After Trump threats, Canadian military recruits surge

OTTAWA — Defense Minister David McGuinty says rising global uncertainty is driving a surge of Canadians to enlist in the military.

“Applications are up because Canadians want to serve,” McGuinty said Tuesday at an announcement about increasing and upgrading the stockpile of housing on military bases. He said in the past eight months, there has been a 13 percent increase in new recruits to the Canadian Armed Forces.

“They’re very engaged in the project called ‘Canada’ right now. I think they want to make sure that Canada remains a secure and sovereign country.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government is pouring tens of billions of dollars into its military following President Donald Trump’s economic attacks and threats to annex Canada as “the 51st state,” as well as his complaints about Canada and other NATO allies free-riding on U.S. coattails.

Canada is set to meet the previous NATO spending target of 2 percent of GDP in the coming months. It has pledged that by 2035, Canada will meet the 5 percent benchmark Trump foisted on the alliance last year.

Ottawa recently launched its new Defense Industrial Strategy that aims to create 125,000 jobs as part of a “Buy Canadian” push to increase the proportion of military purchases away from the United States to other allies. Canada is planning major military hardware purchases, such as a new fleet of 12 non-nuclear submarines, dozens of fighter jets and new warships, with a focus on securing the country’s vast and largely undefended Arctic.

That has also meant a 20 percent pay raise for military personnel, along with a commitment to improving living conditions at military bases.

The incentives are aimed at boosting the sagging levels of military personnel and addressing poor recruitment and retention that has created a shortfall in both rank-and-file soldiers and pilots needed to fly the next generation of fighter jets.

Before the recent recruitment increase, the Forces were about 15,000 people short of the 71,500 needed to meet regular strength requirement.

On Tuesday, McGuinty rolled out the second phase of a military housing strategy that is part of a plan to build 7,500 new military housing units across Canada. McGuinty said military members at 13 bases across the country that he has visited have stressed the need for better housing. In response, he said the government is making the largest investment in military housing since the end of the Second World War.

“When they have stability at home, they are better equipped to meet the security challenges of today and the ones we know are coming tomorrow,” McGuinty said.

McGuinty said more details are coming soon about measures to increase housing and infrastructure in the Canadian Arctic, including specifics around the C$2.67 billion plan to create a series of Northern Operational Support Hubs in the Far North.

The Arctic focus is part of Carney’s broader “build baby, build” strategy that ties increased defense industrial production to bolstering the Canadian economy against Trump’s economic aggression toward Canada — threats that have ranged from punitive tariffs to threatening to choke off the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a key trade crossing between the two countries.

Carney has created a Major Projects Office to expedite the creation of energy and infrastructure construction, including roads, buildings and airstrips that could have both civilian and military uses. The plan requires consulting with First Nations, including the Inuit people of Canada in the North.

“We’re marrying not only our defense requirements, operational requirements, with our Major Projects Office priorities, with the priorities of the Inuit, with the priorities of different governments,” McGuinty said.