Government cost-cutting blows $150M hole in army's equipment maintenance budget

The Liberal government's recent internal budget cutting exercise at the Department of National Defence (DND) has deprived the army's system for maintaining equipment and vehicles of up to $150 million, CBC News has learned.

And when the preservation of older systems — the kind that might have to be pressed into service during an emergency — is factored in, the funding gap grows to $260 million, the army acknowledged in a written statement.

The shortage of what DND calls national procurement funding is having an impact on the army's ability to respond to a crisis call from NATO or to domestic emergencies, such as the recent wildfires in Western Canada.

The "overall serviceability of operational [army] fleets is, as of 10 June 2024, 52 per cent," Lt-Col. Sandra Lévesque said in a statement released to CBC News. CBC asked the department a series of questions about maintenance funding, equipment and training systems.

That statement means 48 per cent of the army's equipment is unserviceable — a slight deterioration since last year.

CBC News published a leaked document last spring that outlined the state of readiness across the entire military. At the time, the military's figures indicated that 46 per cent of the army's gear was considered "unserviceable."

DND said the army's overall maintenance and upkeep budget amounts to $586 million this year.

"This covers contracts and the overhead costs associated with industrial support as well as repairs; however, the fund allocation is approximately $150 million short of maintaining the current force's serviceability and roughly an additional $260 million short if considering obsolescence and long-term fleet management obligations," the statement said.

"This shortfall will result in a lower serviceability of many Canadian Army fleets."

The latest federal budget, tabled last spring in the House of Commons, tasked DND with cutting internal spending by $810 million in the current fiscal year, and by $908 million per year in 2026–27 and beyond.

In an internal department message, posted the day after the budget was tabled, now-former deputy minister of defence Bill Matthews and now-retired chief of the defence staff Gen. Wayne Eyre told staff that the cuts would target "activities that have a history of underspending their approved funding, and ... initiatives to be delivered in future years."

Defence Minister Bill Blair has insisted that any internal military budget cuts would target the bureaucracy, not military capabilities.

Retired lieutenant-general Andrew Leslie, a former army commander who served one term as a Liberal MP, said there's a clear disconnect between what the minister promised and what's happening to the army.

"The Armed Forces don't have the resources they need to do their jobs right now, let alone tomorrow," he said.