Minister Blair Scales Back Military Recruitment Optimism, Says Challenge Persists

Defence Minister Bill Blair has rolled back previous comments that the Canadian military had finally stopped losing more soldiers than it recruits. “Unfortunately, I want to report to this committee, because it’s important that we be candid, that [recruitment and retention] continues to persist as a challenge for us,” Mr. Blair told the House of Commons defence committee on Nov. 23. At his previous appearance at the committee on Sept. 28, the minister said that the trend of attrition outpacing recruitment had been “reversed.” “The number of people joining is now exceeding for the first time in nearly three years the attrition, the people that are leaving, and that is good news,” he said at the time....