BURSTB.C.’s Premier is astonished by the United States’ military leadership’s “attack” on Vernon’s cadets.
United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made a post on X (formerly Twitter) Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. sharing a picture that Vernon Cadets had posted on Facebook Aug. 24, accompanied with a Canadian flag and the comment “this is real.”
(this is real) pic.twitter.com/Ucx2FNdi1q
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) September 1, 2026
With nearly 10 million views and nine million comments, the post is seemingly derogatory to a female cadet instructor and Hegseth and the U.S. are being called out over it.
“What an embarrassment,” Premier David Eby said.
“It tells you everything you need to know about the amateur hour, distracted, bizarre leadership that Americans are being subjected to right now that includes a pointless, stupid, self-defeating trade war against Canada of all countries in the world. I look forward to change in that leadership. I am astonished at the depths they continue to explore with their public rhetoric.”
Jason Kenney, former Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada also shared Hegseth’s post on X.
“In the midst of a hot war against a mortal enemy of the United States, the Secretary of War of the world’s only super power finds time to troll folks at a cadet camp for teenagers in Vernon, British Columbia,” Kenney said. “To our many friends in the great United States of America: what’s going on?”
Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in Ottawa Tuesday that the post is “beneath their office.”
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is standing behind the statement, saying it speaks for itself.
Eby said he was actually at an event Monday night with the leadership of the military from around the Pacific Rim, including the United States.
“To a person, they talked about cooperation, about about how important it was in unstable times to work together, and I think about how the current administration in the U.S. has used their military, a war that was supposed to be over in a few days that has increased the price of gas and diesel for people around the world. That has put entire economies in jeopardy because they can’t access oil and gas, and the total failure of the military to achieve what were demonstrably unachievable aims of the Donald Trump administration that they sent them out to do.
“And to think that in that context the elected leadership of the military has decided to attack cadets who have volunteered to serve their country selflessly, as part of a military that has been an ally to the United States for generations.”