CFB Wainwright tragedy reminder of Canadian military’s importance: former minister

We do want to get to our next guest, who would have a lot of reaction to all of this. This is the former Minister of National Defence, Peter McKay, making time for us today from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Peter McKay, thank you so much for making the time. Of course, Natasha. Can I just begin by getting your initial thoughts on what we've heard from the Prime Minister? Well, I think the prime minister expressed in very somber and appropriate terms the level of concern that everyone has and the reaction of shock and a sense of tragedy and the loss, of course, of life and injury and the families who are dealing with this, the community of Wainwright. It is something that I really believe has shaken the nation. And in spite of all that is happening daily around the world and around our country, this is a moment that does bring people together and remind us, as David just did and others have spoken, of just the importance of what the Canadian forces do, the men and women who train, who prepare, who deploy, and what we ask of them in the face of grave danger. And when things like this happen, and sadly, we have had training incidents here in this country that have resulted in loss of life. And of course, in Afghanistan, more recently than some of the other deployments, we have had soldiers lost. But this is the value that we place on the lives of the men and women who wear the uniform of the Canadian forces and those who support them. It can't be higher than what we're seeing right now. Can you help us get a sense of the significance of CFB Wainwright and the role that it plays in our Canadian military? Well, it's a live fire training center. There were significant investments made just a few years ago to modernize and also deal with issues around safety. But this is a very important large base in Alberta alongside Suffield, where a lot of soldiers over the last number of years have gone to train for deployments like Latvia, as was mentioned. This is a big range that involves live fire. Again, we've just described the various types of armament that are there, which is a high danger, high risk environment, of course, in live fire terms. And what we are seeing here also raises a lot of questions and speculation that I don't want to get into. But there are gas fields in that area as well. And so an explosion of this size leads to all kinds of scenarios. And given the number of casualties, both lives lost and injured, uh one has to only imagine the enormity of the of the explosion and the ongoing fire and efforts to contain that fire um there there are a number of sources that one could go to but not terrorism thankfully yeah yeah and we did mention that earlier i mean and that's part of the story that in the absence of information which seems fair because this thing just happened last night but you know in the world we're living in people fill that space and that vacuum quickly with all kinds of theories and suggestions and ideas that spread really fast so let me ask you if when you were in this position of being um the defense minister and i know mercifully something like this had not happened uh during your watch but if it had what would be the protocol like how do you go about getting information out that's accurate but is not invasive that doesn't compromise the investigation? Well, it's compromising the investigation when these theories are out there. And of course, with social media, that's prolific. But one of the priorities, of course, the top priority is to get in contact with the families, to get in contact with the base commander, who I believe we're going to hear from soon, and those who were on site, those incredible emergency responders, civilians who are also present on the base. There's about a thousand people at Wainwright and so there will be lots of eyewitness accounts of what occurred which we'll hear more about but informing the families so that they hear first from from the Canadian forces from the government that's the professional protocol that has to be followed and that's why in cases like this the priority was to contain the fire to help the injured to deal with the actual situation on the ground before communications the communications will come and is starting to come now let's talk about how the next can get informed i mean we see this type of thing most of us in the movies that someone comes to your door and delivers this terrible news i mean is that how it works well this is a highly emotional issue for as you can only imagine and i've i've been personally involved in uh in dealing very much so with with casualties that occurred in Afghanistan and repatriations. What I can tell you is the Canadian forces are at their very best in terms of supporting the men and women in uniform, their families. When these tragedies occur, they are professionally trained. We have medical personnel, mental health personnel, individuals who demonstrate the utmost in support and empathy and compassion in these moments which are needed. And there is an element, of course, of unlimited liability that the Canadian Forces members take on when they sign up in the profession of arms that not that you ever want to contemplate this, but there is a reality of the risk assumption when men and women sign on the dotted line and commit to put their lives on the line for their country. But as far as how these matters are dealt with, I can assure you and all Canadians that it is dealt with in the most professional and compassionate and there is a full embrace of the Canadian forces at moments like this. What are you hoping to hear from the technical briefing? Well, more about the cause, obviously, and the containment of the damage. Obviously, the first thing that I think everyone wants to know is the condition of those who are injured, how we are helping them cope with injuries and the stress and trauma and terrible sense of loss that all of those on the ground will be feeling and all of those who are hospitalized. So the human condition, I think, is what comes to mind first and foremost. Is there something that we all who are not familiar with the military and the culture and the experience of being on a base like this that we're not understanding that we need to? Well, what I would say is we need to hold all of them in our hearts and minds right now and send thoughts and prayers and think about, just think about how important these men and women are from the top generals, admirals, down to the person who just signed up last week. what service, what commitment, what patriotism, what they represent. And what they represent is the very best that our country has to offer for the safety of Canadians and for those who they serve and protect abroad. Okay, we will leave it there. Peter McKay, former Minister of National Defence, thank you very much for your time, sir. Thank you.