In the last year for which full numbers are available, 70,000 Canadians sought to join the Canadian Armed Forces. Fewer than 5,000 applications were accepted.
At a time of significant peril for Canada, some have responded by giving up on our country entirely. In contrast, others have become demoralized, acting as if Canada is doomed to a future of vulnerability and weakness.
This has certainly been exacerbated by divisive government rhetoric, the demonization of Canadian history, and a decline in our standard of living that has sapped confidence that the future will be better than the past.
Canada’s military recruitment struggle is often linked to this broader demoralization, and there is some truth to that. By overwhelmingly focusing on the negative aspects of Canadian history, rather than on the many things Canadians and our ancestors have to be proud of, the government has made it more difficult to sell a military career to many young Canadians. Even worse, those who look into stories about the Canadian Armed Forces will surely find legions of articles pointing to equipment shortages, dilapidated accommodations, a broken procurement system, and severe underfunding.
And yet, despite demoralizing rhetoric, decades of underfunding, and a military largely bereft of modern equipment, tens of thousands of patriotic Canadians still sought to join the CAF to defend our nation.
In the last year for which data is available, 70,000 people wanted to sign up.
Despite this significant interest, fewer than 5,000 were recruited.
Here’s how Scott Taylor of Esprit de Corps explained it:
“General Carignan explained that attracting civilians into recruiting centres is not the problem. Last year over 70,000 Canadians signed applications to join the CAF. However, due to bureaucratic red tape and lengthy security clearances fewer than 5,000 applicants were actually recruited. As the personnel shortfall crisis deepens, the CAF have made changes to that system. General Carignan says that in this fiscal year the CAF is on target to recruit and train 6,400 personnel. This she explained will keep pace with the number of personnel expected to retire or release within that same timeframe. In other words, the current projection is to simply stop the hemmoraging without actually pumping in any fresh blood to flesh out the ranks to full strength.”
This is appalling.
The world is getting more and more dangerous by the day.
Our sovereignty is increasingly threatened.
China is undertaking the largest military buildup since WW2.
Russia continues to build up in the Arctic.
And the best the government can do is to barely maintain personnel levels that fall far short of Canada’s military needs.
Of course, not every applicant can or should be accepted.
But it is appalling that red tape and a failure to rapidly process security clearances are potentially stopping people from becoming part of the CAF at a moment when Canada desperately needs to expand recruitment.
This must be addressed. If it means hiring more officials to process applications and conduct background checks, then so be it. That would be money well spent.
Like other actions we need to take to rapidly build up our defences, this needs to happen ASAP, not ‘a few years down the road.’
Consider also that if Canada gets hit by 25% tariffs from the U.S. and enters a significant further economic downturn, more and more young people will turn to the military for employment. Canada would be wise to rapidly ramp up military spending to generate economic activity within our country and provide jobs for the many Canadians who could find themselves facing financial disaster. A large-scale military buildup wouldn’t offset all the impact of tariffs, but it would certainly make a positive dent. But that won’t be possible if we can’t rapidly process applications and conduct background checks.
As a result, we not only need to spend tens of billions more per year on equipment (mass producing drones, mass producing 155mm ammunition, and starting up tank production in Canada would be great job creators), we also need to invest a few billion dollars in rapidly expanding our ability to recruit. We need recruitment ads on every media platform, we need more and more recruitment centres set up across our nation, and we need to ensure that applications are rapidly processed.
This will all have a cost, and the cost will be significant. But doing nothing would be far more costly, as it could result in the loss of our country.
We’ve spent decades living in a fantasy land where we imagined that raw military power was somehow no longer unnecessary. If we want Canada to survive and thrive, we need to acknowledge reality and start rapidly making up for decades of military underfunding.
Finally, let’s remember that there is something hopeful behind all of this. Despite all the barriers to a military career and all the ways in which military careers have seemingly been disincentivized, there are still many brave Canadians who want to serve our nation. We owe it to them to make the process as effective and efficient as possible, and we owe it to them to ensure they have the best and most advanced equipment possible.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
