Question:
What is still missing from Canada’s ambitious plan to rebuild its military?
Answer:
A visible plan that joins procurement to the military workforce needed to turn equipment into capability.
Lessons from the Flight Line
Canada’s new Defence Industrial Strategy promises faster procurement, stronger Canadian industry and 125,000 new jobs.
But who will use and operate everything Canada buys?
Hon. Stephen Fuhr, Canada’s Secretary of State for Defence Procurement, is a former RCAF CF-18 pilot and fleet manager. He knows what every flight line teaches: without trained pilots, technicians and support crews, an advanced aircraft is nothing more than a very expensive ramp ornament.
One Strategy, Two Workforces
The defence strategy recognizes that equipment needs people. It establishes a Canada Defence Skills Agenda to recruit, train and retain the civilian workforce needed to build and support defence capabilities.
The document sets serviceability targets for maritime, land and aerospace fleets, but no corresponding military-personnel readiness targets. Those plans are not visibly integrated with procurement planning or public measures of success.
Fuhr told a parliamentary committee that the Defence Investment Agency brings together personnel and capabilities from the CAF and several departments. But asking what equipment the CAF needs is not the same as ensuring it can recruit, train and retain enough uniformed members to operate and sustain it.
Warning Lights Are Already Flashing
DND’s evaluation of CAF retention warns that Canada may not have enough fighter pilots to meet the operational requirements of any future fighter fleets. Women’s representation in the CAF also remains stalled below 17%–far short of the 25% target set for 2026.
That is not a niche diversity problem. Women are half the talent pool, and their recruitment is an operational test of whether the military is removing barriers that deter capable people. Poor equipment fits, healthcare and family-support gaps, and workplace culture all affect who joins, who stays and whether new capabilities can be staffed.
Culture Is a Capability Requirement
Canadian research shows why culture is a capability issue. In a study of 2,442 Canadians, Boucher and colleagues found that accounts of exclusion and sexual misconduct weakened trust in the CAF and made people less likely to recommend military service or support defence spending. The effect was strongest when women were the focus. In that scenario, lower trust explained about two-thirds of the decline in willingness to recommend service.
Culture is inseparable from procurement and readiness. Canada’s defence build-up requires more than equipment and industrial workers. It also requires public trust to recruit military personnel and sustain support for defence investment.
The Arbour Consistency Test
That makes Fuhr’s role in Bill C-11 relevant. On April 23, 2026, he seconded government motions removing amendments that would have preserved additional choice for military complainants in specified circumstances. The government presented its position as consistent with its commitment to implement all of former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour’s recommendations, including Recommendation 5.
Yet the very next day, the government renamed the Sexual Misconduct Support and Resource Centre the Defence Community Support and Resource Centre, despite Arbour’s Recommendation 12 that “Sexual Misconduct” remain in the Centre’s name.
Naming one Arbour recommendation as binding and the next flexible creates a glaring inconsistency. This is not how credible culture change is built
Fuhr did not create this situation alone, but he supported the government’s position. Such contradictions risk reinforcing institutional mistrust that makes recruitment harder–especially among women.
Put People in Every Procurement Plan
Every major defence acquisition should include a “People Plan” identifying who will operate and maintain it; how those personnel will be recruited, trained and retained; what health, family and infrastructure supports will be required; and whether the equipment can be used safely by everyone expected to use it.
Hon. Jenna Sudds, Fuhr’s parliamentary secretary and former Families minister, should know first-hand that ambitious policy is more likely to succeed when people have the supports needed to deliver it. Together, Fuhr and Sudds can ensure all procurement plans are developed and measured alongside military personnel plans.
Equipment without trained military people to operate and sustain it is merely inventory. Defence capability requires people, culture and trust–planned together from the start.
