Military planners map out restructuring the Canadian Army, says top soldier

The Canadian Army is about to embark on a wholesale restructuring in the face of growing demands for troops and equipment both overseas and at home, says the country's top soldier.

A military modernization team is currently studying the problem against the backdrop of a shortage of as many as 5,000 soldiers, Lt.-Gen. Mike Wright told CBC News in a recent interview at the NATO training centre in Adazi, Latvia.

"The army we have now is not the army that we need for the future," Wright said when asked if he was satisfied with the equipping of the troops on the Western military's alliance's deterrence mission in Eastern Europe.

He made his remarks against a backdrop of threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to annex Canada through economic force.

Several senior Canadian commanders have recently faced questions about how long the country could hold out if relations with Washington deteriorated further and the United States chose a military option.

WATCH | Top soldier says major modernization of army is coming:

Wright wouldn't comment, other than to say ties with the American military have remained unchanged and strong despite the political rhetoric. 

"I'm not even going to imagine the unimaginable," he said.

The army is facing a number of challenges — both overseas and domestically — and Canada has struggled to field equipment to its force in Latvia, including modern anti-tank weapons, air-defence systems and counter-drone technology. It currently has 47 capital projects on the go.

The absence of such equipment has been a major gap for soldiers, whose job it is to defend Latvia, a NATO member, should Russia turn its military attention to the Baltic region.

Some of the equipment — deemed critical in light of the way the war between Russia and Ukraine has unfolded — is still making its way to the brigade more than a year after being declared an urgent operational requirement. Other existing equipment, such as the Leopard 2A4 tanks, are facing a well-documented shortage of spare parts.

Last fall, satellite images analyzed by Estonian media noted that several bases on the Russian side of the border, which had been emptied of troops and equipment following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, are now showing signs of life and vehicles, including tanks and long-range artillery.

"Am I content with how we are prepared here? The answer is yes, but we actually need to get to the point of what we have here in Latvia — we're able to feel that for the entire Canadian Army," Wright said. "So I'm really focused on that."

The Canadian Army currently has three major regular force infantry regiments, a series of tank and artillery units as well as 185 reserve units located in 86 cities across the country.