General Jennie Carignan, Chief of the Defence Staff, is Ottawa’s nomination for the position of Chair of the NATO Military Committee.DAPHNE LEMELIN/AFP/Getty Images
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is putting forward the country’s top soldier as Canada’s candidate for the senior military post at NATO.
Defence Minister David McGuinty said Wednesday that General Jennie Carignan, Chief of the Defence Staff, is Ottawa’s nominee for the position of chair of the NATO Military Committee.
The term of the current chair, Italy’s Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, is expected to conclude in mid-2027, Ottawa said, and an election for his successor is planned for this September during the NATO Military Committee Conference in Copenhagen.
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The chair of the NATO Military Committee is the Western alliance’s most senior military role and serves as the principal military adviser to the Secretary-General who heads the 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Gen. Carignan has served as Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff since 2024 and has held senior leadership appointments across the Canadian Armed Forces during her more than 40 years in uniform.
Ottawa said Gen. Carignan will remain in her role as the process to pick the NATO chair position unfolds.
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Over the course of NATO’s history, only three Canadians have chaired the NATO Military Committee: Gen. Charles Foulkes from 1952 to 1953, Adm. Robert Falls from 1980 to 1983, and Gen. Raymond Henault from 2005 to 2008, the government said.
“General Carignan is an exceptional military leader whose experience, judgment and deep commitment to allied collaboration make her an outstanding candidate to serve as the next chair of the NATO Military Committee,” Mr. McGuinty said in a statement.
Retired Col. Brett Boudreau predicted Gen. Carignan will be a strong contender for the NATO job.
“For a whole variety of reasons, including Canada’s massive new defence spend, our renewed national profile within NATO, the good reputation of our military personnel, her nationality, her overall resume and operational background including as a NATO Mission Iraq commander, she would be an immediate front runner and very hard to beat,” Mr. Boudreau, a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute think tank, said.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the name of the current NATO military chair.