The Carney government is walking back its promise to grant military personnel an immediate 20 per cent raise and instead is now looking into a “combination of approaches.”
Despite Prime Minister Mark Carney announcing that his government would be allocating billions to the Canadian Armed Forces earlier this month, it now appears that the once-promised pay boost for personnel has been shelved.
Defence Minister David McGuinty previously told reporters that improvements to the CAF were en route, including housing and health care.
“That’s where a lot of the initial investment will be, of course, including a 20 per cent pay increase,” said McGuinty on June 10.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for McGuinty told The Canadian Press on Monday that the Department of National Defence is “actively working on how best to implement this investment — looking at options that include a combination of approaches such as retention bonuses for stress trades, increased starting salaries for junior members, and a broad-based salary increase.”
The federal government has had policy options to mitigate the cost of living for military members in the past, such as lowering rent for on- or near-base housing or boosting allowances, such as danger pay.
However, retention still remains a major problem for the military.
“The highest attrition rates within the CAF are observed among its lowest ranks and newest members,” reads a leaked internal military report last month.
“During the 2023-24 fiscal year, 9.4 per cent of newly enrolled members quit, with new members citing training days and difficulty adjusting to military life.”
Carney promised to fix the issue by rebuilding and rearming the military and increasing military pay.
National defence was a hot topic for him on the campaign trail, and he announced topping up the CAF budget by $9 billion this fiscal year, with hopes of Canada finally meeting its NATO defence spending commitment.
McGuinty recently announced that a pay hike was coming to personnel immediately, telling Newstalk 1010 radio that it would be “about a 20 per cent pay increase immediately for our members.”
However, now his office and the Department of National Defence are unable to provide a date for when the raise will be received or how much it will actually be.
“We look forward to sharing more details in the near future,” said McGuinty’s office in a statement sent to the Ottawa Citizen.
Additionally, a recent statement from the DND also suggested that the raise may not equate to a 20 per cent pay raise across-the-board.