• Canada must be able to defend its borders and government leaders must be willing—if circumstances require—to use armed force to do so.


• The men and women serving in the Canadian Armed Forces must be supplied with the latest equipment and must have adequate training to be ready when called upon.


• Our veterans deserve our gratitude and our duty of care, especially those who have been injured in the line of duty. We also have a duty of care to families who have lost loved ones in service to our country.

We affirm that governments have a responsibility to maintain a strong military preparedness to protect their citizens from foreign threats and subversive influences. Canada's military capability has collapsed under successive governments and is sorely lacking in modern equipment, trained personnel and—most importantly—wise and visionary leadership. Under the Trudeau Liberals, the focus has been on “woke” ideology and DEI. This must stop.

Canada must place a much higher priority on military preparedness, even in times of minimal international tension. Canada's national defence forces—our army, navy and air force—must be equipped with the best, most cost-effective weaponry and resources available, and maintained in such numbers as to ensure an effective defence of Canada's borders and interests.

Canada has been irresponsible in failing to fulfil our defence obligations to NATO over recent years, falling far short of the 2% of GDP . We recently sent our soldiers on a mission to Latvia, where they were in harm’s way, and they had to purchase their own ballistic helmets, suitable weapons, rain gear, bullet proof vests and belts to carry water and ammunition. We sent our soldiers into danger without modern anti-tank weapons, or systems to warn of drone, helicopter or jet attacks. We sent our soldiers on a mission in Poland with inadequate food rations while they are serving our country. This is absolutely irresponsible for our government to send our soldiers into harms’ way without basic equipment to face an enemy.

As a NATO partner, Canada is required to spend a minimum of 2% of our GDP on our military to adhere to our treaty obligations. We have not met that target. We must immediately upgrade our military to a level sufficient to defend our borders and to meet or exceed our NATO obligations.

As of September 2023, the Regular Force of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) had only 63,000 soldiers in the ranks although we had authorized positions for 71,500. Our Reserve had only filled 13,500 of 30,000 authorized positions. This is a failure of the enlistment process.

Our military must be built up to full strength of 71,500 members in our Regular Armed Forces and 30,000 in our Reserve Forces by 2029. This rebuilding of our troop numbers must begin immediately with aggressive goals set to ensure we move forward. Sufficient temporary personnel to handle the screening of these numbers over the next 4 years must be put in place. As the aggressive recruitment winds down, these additional personnel will be moved to administration of the armed forces.

We cannot defend our borders without trained soldiers. Potential recruits need to know we have their backs and they need to see an inspiring vision from National Defence leadership so that they will want to be a part of Canada’s armed forces.

Protection of our borders from aggressors is the primary role of our military, however, our military also has an important role in dealing with national disasters such as fire, weather or riot control and helping to maintain "peace, order and good government.” Our soldiers must be fully trained for all the roles we call on them to fill.

Upgrading of Canada’s equipment is also a priority. Purchasing outdated and cast-off equipment that has exceeded its military usefulness is not a strategy toward a strengthened military. We learned that when we purchased Britain’s decommissioned, leaky, submarines. And yet, currently, “Only 58 per cent of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) would be able to respond if called upon in a crisis by NATO allies—and almost half of the military’s equipment is considered “unavailable and unserviceable”—says a recent internal Department of National Defence (DND) presentation obtained by CBC News.”

Canada must also fulfill our obligations to our veterans who have served and may require medical care after service either as a result of their service or as aging veterans. Our veterans’ families have also been faced with hardship. It is a priority that we fulfill our obligations to our vets and their families through providing appropriate care.

A CHP government would:

• place the highest priority on our military preparedness. We would invest in our military to ensure we are protected by sufficient numbers of military personnel. We would ensure that our military is provided with equipment equal to the task of defending our borders.


• require Veterans Affairs Canada to establish and meet service delivery standards that ensure disabled veterans do not face intolerably long wait times for the financial support and compensation they deserve.

 

Updated: March 28, 2025