Carney’s comments over possibility of U.S. invasion reveal how contingency plans are always in place | Former army commander says defence plans would have been amended in light of Trump’s threats to sovereignty
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-us-trump-carney-invasion-plans-9.7357842
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>Retired Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie headed the section at the defence department that writes and updates the plans.
>He said they are amended as world circumstances dictate, often when a new leader takes power in a country where Canada has an interest.
>”You make judgment calls on what is likely to happen, what is unlikely to happen,” Leslie said in an interview with CBC News.
>”You consult with other departments, with other experts, and then you put it away again.”
>The planning, Leslie said, would have been updated after Trump’s re-election in 2024 and would have been pulled out regularly, especially in light of the Trump administration’s threats in January to seize Greenland by force.
>”In the context of the threats that the White House has issued against Canada … those would have probably resulted in a heightened focus,” Leslie said, citing talk of a 51st state and maps showing Canada as part of the U.S.
>Over a year ago, Trump ruled out military action against Canada, saying he’d use economic coercion instead to force the country into the Union.
>Given everything that’s been said, it would have been natural for Carney to call for defence plans to be revised, Leslie said.
>”What a lot of people sometimes forget is that a political leader’s first remit at the national level is the safety, security of Canadians,” said Leslie, who also served as commander of the Canadian Army.
>”So it would be his duty to ensure that all due diligence and prudent steps have been taken to see what might have changed from the way that the old plans were written or updated. And it would be the duty of the Chief of the Defence Staff [Gen. Jennie Carignan] to advise them accordingly, which I’m absolutely sure she did.”
>Impact of Trump’s threats go unnoticed in U.S.
>The notion of U.S. military action is a hot-button issue for many.
>”I think every Canadian worries about it,” New Democrat MP Gord Johns said going into the House of Commons on Thursday. Canadians are paying attention when Trump calls the country the 51st state or refers to Carney as the governor of Canada, Johns added.
>There is, however, an increasingly puzzled reaction among some Americans who have grown accustomed to Trump’s threats, taunts and trolling.
>Matthew Schmidt, an associate professor at the University of New Haven in Connecticut and a former instructor at the U.S. Army War College, said many Americans, including himself, are unaware of how Trump’s words affect people in other nations.
>”I don’t think I have a visceral sense of what Canadians are feeling about the United States,” Schmidt said. “We really don’t have a sense of the impact of what the president is saying has on other places.”
media’s really hammering on this nothingburger lately. is there something actually interesting happening they don’t want to report on?
rage baiting article and post
Drones. Millions and millions of drones. Don’t invest in anything else. Drones first everything else second. We are too far behind to fight. Too out manned. Drones drones drones
Fear mongering Trump find a new playbook
Scare the population then rob them and send them to war … it’s a repeating cycle
I don’t get the media. All countries have contingencies about all countries invading.
I’m sure the US has contingencies about some island, that they imposed tariffs on, inhabited by penguins invading the US.
All jokes aside, I am sure that Canada has drawn up plans for a Russian invasion, Chinese invasion, North Korean invasion, Fijian invasion, Latino invasion, one would be stupid not to plan for an invasion from anyone.
I think the media is making a big deal out of something that we have generals being prepared.
I would be mad if we didn’t have plans! We need backup plans for our backup plans for our backup plans
I just hope we have explosives planted at the oil pipelines and energy infrastructure they would actually want to take from us. A bit sad that our best deterrent is wrecking our own stuff but we’re a country of only 40 million people, thats just how it is.
Whatever. What about the Epstein files?
I’m sure if it comes down to it Canada will have a nuclear weapon ready within a few weeks. Just don’t push us to that point
Shitposting!! 👎
We’ve always had to have these plans. They’re the only country to ever invade us, and their leader really, really wants to.
Trump was the trigger for this with his running commentary on 5st State, Governor, and Whitehouse sanctioned memes of the US flag plastered all over Canada. Put the blame where it belongs on the guy who has been demonizing traditional allies, cozing up to dictatorships, and starting conflicts. For Canada to pretend that US this hasn’t crossed our minds – no matter how bizarre this timeline seems – the guy in the Whitehouse is bizzare. Canada’s Prime Minister simply acknowledged that the scope of our plans are in step with the times we live in.
Why did he tell this to the NYTimes before telling it to Canadians? Why not reveal it through CBC or even CTV first?
At least 7 times an Inquiry has been called over the use of Agent Orange in CFB Gagetown and each one was denied. In 2009 two members of the Harper Cabinet stood with Dow Chemical and Monsanto (wearing a Pharmacia mask) demanding the dismissal of the Agent Orange class action and got their way https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/dismiss-agent-orange-lawsuit-n-l-court-urged-1.835736
Maine asked why their soldiers training in Gagetown were harmed: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/agent-orange-base-gagetown-study-maine-commission-recommendations-1.7060592
The Gagetown Harmful Chemical Study Commission will be having a public comment period at the Commission’s next meeting on October 2, 2026
The only explanation for this sequence of events points to Agent Orange being tested in Gagetown in far greater amounts than what is admitted. In fact spraying of hundreds of thousands of gallons of the chemicals defining Agent Orange (2,4-D & 2,4,5-T) began in Gagetown in 1956 and continued heavily through 1964, a period oddly never mentioned. We are instead told of the seven days in 1966/1967 when 2 barrels were sprayed.
There are no contingency plans to deal with this. Trump is why we only recently decided to buy millions of armed drones
I don’t think anyone would have guessed a decade ago that the US would invade Canada or even hear a president say they are serious about taking over Canada to be part of the US. I think Carney bringing up that they had to look at a plan if that was attempted was to make it more real since everyone including the Republicans supporting Trump need to be called out that this has been said and they, the Republicans support it. Crazy times!
This is all to distract away from major news that even his own “Operating Budget” won’t be balanced. Carney continues to stoke the anti-US rhetoric to keep Canadians in fear and look away from his lack of results.
And who better than CBC to help him!
A smart person always has a plan b.
Of course boomers gonna believe that. More fear mongering techniques leads to more approval ratings so why stop now.
Canada has been asleep at the wheel since 1959. Trump will make itve military threat, obtuse though it may be.It will start with savior comments and flights incursions. I always suspected where Canada’s greatest threat lay.