Lt-Gen. Jean Marc Lanthier named new Canadian Forces vice chief after surprise resignation

The Canadian Forces‘ top brass is being shuffled again following the surprise resignation this week of the military’s second-in-command.

Canadian Army commander Lt.-Gen. Jean-Marc Lanthier is being tapped to be the new vice-chief of defence staff, the fifth officer to serve in that position since 2016.

READ MORE: Canadian military’s second-in-command defends boss after resignation leaks

He takes over from Lt.-Gen. Paul Wynnyk, who linked his resignation to an aborted attempt to reinstate Vice-Admiral Mark Norman into the position, as first reported on Global News Tuesday. 

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Norman was suspended as vice-chief in January 2017 and later charged with breach-of-trust for allegedly leaking government secrets before the case was dropped in May.

While Norman said at the time that he wanted to return to his former position, he instead agreed to a settlement with the government and has since retired.

Lanthier’s move is only one several resulting from Wynnyk’s resignation, with Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre taking over as army commander and Rear Admiral Haydn Edmundson moving up to take over from Eyre as the military’s top human-resources officer.

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