THOMSON: To bring the CAF back to life, pay more and drop the woke policies

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is fast approaching a state of utter irrelevance. As a result, Canada is left dangerously impotent in an increasingly unstable world. It’s time for our government to take bold and concrete actions to address this matter.The dilapidated state of our military shouldn’t come as a surprise to any Canadian. A veritable slough of senior CAF officers, from the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) downwards, have been ringing the alarm bells for well over a year.In a year end interview with CBC in December 2022, General Wayne Eyre, the CDS, stated “our national prosperity is based on the stability in the existing order. If we can't defer or deter and defend that, or if we can't work with our friends, partners and allies to create stability in that order, we're going to suffer."This past December, Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN,) released a candid video outlining the precarious state his organization was in. This was later underscored when it was announced that the RCN wouldn’t be sending ships to take part in their annual deployment to West Africa.At present, across the Regular Force and the Reserve Force, the CAF faces a personnel shortage that's rapidly approaching 20,000 members. Yet efforts to stop the hemorrhage of personnel or reverse the prolonged recruiting drought, have been mostly unsuccessful. There was hope that by relaxing the organizations' dress code and offering members more individuality, people would be enticed to stay, or that more would join.While this has had some positive impacts on morale, it has also sacrificed the uniformity and outward perception of a professional force which has acted as a deterrent for those who might seek out the CAF looking for that structure and discipline. One of the more novel ideas to increase recruiting was allowing permanent residents to join the CAF. This change took effect in December 2022, and in the months following, the organization reported a significant surge in applications.Yet, as a result of a cumbersome and largely ineffectual recruiting process those gains have been difficult to capitalize on.Another unique approach to increase interest in prospective recruits has been the RCN’s ‘try before you buy’ Naval Experience Program (NEP.) The program allows interested members to experience life in the Navy for a year before deciding if they want to sign on for a longer period of service.While the program is still in its infancy and the successful conversion rate from voyeur to valuable member is unknown, it seems to be causing some aggravation for existing personnel. Already overworked due to lack of staffing, current RCN members now have to help supervise those on NEP, or see them get nominated for coveted courses, such as the dive course where they’re taught to scuba diving within the military context.Working against all of these efforts is an undercurrent of spurious ideology regarding who the CAF should be recruiting. A recent Jamie Sarkonak column in the National Post encapsulated this phenomenon succinctly: "Turns out, open hostility to white men isn't great for military recruitment."Ms. Sarkonak argues identity-driven policies and rhetoric are alienating the military's biggest pool of recruits.Yep! Victor Hugo, the famous 19th century French poet once wrote, “An invasion of armies can be resisted; an invasion of ideas cannot be resisted.” Unfortunately the CAF like many of our institutions has fallen victim to just such an onslaught.But Sarkonak hit on the critical key to salvaging our armed forces, “Offer prosperity — not the racial propaganda of the left.”In fact, I’m willing to bet that with one financial policy amendment, we could almost instantly stem the flow of personnel leaving the CAF and correct our manning deficit within a decade.Impossible, you say? No, it’s not. All we have to do to turn the tide is exempt members of the Canadian Armed Forces from federal and provincial income tax on their salaries.When you’ve finished laughing at that suggestion, consider that it’s not entirely without precedent. Members of the CAF who deploy to specific theatres of operation where certain danger and hardship criteria are met, are exempt tax on their salaries for the period they’re deployed.If all Reg Force salaries were made tax-free you’d instantly ease the burden that our service members face when forced to relocate to bases where housing is expensive or limited. It would also go a long way to preventing soldiers from living in their cars or their families having to line up at the foodbank.Class C and Class B reserve force pay should also be exempt. If it was, our reservists might actually find it beneficial to temporarily leave their civilian careers for short periods of military employment without facing undue financial hardship.That hardship is one of the largest barriers preventing Reserve Force members from taking contracts, in addition to a lack of support from their employers who aren’t compensated for the loss of their valuable employees.Even Class A service, which is paid on a daily pay rate, could be made exempt up to a certain amount per year. This would drastically increase the number of people turning up at parade nights to take part in training and readiness efforts.Using the example of a corporal's salary in Ontario, which ranges between $55,000 to 69,000 year, this would save them between $11,295 and $15,317 in taxes.That’s a considerable increase in purchasing power and more than a fair trade off given the numerous demands we place on our service members.It’s undeniable that there is a lot of work to do in order to get our military ship-shape again.We need to streamline our recruitment and start procuring equipment in a cost effective and timely manner. We also need to purge the CAF of contemptible academic victim ideology that pits members against one another and themselves.But we can work on those over time. Our biggest focus right now must be to staunch the loss of trained and valuable members and to get replacements knocking on the doors of our recruiting offices as fast as possible.Anything less than bold and we’re just prolonging the CAF’s ignominious and gradual demise.