Defence Minister Bill Blair says the personnel shortage plaguing the Canadian Armed Forces amounts to a “death spiral.”
“That is frankly ... it’s a death spiral for the Canadian Armed Forces, we cannot afford to continue on that pace.”
Mr. Blair made several announcements at the conference, including on boosting the domestic production of 155mm artillery shells and launching a new policy on artificial intelligence. But he said the top defence priority always needs to be the people who serve in uniform.
“We’re taking meaningful steps to build a more diverse and inclusive and supportive institution that can attract and retain the talent from all segments of Canadian society,” said the minister in his speech.
So far the new policies have not helped to turn around personnel issues. Figures provided by the Department of National Defence (DND) in late January indicate the attrition rate in the CAF was at 9.7 percent in the last financial year, the highest rate in over 15 years.
Mr. Blair said the CAF is lacking almost 16,000 troops. “We’re short of a lot of people,” he said.
‘We Can’t Be Patient’
After his conference speech, the minister was asked during a discussion with a Global News reporter whether he thinks his government bears any responsibility for the personnel issues.“Of course,” he said. “I think all governments; mine, previous governments, for decades bear some responsibility for the current state of preparedness of the Canadian Armed Forces.”
To address the personnel issue, Mr. Blair spoke of the new measure to allow non-Canadian citizens to join the CAF, which opened a new path to citizenship.
The minister expressed frustration at the slow speed to process applications from permanent residents, which face more stringent security checks.
The minister said the CAF has told him to be patient with the recruiting effort but he said “we can’t be patient” and there is a “sense of urgency” to change the process.
Mr. Blair says he’s asked military leaders to find ways to expand eligibility by abolishing “outdated medical requirements,” creating a probationary period to enrol new members—especially permanent residents—and streamlining the security screening process.
The minister said 16,000 permanent residents applied after the new measure came into force and less than 100 were let in.
“Quite frankly that’s unacceptable,” said Mr. Blair. “It’s an opportunity lost and we can’t afford to lose those opportunities, and so we are going to have to do the work necessary to change.”
DND told The Epoch Times in a statement that the streamlining measures mentioned by Mr. Blair impact the enrolment medical standards, which it said are being updated to ensure the department “can medically ’screen in' the maximum number of applicants who are likely to meet the demands of basic training” as well as meet the standards specific to their intended occupation.
Regarding the probationary period, DND says an interdisciplinary working group began its work on this in the fall, and that other government partners are being leveraged to “optimize the security screening” process.
Despite these planned changes, Mr. Blair said he has “absolutely no intention of lowering the standards” of the CAF.
