Andrew Brooke Leslie (born December 26, 1957) is a retired

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

and politician who served as the chief of the Land Staff from 2006 to 2010 and as a

member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

representing the riding of

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and 2015 federal election to the 2019 election.

Background

Andrew Leslie was born in Ottawa in 1957. His father was

Brigadier-General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Edward Murray Dalziel Leslie (né McNaughton), commander of 1st Regiment,

Royal Canadian Horse Artillery The Royal Canadian Horse Artillery is the name given to the regular field artillery units of the Canadian Army. Organization The Regular Force has three RCHA regiments: ; 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery: this is the descendant of ...

(1 RCHA) during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. Leslie's father changed the family name from McNaughton to Leslie in order to comply with the terms of an inheritance from his aunt (and wife of James Norman Stuart Leslie, who was descendant of British Army Captain James Norman Stewart Leslie and General David Leslie). His paternal grandfather is former

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( United States) * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Af ...

and Minister of National Defence General

Andrew McNaughton Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

, and his maternal grandfather is former Canadian Minister of National Defence

Brooke Claxton Brian Brooke Claxton (23 August 1898 – 13 June 1960) was a Canadian veteran of World War I, federal Minister of National Health and Welfare and Minister of National Defence. Early life He was born in Montreal and received his early ed ...

Military career

Leslie joined the 30th Field Regiment when at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

.Biography at Canadian Forces site
In 1981 he transferred to the Regular Force. He went on to be

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of 1st Regiment,

in Shilo, Manitoba. While in London, England, as a graduate student he was attached to the

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

Yugoslavia

In 1995 he was promoted to

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

and sent to the

Former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

for Sector South. He then became the Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of

United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia The United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia, commonly abbreviated UNCRO, was a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in Croatia. It was established under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and approved by the UN S ...

. Leslie was called to the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

(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, a conclusion rejected by both the appeals chamber of the

in the Gotovina case and the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

in the

Croatia–Serbia genocide case The ''Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Croatia v. Serbia)'' was heard before the International Court of Justice. The Republic of Croatia filed the suit against the Federal Republic of Yu ...

. 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.

Manitoba floods

He was the Area Chief of Staff during the Manitoba floods in Spring 1997. Later in 1997 he became the commander of

1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG; French: '')'' is a Canadian Forces brigade group that is part of the 3rd Canadian Division of the Canadian Army. Originally headquartered at CFB Calgary, it is currently based in CFB Edmonton i ...

which was sent to the

South shore of Montreal South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

to help with disaster relief operations. In 2000 he was given responsibility for communications in the Canadian Forces and in 2002 he became the commander of

Land Force Central Area The 4th Canadian Division is a formation of the Canadian Army. The division was first created as a formation of the Canadian Corps during the First World War. During the Second World War the division was reactivated as the 4th Canadian Infantr ...

. He became Deputy Commander of the

International Security Assistance Force ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , comman ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in 2003 and then became Assistant Chief of the Land Staff in 2004. In June 2006 he was appointed Chief of the Land Staff.

Chief of Transformation

In June 2010, General Leslie was replaced as Chief of Land Staff by Lieutenant-General Peter Devlin and was named Chief of Transformation for the Canadian Forces. 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. Leslie referred to this as transforming the Forces into "more tooth and less tail," a phrase that was used by Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

and Minister of National Defence

Peter MacKay Peter Gordon MacKay (born September 27, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and has served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General (2013–2015), Minister of National Defence (2007� ...

. Some saw Leslie's report as recommending to sacrifice too many sacred cows, namely the bloated headquarters organizations.

Retirement

Leslie retired in September 2011 after 35 years in

uniform A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, se ...

and was subsequently hired by

CGI Group CGI Inc. is a Canadian multinational information technology consulting and systems integration company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. CGI has a market value of $21.8 billion, making it one of the top 30 companies in Canada. The co ...

to lead their new Defence, Public Safety and Intelligence unit in Ottawa.

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 Jenni Byrne is a political advisor, political commenter, and government relations expert. A member of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, she is a former advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper a ...

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 The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

. Leslie declined.

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 The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...

leader

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

. Leslie also ran to be the Liberal candidate in the 2015 general election in the riding of

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and 2015 election ahead of Conservative incumbent Royal Galipeau.

Member of Parliament

Leslie was elected into the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

as an MP and on November 20, 2015, he was named Chief Government Whip in the Commons. On February 15, 2016, Leslie was sworn in as a Member of the

Queen's Privy Council for Canada The 's Privy Council for Canada (french: Conseil privé du Roi pour le Canada),) during the reign of a queen. sometimes called Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal consultants to the ...

according to his duties as Chief Government Whip. On May 1, 2019, Leslie announced that he will not be seeking re-election in the upcoming federal election. On May 3, 2019, Leslie confirmed that he would be testifying for the defence at Vice-Admiral Mark Norman's breach of trust trial. On May 7, 2019, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Canada's Public Prosecution Service planned to withdraw charges against Norman.

Honours and decorations

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

Order of Military Merit (Canada) ribbon (CMM)

CAN Meritorious Service Cross (military division) ribbon

UK Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon

* During His Career Andrew Leslie Also Served as an Aide-de-camp. * He was a qualified

Paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World ...

and as such wore the Canadian Forces Jump Wings.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leslie, Andrew 1957 births Living people Canadian generals Military personnel from Ottawa Canadian military personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) CGI Group people Commanders of the Order of Military Merit (Canada) Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit Honourable Artillery Company officers Politicians from Ottawa Recipients of the Meritorious Service Decoration Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada 21st-century Canadian politicians Commanders of the Canadian Army Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery officers