Seems like a lot of money to me. But does it make sense for the minister of Defence to be sticking his nose in and making comments before the case is sorted out? This government has taken a lot of heat lately for seeming to fail to support our soldiers. Do they want to appear to be smearing a general for partisan reasons? Oh yes, this general is a Liberal adviser and possible candidate*. It could well be that the moving bill was inappropriate. It just seems to me, if I were a minister, I would pass on publicly commenting, and defer to the “proper oversight mechanisms” or some other way of fire-walling yourself from accusations of partisan smearing.

*The general was also the author of a major report on reshaping the military, which was, for reasons still unexplained, not welcomed by the government.