Joe Varner
Role at the time: Former director of policy to Canada's minister of national defence and former Canadian Armed Forces reserve officer, in an interview with the Toronto Sun
Statement summary
Joe Varner, a former policy director to Canadian defence minister Peter MacKay, told the Toronto Sun that Hegseth's post was "a petty tweet by a man that typically doesn't like women in uniform" and said that 68% of the U.S. military "are considered to be overweight or obese."
“It was a petty tweet by a man that typically doesn't like women in uniform”
Toronto Sun report, syndicated on Yahoo News Canada, on reaction to Hegseth's post about the Vernon cadet program. Varner's remarks were given in an interview with the Toronto Sun. The report also quotes Garnett Genuis and Ron Filipkowski.
Why we used this label
The reference point is Hegseth's "this is real" post about the Vernon cadet image. Varner calls the post petty, ties it to Hegseth's attitude toward women in uniform and praises the instructor shown. That is an express criticism of the post, so we labeled it Condemned. Challenged the characterization loses: his explanation that cadet instructors are community volunteers is offered to support the criticism, not as a standalone correction. Evidence level: a direct quotation in a Toronto Sun report of an interview with the speaker; no primary recording was available.