Canada sees record military recruitment boom over Trump, Ukraine and China fears

Two years ago, Canada’s military recruitment was so dire that the country’s former defence minister warned that the country’s armed forces were in a “death spiral”. However, things have changed since then. Now, the Canadian army is growing at an exponential rate, something the country hasn’t seen in decades.

This year, it reached its highest number of recruits in 30 years, potentially reversing the chronic personnel shortage that has plagued the country’s military. What is noteworthy is the fact that this boost over the last two years comes as the world grapples with major armed conflicts and geopolitical uncertainty.

After years of falling short of its
Nato obligation, Canada now commits billions in new military funding. The boost also coincides with an uncharacteristic rise in nationalism that has emerged since US President Donald Trump referred to Canada as the “51st state”. Many saw Trump’s remarks as a threat to the country’s sovereignty from its closest neighbour.

However, it is important to note that the global conflicts are not the only factor that is increasing recruitment. Canada’s high youth unemployment rate, along with the promise of job security and higher wages after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the largest pay increase for military personnel in a generation, is also a factor.

Carney’s push

Since taking office last year, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has made the military a focus of his government. He often pushed his self-described “ambitious” plan to rapidly modernise and expand the Canadian Armed Forces.

In March this year, he announced that Canada had officially achieved the Nato target of spending 2 per cent of its GDP on defence for the first time since the late 1980s. The Canadian premier also joined the Nato pledge to spend up to 5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035.

It is pertinent to note that Canada reached the 2 per cent milestone by increasing salaries, as well as pledging to buy new equipment, upgrade existing bases and build new infrastructure in the Arctic. However, despite the rise of recruitment, analysts say Canada’s military still lags significantly behind its allies.

Last year, Trump singled out Canada as one of Nato’s “low-payers”, telling reporters in June: “Canada says, ‘Why should we pay when the United States will protect us for free?’” The country is still among the lowest paying Nato members even after reaching the 2 per cent target, according to a report from the defence alliance released last year.

Welcoming foreign nationals

David McGuinty, Canada’s defence minister, said that he believes the country could reach its recruitment goals earlier than projected. Another positive sign is that the rate of attrition, or the number of service members leaving the military, has also declined slightly, after being described as causing “a death spiral” by former Defence Minister Bill Blair in 2024.

In late April, the Canadian military announced that it had enrolled more than 7,000 new members in the last fiscal year – its highest number of recruits in three decades. The figure is a fraction of the total number of people who have expressed interest in joining the military.

As of February, confirmed applications to the Canadian Armed Forces had nearly doubled year over year. It rose from 21,700 to 40,116, according to figures released by the Department of National Defence.

Another significant recruitment change in recent years is the opening up of applications to permanent residents of Canada, rather than limiting them to just citizens. The change came into effect in 2022. Foreign nationals made up around 20 per cent of last year’s recruits. All these factors contributed to the rise in recruitments in the country’s military.