Reserves face 'plenty of problems'

Graeme Morton, Calgary Herald, 2 Dec 05

Canada's 25,000 military reserves need a substantial injection of manpower and modern equipment to thrive, say two authors of a major study on the reserve's role in national defence.

Some aspects, particularly pay and relations with the regular forces, have improved for the reserves in the 10 years since Jack Granatstein, retired lieutenant-general Charles Belzile and the late chief justice Brian Dickson tabled their report.

"But plenty of problems remain," said Granatstein, military historian and author. "There's still not enough money, too few personnel and too much obsolete equipment."

Granatstein noted the public's opinion of the military has improved since the 1995 report.

"Our report came out right after the Somalia affair. Today, we collectively recognize the value of a military in a dangerous world," said Granatstein.

Belzile, who had a 35-year military career, said some progress has been made in recruiting talented young people to the reserves, "but we can still do a hell of a lot better.

"I'd like to see us up to a strength of 30,000 or 35,000 reserves, but that would take time. And there's a great shortage of instructors to train these people," Belzile said.

Both men say federal job protection legislation, where, for example, a Calgary reservist would know his job back home was secure if he were deployed to Afghanistan for nine months, would help make reserve service more attractive.

Granatstein said Canada should emulate Australia: "They have two-thirds of our population and spend more on their military. . . .

"There's an entirely different attitude there. The Australians take it seriously; they think they matter in the world."

A three-day conference on the future of the reserves, organized by the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies and the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, opens today. Calgary is home to about 2,000 reserve troops.