Ottawa Citizen, 29 September 2011
- ↑ "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
- ↑ "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
- ↑ "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
- ↑ "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
- ↑ "Email trail documents Tory job overtures to retired general". canada.com.
- ↑ Den Tandt, Michael (18 September 2013). "Andrew Leslie, former commander of Canadian Army, joins Trudeau's team as adviser". National Post. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ↑ "Liberals Unveil Co-Chairs of International Affairs Council of Advisors". liberal.ca. Liberal Party of Canada. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ↑ "Joe Oliver, Olivia Chow and more surprising election night upsets". thestar.com. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
- ↑ "Andrew Leslie named government's chief whip". CTVNews. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
- ↑ "GingleLive - B2B video platform allowing you to Stream, Share, and Engage live content.". ginglelive.com. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Marc Caron |
Chief of the Land Staff 2006–2010 |
Succeeded by Peter Devlin |
| Special Parliamentary Responsibilities | ||
| Predecessor | Title | Successor |
| John Duncan | Chief Government Whip (2015–) |
incumbent |
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