Stopping the CAF ‘death spiral’

OTTAWA—Last week, there was seemingly some good news for Canada's beleaguered Armed Forces. A May 7 Toronto Star news headline noted that "The number of applicants to join Canada's military is soaring.” Unfortunately the text continued with: "Why hasn't that resulted in more of them in uniform?" The answer, it turns out, is that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are unable to process the applications they receive in a timely fashion. As a result, the gap between recruiting and those serving personnel who are releasing from the CAF continues to widen. At last count, there were 16,500 vacancies on the payroll of the CAF's combined regular and reserve establishment of 101,000 people. At a recent defence conference in Ottawa, Minister of Defence Bill Blair referred to the current recruiting versus retention crisis as a “death spiral.” According to the new defence policy update, despite the promise of billions of dollars added to the budget, there is no course correction mentioned that will reduce that 16,500 shortfall in personnel until the year 2032. While Blair told The Star that he doesn't "want to wait till 2032 to replace the 16,500. I think we need to go faster,” he offered no plan of action which would hasten the timeline. However, what The Star article reveals is that Canadians are still willing to enlist in the military. In fact, they did so in record numbers last year with 70,080 individuals volunteering to serve in uniform. The year before that, the number of applicants was 43,934, amounting to a two-year total of 114,014 potential personnel for the CAF. That is more than enough to replace the Armed Forces’ entire authorized strength. However, the overwhelmed recruiting centres were only able to process 4,301 applicants last year, and just 3,930 the year before. That comes to a two-year total of 8,231, which means 105,231 would-be recruits went unprocessed. This makes one question the rationale for the CAF senior leadership to radically reduce the dress and deportment regulations in order to cast a wider net to address the recruiting shortfall. The theory was that if any and all hairstyles were acceptable, including facial hair, tattoos and piercings, the CAF would be a more welcoming and diverse workplace. Uniforms are still to be worn, albeit they are no longer gender specific. For traditionalists, the idea of coloured hair on the parade square seemed a drastic measure to attract otherwise hesitant applicants. Given the numbers, it would seem that dress and deportment was not the problem, but rather it was the recruiting and training branches that simply could not process the influx. Another policy change was to allow immigrants with permanent resident status to enlist in the CAF. Prior to Nov. 1, 2022, a recruit needed to be a Canadian citizen. This move bore fruit, as more than 21,000 permanent resident cardholders to date have eagerly flocked to recruiting centres. Unfortunately, due to a lack of resources through which to conduct the necessary background checks on these people, only 77 such applications had been processed as of February 2024. If a pilot were to announce over the intercom to the passengers that their plane was in a “death spiral,” you would expect the next words to include a plan to take drastic measures to correct said spiral. Instead, Blair continues to display a total lack of urgency. Here is a suggested course of action. The present understrength CAF is like a starving person too weak to digest the necessary nutrients in order to recover. As a short-term measure, the Liberal government should put out the call for former service members to return to duty on an emergency call-up basis. They would not require background checks, and they already know their trade. The job would be simply to enrol and train the new admissions. They could be offered a lucrative signing bonus, and a lucrative temporary salary. This money could come out of the savings the CAF has been realizing as a result of having 16,500 unfilled positions for the past two years. That amounts to billions of dollars if you do the math. There are thousands of applications already on file, and there is no shortage of new volunteers to join. The legion of called-up veterans could temporarily flesh out the training centres, and process the necessary admin and medical procedures. As for those with permanent resident status, why not conduct their security clearances while they are going through their basic military training courses? It is called concurrent activity. Surely, there are enough retired military police, intelligence branch, and Canadian Security Intelligence Service staffers willing to commit to restoring the CAF to full operational strength. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and these are definitely desperate times. Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine. The Hill Times

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Stopping the CAF ‘death spiral’

The Liberal government should put out the call for former service members to return to duty on an emergency call-up basis to enrol and train the new admissions.

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