Members of Task Force Grizzly attend ‘Operation Nanook-Nunalivut,’ an annual series of drills held in Yellowknife in February.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
The Canadian government says more than 7,300 people signed up to join the military over the last year, beating Forces recruitment targets for a second year in a row.
This rise in recruits follows significant defence spending increases as well as what Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government calls the largest pay raise for Canadian Armed Forces members in a generation.
Figures released by Defence Minister David McGuinty’s office Monday show the Canadian Armed Forces surpassed its regular force recruiting target for the fiscal 2025-26 year ended March 31.
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Over that year, the Forces enrolled 7,310 new members, exceeding a target of 6,957 recruits.
The regular force is the full-time, professional military – members who serve as their primary career and are paid year-round. As of Feb. 28, the regular force stood at 66,726, according to the Department of National Defence.
The latest numbers are up from the earlier 2024-25 fiscal year, when the military enrolled 6,706 new members into its regular force, surpassing a target of 6,496 recruits. The earlier figures come from an October 2025 statement from Mr. McGuinty.
The government says the current fiscal year’s recruiting target is 8,200 for the 12-month period ended March 31, 2027.
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Last October, the federal Auditor-General in a report warned Canada is not recruiting enough Forces members to meet its operational needs.
Last November, the Prime Minister, saying that Canada could no longer rely on the United States for protection, used his first budget to deliver a defence-spending increase of more than $84-billion over five years – believed to be the biggest short-term cash infusion for the military since the Korean War.
The federal government’s spending for the 2025-26 fiscal year represents the first time in roughly 35 years that Canada has devoted 2 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product to defence. The last time was the end of the Cold War.
~More to come