After years of observing incompetent governments at all levels, scandal after scandal, major errors made on important government decisions and total abuse of our taxpayer dollars in so many instances, Canadians would be justified in asking what exactly does it take to get a government employee fired? To cite just a few instances, recent years have seen the federal Liberal government waste many billions of our money in scams such as the Green Slush Fund (officially Sustainable Development Technology Canada), foolish investments of tens of billions into electric vehicle battery plants, the terrible mismanagement during the Covid pandemic, funding of many organizations that end up being linked to terrorists, foreign “aid” that just benefits the rich in the recipient country, big contracts awarded to Liberal friends, the ArriveCan app fiasco and the WE student grant program. Yet not one head rolled in either the bureaucracy or political ranks because of incompetence. Often bureaucrats involved in making these enormously bad decisions were promoted to positions with higher salaries! Politicians retained their portfolios despite constant failures.
Recently, however, a senior official at the Department of National Defence, Raquel Garbers, was unceremoniously fired. It seems the reason for such a hasty and unusual action was that she had the nerve to tell the truth and raise serious questions about the impact of the Carney government’s desire for Canada to become closer to China. Garbers’ resume is quite impressive – she was the Director General for Defence Policy, serving as the principal architect of Canada’s defence policy. She also led strategic work on the future of Canada-US relations and represented Canada at high-level meetings (NATO, Five Eyes etc.). She had almost 30 years of experience with the Canadian defence, security and intelligence communities. All in all, the kind of experienced person you’d think would be very valuable to Canada in our current circumstances.
However, Garbers’ honest assessment that the government’s push to ally more closely to China would waste the “middle power” advantage that Carney speaks of so fondly as his approach to the new global realities. She notes that the U.S.’s current priority is to contain the hostile states that are flexing their muscles such as China, Russia and to a lesser extent Iran. Garbers’ view is that the middle powers, including Canada, wasted the post WWII rules-based international order by allowing their militaries to become weak and permit China to gain footholds and economic influence in Western nations. As a result, the middle powers remain highly dependent on the U.S. to protect them, yet Carney and others wrongly present the notion of a middle-power resurgence as a replacement for U.S. influence.
Garbers’ views are perfectly logical and have been cited by other foreign policy and defence experts who have emphasized the immense risk in Carney government’s plans to become closer to Communist China and the negative impact it will inevitably have on Canada-U.S. relations. By firing such a competent, experienced and respected expert, the government merely demonstrated it does not tolerate any opinions other than its own. Strong leadership welcomes differences in opinion as taking into account various viewpoints invariably leads to a better outcome.
Canadians also found out this week that while firing a knowledgeable senior bureaucrat, the Carney government had actually hired a Democratic operative, Maia Johnson, who had previously worked on the campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Johnson occupies a new position of Chief Operating Officer in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Apparently, Johnson has been working in this position since February 2026, which came as a surprise to even many senior Liberals. One can only imagine the furor if a Conservative government had placed a Republican partisan in the PMO.
With moves such as the strategic agreement with China and hiring Democratic players in senior positions, the Carney government seems determined to poke the U.S. Republican Administration in the eye as frequently as possible. With the hugely important Canada-U.S. trade agreement on shaky ground, it’s pretty difficult to see how this approach can ever be positive for Canada.
She has published numerous articles in journals, magazines & other media on issues such as free trade, finance, entrepreneurship & women business owners. Ms. Swift is a past President of the Empire Club of Canada, a former Director of the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, past President of the International Small Business Congress and current Director of the Fraser Institute. She was cited in 2003 & 2012 as one of the most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network & is a recipient of the Queen’s Silver & Gold Jubilee medals.
