Andrew Leslie (general)

Andrew Brooke Leslie PC CMM MSC MSM CD (born December 26, 1957) is a retired Canadian Armed Forces lieutenant-general who served as Chief of Transformation and earlier as Chief of the Land Staff. He was the Member of Parliament for the riding of Orléans, from the October 19, 2015, federal election until he stood down at the 2019 Canadian federal election.

Lieutenant General the Honourable Andrew Leslie CMM MSC MSM CD PC
Leslie in 2013
Chief Government Whip
In office November 20, 2015 – January 29, 2017
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Preceded by	John Duncan
Succeeded by	Pablo Rodriguez
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Orléans
In office October 19, 2015 – September 11, 2019
Preceded by	Royal Galipeau
Succeeded by	Marie-France Lalonde
Personal details
Born	Andrew Brooke Leslie December 26, 1957 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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
Branch/service	Canadian Army
Rank	Lieutenant-general
Commands	1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Chief of the Land Staff Chief of Transformation
Battles/wars	War in Afghanistan

Background

Andrew Leslie was born in Ottawa[2] in 1957. His father was Brigadier General Edward Murray Dalziel Leslie (né 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 from his aunt (and wife of James Norman Stuart Leslie, who was descendant of British Army Captain James Norman Stewart Leslie and General David Leslie).[4][5] His paternal grandfather is former Chief of the General Staff and Minister of National Defence General Andrew McNaughton, and his maternal grandfather is former Canadian Minister of National Defence Brooke Claxton.[6]

Military career

Leslie joined the 30th Field Regiment when at the University of Ottawa.[7] In 1981 he transferred to the Regular Force.[7] He went on to be Commanding Officer of 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in Shilo, Manitoba.[7] While in London, England, as a graduate student he was attached to the Honourable Artillery Company.[8]

Yugoslavia

In 1995 he was promoted to Colonel and sent to the Former Yugoslavia as Chief of Staff for Sector South.[7] He then became the Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia.[7] 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, testified to indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas by Croatian forces in August 1995,[9] 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.[10] 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.[11][12]

Manitoba floods

He was the Area Chief of Staff during the Manitoba floods in Spring 1997.[7] 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.[7] In 2000 he was given responsibility for communications in the Canadian Forces and in 2002 he became the commander of Land Force Central Area.[7] 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.[7] In June 2006 he was appointed Chief of the Land Staff.[13]

Chief of Transformation

In June 2010, General Leslie was replaced as Chief of Land Staff by Lieutenant-General Peter Devlin[14] and was named Chief of Transformation for the Canadian Forces.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17]

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.[18]

Honours and decorations

Leslie received the following honours and decorations during and after his military career.

Ribbon	Description	Notes
	Order of Military Merit (CMM)	Commander 21 September 2006 Officer 28 October 1998 [19]
	Meritorious Service Cross (MSC)	Awarded 26 November 2004 Military Division [20]
	Meritorious Service Medal (MSM)	Awarded 1995 Military Division
	General Campaign Star	South West Asia Ribbon With "ISAF" Bar
	Special Service Medal	With "NATO" Bar
	Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal
	UNFICYP	90 Days on UN peacekeeping Mission in Cyprus
	UNPROFOR	90 Days on UN Peacekeeping Force during the Yugoslav Wars
	125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal	1992
	Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal	2002 Canadian Version of this Medal [21]
	Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal	2012 Canadian Version of this Medal [22]
	Canadian Forces Decoration (CD)	2 Clasps
	Legion of Merit	Awarded in 2007 Degree of Commander From the United States of America
	Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland	Awarded in 2010 3rd Class Commander's Cross [23] From 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.[24]

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.[25][26] 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.[27]

Member of Parliament

Leslie was elected into the House of Commons of Canada as an MP and on November 20, 2015, he was named Chief Government Whip in the Commons.[28] 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.[29]

On May 1, 2019, Leslie announced that he will not be seeking re-election in the upcoming federal election.[30] On May 3, 2019, Leslie confirmed that he would be testifying for the defence at Vice-Admiral Mark Norman's breach of trust trial.[31] On May 7, 2019, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Canada's Public Prosecution Service planned to withdraw charges against Norman.[32]

Electoral history

2015 Canadian federal election: 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

1. Monitor Polski 2010 nr 83 poz. 992 – number 8.
2. Laura Stone (18 February 2015). "Lunch with Liberal Andrew Leslie: 'Just going overseas and bombing does not work'". Global News. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
3. "BGen EMD Leslie DSO, CD". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
4. Julie Beun. "Hon. Andrew Leslie's home pays tribute to family's rich military past". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
5. "April 28, 1953 - COLONEL TAKES NEW NAME TO INHERIT $250,000 | Chicago Tribune Archive". Archives.chicagotribune.com. 1953-04-28. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
6. "Andrew Leslie replaced in shuffle of military hierarchy". thestar.com.
7. Biography at Canadian Forces site Archived July 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
8. LGen AB Leslie biography Archived 2012-01-25 at the Wayback Machine, The RCA Museum
9. "ICTY Transcript Page 1927". 22 April 2008.
10. "Application of the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide=3 February 2015=" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 December 2016.
11. "Canadian army chief grilled at war crimes tribunal". 24 April 2008.
12. "Support for Leslie is deserved". 8 May 2008.
13. "Leslie appointed head of Canada's land forces". CBC News. 15 June 2006.
14. Canada to get new army boss Windsor Star, 31 March 2010
15. Canadian Army To Get New Commander DND/CF Media Advisory, 18 June 2010
16. "Report on Transformation 2011".
17. "General's report calls for dramatic cuts to bloated military staffing". The Globe and Mail.
18. 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
19. "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
20. "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
21. "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
22. "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
23. "Canada Gazette" (PDF). 4 December 2010.
24. "Email trail documents Tory job overtures to retired general". canada.com.
25. 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.
26. "Liberals Unveil Co-Chairs of International Affairs Council of Advisors". liberal.ca. Liberal Party of Canada. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
27. "Joe Oliver, Olivia Chow and more surprising election night upsets". thestar.com. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
28. "Andrew Leslie named government's chief whip". CTVNews. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
29. "GingleLive - B2B video platform allowing you to Stream, Share, and Engage live content". ginglelive.com. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
30. Andrew Leslie [@AndrewLeslieMP] (May 1, 2019). "It has been my honour and privilege to represent the constituents of Orléans as the federal Member of Parliament. After careful consideration, I believe it is time for me to take a new path. bit.ly/2Je8cLv" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
31. "Andrew Leslie set to testify for the defence in Mark Norman's breach of trust trial". Retrieved May 8, 2019.
32. "Andrew Prosecutors to drop criminal case of breach of trust against Vice-Admiral Mark Norman". Retrieved May 8, 2019.