Gen. Jennie Carignan said the military must be ready to face potential threats to Canadian territory within the next five years.
OTTAWA—The shadow of potential war — and the need to avoid it — was invoked early and often at Thursday’s change-of-command ceremony, where Gen. Jennie Carignan became the first woman to take command of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Addressing reporters at the Canadian War Museum, in a large display room packed with forest-green tanks and other war machines, Carignan said the military must be ready to face potential threats to Canadian territory within the next five years.
That’s the timeline she said Russia and China — countries widely seen as adversaries of North American and European countries in a new era of global tensions — could have the ability to “reach us” in Canada.
“Canadians need to understand that, if we are not ready, we might not be able to react appropriately in defence of them,” Carignan said, moments after she was named Canada’s new chief of the defence staff.
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