Editing David Collenette (section)

===Minister of National Defence===
As Minister of Defence, Collenette oversaw the reorganization, restructuring and re-engineering of the department as part of the federal government's deficit cutting.  During this time the Canadian Forces were involved in challenging assignments in the Balkans, Haiti and Somalia.{{fact|date=January 2023}}

During his tenure, Collenette was at the centre of the controversy over the establishment of a public inquiry into the [[Somalia Affair]] investigating war crimes committed by Canadian Soldiers during deployment in 1992 by the Mulroney Progressive Conservatives. The Chrétien government later decided to curtail the inquiry.{{fact|date=January 2023}}

In October 1996, Collenette resigned from cabinet citing a letter that he had written on behalf of a constituent. An access to information request revealed Collenette broke ethical guidelines by writing the letter to the [[Immigration and Refugee Board]].<ref name="desb">Desbarats, Peter. "Somalia cover-up: A commissioner's journal", 1997.</ref> Collenette cited this violation as his official reason for resigning from cabinet but his resignation also served to remove him from the ongoing Somalia Affair controversy.<ref name="desb" /><ref>Collenette Resigns Defence Post. Canadian Encyclopedia. Last Accessed 4 March 2015. [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/collenette-resigns-defence-post/]</ref>