Andrew Leslie (general)

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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
(1957-12-26) December 26, 1957 (age 66)
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
Battles/wars War in Afghanistan

The Honourable 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 (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. 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 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, 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][10]

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.[11]

Chief of Transformation

In June 2010, General Leslie was replaced as Chief of Land Staff by Lieutenant-General Peter Devlin[12] and was named Chief of Transformation for the Canadian Forces.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15]

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.[16]

Honours and decorations

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

Order of Military Merit (Canada) ribbon (CMM).jpg MSC ribbon-military.png MSM Ribbon-military.png General Campaign Star Ribbon.png
Special Service Medal Ribbon.png CPSM Ribbon.png 100px UNPROFOR Medal bar.gif
Canada125 ribbon.png Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon.png QEII Diamond Jubilee Medal ribbon.png CD-ribbon and 2 bars.png
US Legion of Merit Commander ribbon.png POL Order Zaslugi RP kl3 BAR.png

Ribbon Description Notes
Order of Military Merit (Canada) ribbon (CMM).jpg Order of Military Merit (CMM)
  • Commander 21 September 2006
  • Officer 28 October 1998
  • [17]
MSC ribbon-military.png Meritorious Service Cross (MSC)
  • Awarded 26 November 2004
  • Military Division
  • [18]
MSM Ribbon-military.png Meritorious Service Medal (MSM)
  • Awarded 1995
  • Military Division
General Campaign Star Ribbon.png General Campaign Star
  • South West Asia Ribbon
  • With "ISAF" Bar
Special Service Medal Ribbon.png Special Service Medal
  • With "NATO" Bar
CPSM Ribbon.png Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal
40px UNFICYP
  • 90 Days on UN peacekeeping Mission in Cyprus
UNPROFOR Medal bar.gif UNPROFOR
Canada125 ribbon.png 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal
  • 1992
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon.png Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
  • 2002
  • Canadian Version of this Medal
  • [19]
QEII Diamond Jubilee Medal ribbon.png Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
  • 2012
  • Canadian Version of this Medal
  • [20]
CD-ribbon and 2 bars.png Canadian Forces Decoration (CD)
  • 2 Clasps
US Legion of Merit Commander ribbon.png Legion of Merit
POL Order Zaslugi RP kl3 BAR.png Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland

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.[21]

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.[22][23] Leslie also ran to be the Liberal candidate in the 2015 general election in the riding of Orléans.[24] He won by acclamation on December 6, 2014, drawing controversy due to promises by Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau for "Open Nominations", claiming his opponent David Bertschi was improperly disqualified in order to make way for a star-candidate.[25] [26] 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 a 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]

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 – –

Template:CANelec/notgain

References

  1. ↑ Monitor Polski 2010 nr 83 poz. 992 – number 8.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Biography at Canadian Forces site
  6. ↑ LGen AB Leslie biography, The RCA Museum
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Canada to get new army boss Windsor Star, 31 March 2010
  13. ↑ Canadian Army To Get New Commander DND/CF Media Advisory, 18 June 2010
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Retired Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie To Head Defence and Intelligence Business Unit at CGI The Ottawa Citizen, 29 September 2011
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Military offices
Preceded by 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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