{"id":890368,"date":"2026-09-10T10:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/890368\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T10:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:32:10","slug":"canadian-army-reorganizes-to-better-prepare-for-possibility-of-major-conflicts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/890368\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Army reorganizes to better prepare for possibility of major conflicts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Canadian Armed Forces artillery members load equipment onto a plane in Yellowknife. The Army is reorganizing into three divisions focused on foreign combat, home defence and infrastructure support.Carlos Osorio\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The Canadian Army is about to undergo its most extensive reorganization in more than 30 years, centralizing operations to prepare for what officials have described as the \u201cfuture battlefield.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years the Army has been organized into four divisions primarily based on geography. The new structure, announced last year, takes effect Thursday and will see the Army reorganized into three divisions focused on foreign combat, home defence and infrastructure support. <\/p>\n

Major-General St\u00e9phane Masson, director-general of army capability development, said the restructuring is in response to a complex array of threats facing Canada \u2212 including competition among great powers \u2212 climate instability, technological advancements and lessons from allies at war. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you compile all that, we are at a pivoting point in Canada and for the defence of Canada,\u201d Maj.-Gen. Masson said in a recent interview with The Globe and Mail. <\/p>\n

The restructuring is part of a long-term effort by the Canadian Armed Forces to expand its ranks and prepare for the possibility of major conflict.<\/p>\n

The pressure to shore up the military has increased over the past year and a half, as Ottawa works to make Canada less reliant on the United States for trade and defence in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s trade war and annexation rhetoric. Canada is ramping up its spending on military staffing and equipment to meet the higher defence investment targets agreed to last year by NATO members.<\/p>\n

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The Army has been organized into four regional divisions headquartered in Edmonton, Valcartier, Que., Toronto and Halifax, a structure designed primarily for domestic administration and overseas expeditionary missions rather than major combat operations.<\/p>\n

For the first time since the Cold War, it is organizing itself to fight as a division. <\/p>\n

The 3rd Canadian Division, based in Edmonton, becomes the 1st Canadian Division \u2212 also known as Manoeuvre Division \u2212 which will be Canada\u2019s primary fighting force. <\/p>\n

The 2nd Canadian Division, in Quebec, will be known as the Defence of Canada Division, responsible for domestic response, territorial defence and mobilization. Canada\u2019s 10 reserve brigade groups and the Canadian Rangers will now operate under that division. <\/p>\n

A Canadian Army Support Division in Kingston will be responsible for administrative support.<\/p>\n

And finally, the Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre, also in Kingston, will lead training and professional military education.<\/p>\n

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David Perry, president and CEO of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said the restructuring comes at a critical time, as the military works to modernize itself. He said the Army has also struggled as a result of not having enough people or the right equipment.<\/p>\n

However, he cautioned that implementing the changes could be challenging.<\/p>\n

\u201cBureaucracies generally, military bureaucracies in particular, have a tendency to not want to change a lot,\u201d he said, adding that it could take some time to assess the reorganization\u2019s impact.<\/p>\n

The Army released a report last year titled Inflection Point 2025 that outlined the broad plans for the reorganization.<\/p>\n

Maj.-Gen. Masson said the Army has run three war games to test its redesign. \u201cTake the idea, test the idea, park the emotion and use the science, the data, and privilege evidence over preference,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The most visible change is in Edmonton. Major-General Wade Rutland, who commanded the 3rd Canadian Division, will now oversee the newly formed Manoeuvre Division.<\/p>\n

Maj.-Gen. Rutland will preside over a ceremony in Edmonton on Thursday that will mark the retirement of the 3rd Canadian Division and the introduction of its replacement.<\/p>\n

The plans for Manoeuvre Division have evolved as the Army prepared for the reorganization.<\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail reported in May that a leaked presentation slide revealed that Manoeuvre Division would house a proposed \u201cProtection Brigade,\u201d which would include ground-based air-defence battalions to protect the Army against threats such as aircraft and drones.<\/p>\n

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But Maj.-Gen. Masson said the Army has since decided it doesn\u2019t need a separate brigade.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtection Brigade is something that we envisioned at the early stage of modernization. \u2026 But when we war gamed, we discovered that we don\u2019t need a protection brigade,\u201d he said, without elaborating on the issues that came up in the war game.<\/p>\n

Instead, he said, those capabilities will be kept separated and integrated when needed, allowing the commander to \u201cplug and play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The war game that shaped the division was held at Valcartier in April of last year and used Russia as the adversary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most imminent threat that we have right now with the folks that are deployed in Latvia,\u201d Maj.-Gen. Masson said, adding that the war game confirmed gaps in air defence, long-range fires and command and control.<\/p>\n

Maj.-Gen. Masson said the reorganization process will not end when the changes take effect Thursday. He said the Army will be constantly evaluating the plan and its implementation, including at a meeting with senior leadership this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re humble enough as an army,\u201d he said, \u201cthat we will modify and do the course correction every year if need be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Canadian Armed Forces artillery members load equipment onto a plane in Yellowknife. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-890368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}