The Liberal government appears to be backsliding on its promise to provide an immediate 20-per-cent raise to Canadian military personnel, instead now unsure of when that pay hike will come and how much it will actually be.
Defence Minister David McGuinty told journalists June 10 that improvements were coming in military benefits, housing and health care. “That’s where a lot of the initial investment will be, of course, including a 20-per-cent pay increase,” he said.
Several hours later, the defence minister stated in another interview that the pay hike would be immediate. “It’s about a 20-per-cent pay increase immediately for our members,” McGuinty said in an interview with Newstalk 1010 radio.
But now McGuinty’s office and the Department of National Defence can’t provide a date for when the troops will see the raise on their paycheques or say whether it will actually be 20 per cent.
“We look forward to sharing more details in the near future,” noted an email from McGuinty’s office sent to the Ottawa Citizen by press secretary Laurent de Casanove.
The same statement about the pay increase also suggested that the hike might not come to a 20-per-cent across-the-board pay raise, but that figure represented instead an overall funding increase that also included retention bonuses and other initiatives directed only to specific military personnel.
“This investment represents an almost 20-per-cent increase to the overall CAF compensation envelope and the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces are 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 email noted.
McGuinty’s office did not respond to a request for clarification on whether the announced 20-per-cent pay increase was instead a boost to the overall compensation budget that also included retention bonuses and other benefits.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a $9-billion spending increase June 9 that will hike Canada’s defence and security budget to an all-time high of $62.7 billion annually by next year. The prime minister noted the salary increases, which he pointed out were well-deserved and would contribute to retaining personnel in the ranks as well as to attracting new recruits.
At a June 9 technical briefing that followed Carney’s spending announcement, government officials noted it was expected that around
1,400 new staff would be hired
at DND. More health-care workers will be hired for the Canadian Forces and the civilian workforce will be expanded so military personnel can focus on operations, government officials said at the technical briefing. Under government-imposed rules, the officials who provided the briefing cannot be identified.
Health-care workers in Canada are in short supply and there was no explanation on how DND would hire more personnel in this area.
The Ottawa Citizen asked DND on June 9 for a timeline on when the additional 1,400 staff would be hired.
The DND repeated the information from the government news release by noting that the public servants would be hired to fill existing gaps to support areas such as fleet maintenance, public affairs, internal service functions and digital and infrastructure requirements.
“The intent is to fill as many gaps as possible this fiscal year, and we look forward to bringing further announcements as this initiative unfolds,” stated the email from department public affairs official Cheryl Forrest.
June Winger, national president of the Union of National Defence Employees, said she had received initial information from DND that more civilian staff would be hired, but was provided with no specific details. But Winger noted that the department had faced significant barriers in getting new staff in place because of delays in completing security clearances. Such clearances are taking months and prospective staff, instead of waiting, are instead accepting jobs other than at DND, she said.
There have also been concerns raised about the retention of experienced troops.
In January, the Ottawa Citizen
reported that military staff were recommending retention bonuses
to keep key personnel from leaving the ranks, but there were questions at the time about whether the government would fund such a plan.
David Pugliese is an award-winning journalist covering Canadian Forces and military issues in Canada. To support his work, including exclusive content for subscribers only, sign up here:
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