National Defence gave minister more info on public opinion research than on ISIS operation, NATO
February 2015 transition books detail public polling results, media requests.
Marie-Danielle Smith
Embassy News
28 Oct 2015
A new Liberal defence minister will inherit a self-conscious department that seems more than a little concerned about how it's perceved by the public.
When Jason Kenney took over as national defence minister in February 2015, he was briefed with a thicker stack of papers about public opinion and media operations than about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, Operation Reassurance and Operation Impact combined.
Embassy obtained the transition books for Mr. Kenney through an access to information request. Similar documents may be provided to a new minister when prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau names his Cabinet Nov. 4.
In a book about “Key Strategic Issues,” about 70 pages long, there are 17 pages worth of public opinion and media analysis, complete with graphs tracking Canadians’ perceptions of the department over years of polling data.
Conversely, only two pages of the document appear to be entirely devoted to Operation Reassurance in Central and Eastern Europe, two pages to Operation Impact in Iraq and Syria, four to NATO and two to NORAD.
More Canadians think CAF doing 'poor job' caring for returned soldiers
“Public opinion research is an important engagement activity to assess how Canadians view the Canadian Armed Forces," the document told the incoming minister. "It is also an evaluation of our public affairs activities by allowing us to gauge what is resonating with Canadians."
Public perceptions of the CAF’s care of returning soldiers declined over the past five years. The department and its counterpart, Veterans Affairs, was criticized for cuts to services and closures of Veterans Affairs offices under the tenure of outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Though the percentage of people who felt the CAF was doing a “good job” taking care of veterans stayed static at 51 per cent, the percentage who said it was doing a “poor job” increased from 20 per cent in 2010 to 38 per cent in 2014.
Surveys also found that general awareness of the CAF was at a 10-year low in 2014. Only 34 per cent of those surveyed had recently seen, read or heard something about the CAF, versus a high of 74 per cent in 2006, the year that Mr. Harper was first elected.
Most Canadians apparently get information about the CAF from television or the internet, and to a lesser extent daily newspapers and radio.
In 2014, 89 per cent had strongly positive or somewhat positive impressions of CAF members, versus 88 per cent in 2005 and 78 per cent in 1999.
The document did not include information about how much the public opinion surveys cost the department.
Department tracking media outlets, journalists
A page offering an overview of the “public environment” warns of a “24/7 instantaneous news cycle expedited by social media” with DND and the Canadian Armed Forces “under constant public and media scrutiny.”
The defence minister is provided, in these first few briefing books, with detailed tracking of media requests, down to full-page bar graphs showing the most frequent publications and the most frequent individual reporters that contact the department.
About 3,500 media requests were received in 2014. That’s close to 14 per workday, or close to one every 30 minutes, the document adds in bolded text. It's also up from the 2,796 media queries the department said it received in the 2012-13 fiscal year.
A pie chart illustrates that journalists’ deadlines were met 94 per cent of the time. “Spikes in interest typically occur when a significant event occurs,” the document explains.
Issues that caused spikes in media coverage last year included: the Oct. 22 attack on the National War Memorial and Parliament Hill that killed Corporal Nathan Cirillo; an attack two days earlier that killed Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu; Operation Impact, including Canada’s bombing mission against ISIS; military procurement; and defence spending.
The deaths of Cpl. Cirillo and W.O. Vincent garnered 4,580 mentions in print and broadcast media combined, while Operation Impact was mentioned 1,434 times. Procurement was mentioned 540 times, defence spending 453 times, the mission in Ukraine 375 times, mental health issues for military members 313 times, military justice issues 303 times.
On social media, the deaths were mentioned nearly 140,000 times, according to the DND transition book, while Remembrance Day was mentioned 74,870 times and Operation Impact 23,767 times.
Parliament not mentioned in brief on decision-making
Another transition book, titled “Who We Are and How We Work,” provided a broader departmental overview to the new minister of national defence.
Just shy of 70 pages, it includes information about ongoing Canadian Armed Forces operations, including all international engagements. It also gave the incoming minister a handy guide to key department officials, complete with photos and biographies.
A brief on strategic decision-making acknowledges that a prime minister or defence minister can make unilateral decisions on defence policy.
Cabinet does not need to sit together as a whole for major decisions to be made, the document explains.
“In some cases, a deployment decision will be made by a cabinet committee and, in others by the prime minister, or by the minister of national defence alone, or in conjunction with the minister of foreign affairs,” the transition book states.
This section on military decision-making does not mention Canada’s elected Parliament.
While the government is not legally or constitutionally required to seek Parliamentary approval for military deployments, it was the political choice of the Harper government to do so on several occasions.
