Canadian military ‘will be there’ in emergencies despite concerns: Blair

The military has no greater responsibility than protecting Canadians, Defence Minister Bill Blair says, and his government will continue to call in the troops to respond to emergencies when needed.

In an interview on Wednesday, Blair was asked about comments from senior military leaders who say the government is overly reliant on the Armed Forces at home, putting their training and other missions at risk.

“I think it is fair to acknowledge that that puts an awful lot of pressure on the Canadian Armed Forces and on its capability,” Blair said.

“But when Canadians need their Canadian Armed Forces, my expectation is the Canadian Armed Forces will be there for them.”

In a year-end interview in December, Vice Admiral Bob Auchterlonie, the commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, raised concerns about the military’s ability to respond to what he called the deteriorating security situation around the world.

“The fact is, there seems to be an increasing demand for Canadian Armed Forces presence not only at home in Canada, but within the continent and around the world,” he said.

The Armed Forces has been struggling to recruit and retain members in recent years.

Internally, reconstitution has been the military’s top priority since late 2022 as it tries to fix what senior leaders are calling a personnel crisis.

As of last fall, officials said the shortfall is still more than 16,000 people — in a force that’s around 115,000 members at full strength — and another 10,000 or so soldiers lack adequate training to be sent on missions.

Defence chief Gen. Wayne Eyre has said even with the numbers stabilizing, it will take years to solve the problem.

At the same time, there has been enormous domestic demand on the military to help with