Defence chief gets a pay hike but will he get to stay in job?

Rick Hillier should hire a handler and check with him or her before he opens his mouth. He seems to have no political savvy. Why he would say it might take ten years or so to train the Afghan forces is beyond me. The Afghan ambassador had the right answer to how long it would take. He didn't know and no one did.
As long as Hillier was useful to Harper's cause his yapping was quite acceptable but now he seems to have gone astray. This is from the Star.

Defence chief gets a pay hike but will he get to stay in job?


Oct 27, 2007 04:30 AM
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA–Gen. Rick Hillier received a pay increase just ahead of this week's clash with the Prime Minister's Office over the length of time Canadian troops should remain fighting in Afghanistan.

A government order published last week boosted the chief of defence staff's salary to between $199,700 and $234,900. When named head of the Canadian Forces in 2005, Hillier's pay scale was set at between $185,000 and $217,000.

The raise was approved Oct. 16, the same day the government's throne speech proposed a two-year extension of Canada's Afghan mission to 2011 to help train that country's military. This week, Hillier appeared to run afoul of the government when he said that completing training for the Afghan army would take "10 years or so."

Yesterday, Hillier clarified for CBC-TV that he was referring only to training the most senior Afghan military and that there was "no difference of opinion whatsoever" between the government's 2011 deadline and his.

Hillier's future as Canada's top soldier has been in question since reports surfaced claiming the government was preparing to end his appointment after two years.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper did reiterate his confidence in Hillier but a rebuke by a PMO official, saying Parliament would decide the mission's future – raised new questions about the chief's job security.

"Clearly, there's a real division between ... Gen. Hillier and ... this government. They don't like someone deviating from the script, so it's going to be very interesting to see how this unfolds," said NDP defence critic Dawn Black.