Defence minister David McGuinty held a press conference yesterday to tout that the recruiting numbers in the military are way up, and this was a sign that the government is on track with their goals to recapitalise the military. But sure, there are still several trades that they are short in, and sure, they’re still quite a bit below the targets set in 2017, but it’s a start, right?
There are a few things at play here that deserve to be teased out. One of them is that people are saying this has to do with the pay raise, but I’m sceptical because the biggest problem with recruitment has long been the military’s poor intake process, which has been overly cumbersome, has dragged out the security screening process, and as they are admitting now, they don’t have enough beds in basic training to accommodate the increase in numbers. That’s pretty much entirely on the military’s internal processes and has precious little to do with the federal government’s handling of the file in any capacity, which makes it very hard for them to pat themselves on the back for it. (One might almost call that “stolen valour”). Over the past several years, the military’s internal delays were so bad that people who wanted to serve wound up walking away because it took too long, and they found jobs elsewhere. Again, it wasn’t an issue about pay, or military housing, it was that the Forces couldn’t get their own internal bureaucracy in line, and that again is on them.
There is another conversation that nobody is having here around this, which is the correlation between the job market and military recruitment. One of the other reasons recruitment has been poor for three decades now is because the job markets changed in the country, particularly in traditionally economically-depressed regions like the east coast, which used to see high recruitment numbers. What changed? Direct flights to Fort McMurray. The promise of oil sands cash for little education, and things like two-weeks-on/two-weeks-off shifts and living in camps meant good money for people from the region, so there wasn’t any need to sign up to the military to find stable employment. And now that is starting to shift back—there are no longer jobs aplenty in Fort Mac as the oil and gas sector has radically increased automation and productivity, and there are no longer unlimited jobs for high school dropouts get six figure salaries. That is shifting the calculation around the country, and I suspect it is going to be one of the bigger drivers of recruitment more than anything the government has done around pay or base housing.
Ukraine Dispatch
The death toll from a shooting spree in Kyiv has reached seven; the police chief has already tendered his resignation for it.
Good reads:
- Mark Carney met with New Brunswick premier Susan Holt yesterday, ahead of her Chamber of Commerce appearance with other premiers.
- Carney is set to announce a new Canada-US trade advisory council.
- David McGuinty says there is no timeline on the F-35 review (which pretty much means we’re getting even more F-35s).
- A spokesperson for PCO says that provinces are on track to allow direct purchase from alcohol suppliers across provincial borders by next month.
- Canada Post reported a record $1.57 billion loss last year. (But sure, postal banking is totally going to save them).
- The government’s online harms consultation group says that chatbots should be included in their upcoming legislation.
- Governor General May Simon spoke at the opening of the UN permanent forum on Indigenous issues, and said Canada is making progress on reconciliation (slowly).
- Immigration officials tabled a plan with the Public Accounts committee on being more aggressive in reminding student visa holders the repercussions of overstays.
- At the foreign affairs committee, MPs were told that finalising a trade agreement with Taiwan is awaiting Cabinet sign-off.
- Some of the premiers were not happy with Carney’s choice of words regarding the relationship with the US in his latest video.
- Of course, the video of Carney saying he would invoke the Emergencies Act to stop Alberta separatists is doctored! Thanks for that obvious fact check, CP.
- Doug Ford is playing the victim on the private jet issue, claiming he’s the most scrutinized person in Canada, and I just cannot with him. Just stop.
- David Eby is climbing down on his plan to pause implantation of UNDRIP within provincial law, and will continue to work with affected First Nations.
- Lindsay Tedds walks through the Harper/Poilievre economic record, as well as Carney’s, to show problems on both sides, and that education is not the issue.
- Justin Ling recalls the Cuban Missile Crisis as a means to explore just how stupid the current conflict in Iran is and how it came about in the worst way.
- Susan Delacourt gets the behind-the-scenes information on Carney’s “Forward Guidance” video, and the fact that this is the first of a planned series.
Odds and ends:
My dude, your leader has been recycling the same speech for two-and-a-half years now, insisting he's going to double-down on trickle-down economics. Also, inflation is within the target range. If you bring it down further, you're going to stall economic growth. FFS.
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-04-20T20:58:00.542Z
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