General Eyre and Deputy Defense Secretary Bill Matthews testified before the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defense on Thursday evening.
In response to questions from committee members, General Eyre revealed that Ottawa has asked the Ministry of Defense to cut spending by almost $1 billion over four years, a cut that worries Canada’s top military officer.
It is impossible to cut the defense budget by almost a billion dollars without having an impact.
These cuts were requested by the Treasury Department, which gave various federal departments until October 2 to cut about $15 billion in government spending.
In mid-August, a spokesman for the Office of the President of the Treasury told Radio-Canada that the government was trying to reallocate underused funds to essential services such as health care and the economy. Clean as well as the government’s key priorities.
The main spending budget of the Ministry of Defense for the period 2023-2024 is 26.5 billion.
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Gen. Wayne Eyre.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Spencer Colby
In his statement, General Eyre said he had very difficult discussions with commanders of various armed forces early Thursday to explain the situation at a time when global security is deteriorating, including due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The details of these cuts were not elaborated on, but Mr. Matthews assured that the process to define the proposed cuts was underway and that they would result in a spending reduction of more than $900 million over four years. He assured that the ministry would ensure that these cuts had as little impact as possible, but acknowledged that impact was inevitable.
Canada doesn’t produce enough ammunition
General Eyre also compiled a list of the most pressing challenges facing the Canadian Armed Forces. At the top of this list is the country’s ammunition shortage. According to him, Canada does not produce enough 155 mm caliber shells, one of the artillery ammunition most in demand by Kiev.
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A Ukrainian artilleryman fires the round of a 155 mm caliber grenade on the front line in the east of the country on November 23, 2022.
Photo: (AFP/Getty Images) / Anatolii Stepanov
Since April 2022, Canada has shipped 40,000 of these ammunition to Ukraine. Half of this stock was supplied by the United States.
According to General Eyre, Canada produces about 3,000 of these shells per month, but since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022, the country has not produced a single additional shell. “This is something that concerns me greatly,” he said, reiterating that it is a national security issue for Canada, particularly because the military does not have the means to practice with real ammunition.
I am very concerned about this situation. […] If today we are asked to use ammunition on the same scale as Ukraine, we will be exhausted [nos stocks] within a few days.
Gen. Eyre said this concern is shared by Canada’s NATO allies.
“This is a topic that comes up at every meeting I attend within NATO,” he assured. This is increasingly worrying because if we look at the capacity to replenish ammunition stocks in Russia, it is happening faster than expected.
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Ukrainian soldiers train on Leopard 2 tanks in Poland. (archive photo)
Photo: Portal / Kacper Pempel
Lack of staff and accommodation
The condition of the main battle tanks is also a concern for the army. According to General Eyre, Canada has sent eight to Ukraine and will send 22 to Latvia to strengthen NATO’s military presence in that country. This means that there are still 52 main battle tanks of this type on Canadian territory, but not all of them are operational, especially due to the lack of spare parts, funds and technicians.
A shortage of personnel is a further headache for the armed forces, a shortage exacerbated by the housing crisis raging across the country.
This is probably the number one problem we hear about as we travel around the country. The housing crisis affects all Canadians, but even more so our troops because they have to move from one region to another. […] Housing must be at the top of the priority list.
According to General Eyre, there is a shortage of between 5,000 and 7,000 housing units to meet the needs of his troops.
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Around 200 soldiers from Valcartier had been deployed to the Greater Montreal area to assist with CHSLDs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Ivanoh Demers
He also explained that the lack of housing is one of the main reasons for the army’s personnel shortage. The problem we face is geographical: the vast majority of our population comes from urban areas, while the vast majority of our operating locations are in rural or coastal areas where prices are high, he explains.
As of August 31, 2023, the Canadian Army was short approximately 16,000 members, including 7,862 in the regular force and 7,605 in the reserve force.
According to General Eyre, this is another key area of concern, particularly as soldiers become increasingly stretched during natural disasters or other national crises, including the pandemic.
The Canadian Army must remain a force of last resort, but we are increasingly called upon to act as a force of first choice, he said. Due to the intensity and frequency of natural disasters, we must continue to resort to them [à nos services]but to achieve this we need to expand our skills.