Military recruiting issues in West raise challenges for defending democracy: defence chief
Global News
Gen. Wayne Eyre said he worries that Canada's military is not ready for the challenges the future holds as the global security situation continues "deteriorating."
Canada is not the only Western country facing serious challenges when it comes to military recruitment — but the chief of the defence staff says the issues raise concerns about potential threats to democracy.
In an interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson, Gen. Wayne Eyre said Canada’s ongoing recruitment and modernization challenges mean the military would be “hard pressed” to do anything more than simply meet its NATO pledges — and it’s not alone.
“We’re not the only ones facing the people crunch. I’ve had good chats with Australia, New Zealand, NATO counterparts — this is a phenomenon across the West – tight labour force, not as much interest in military service,” Eyre said.
“That worries me from a collective ability to defend democracy at large,” Eyre said. “So we’ve got to do our part. We’ve got to do our part with getting our numbers back up … I am concerned, but I’m concerned for the wider West as well.”
The Canadian Armed Forces have been facing a significant personnel crisis in recent years.
While it is supposed to be adding about 5,000 troops to regular and reserve forces to meet a growing list of demands, the military is instead short more than 10,000 trained members – meaning about one in 10 positions are currently vacant.
In addition to a lack of recruits, the Canadian military continues to face longstanding challenges in procuring new equipment, maintaining aging gear, and tracking down replacement parts.
There are also ongoing questions about whether the federal government will move to contract replacements for the weapons, gear and other equipment such as ammunition that the Canadian military has been donating in the billions to Ukraine.