A New Grand Canadian Army – WTF…

Canada’s Proposed 300,000 Citizen Army is Dead on Arrival

The big news from the past month is the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) cockamamie plan to create a citizen reserve force of 300,000 “soldiers”.

What are the details?

Well, according to this Murray Brewster of the CBC, a new unit is being drawn up in the CAF with the “daunting mission of delivering 100,000 reserve soldiers and an additional 300,000 citizen soldiers in a supplementary reserve…” That would be on top of an estimated 85,500 regular force of soldiers, sailors and aircrew.

The 300,000-citizen-soldier component of this newly envisioned grand army would primarily support national disasters but could also be used for high-intensity fighting in times of war.

Once accepted into this national Boy Scout troop, the patriotic guys and gals who would fight fires, dig levees, and presumably serve as cannon fodder in World War III would receive a week of training each year.

That’s an entire week, mind you.

Quoted in the same CBC article, Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff, Jennie Carignan, said “she doesn’t think the military will have trouble finding 300,000 volunteers because, as the world situation has deteriorated, Canadians are stepping forward and asking how they can contribute to security in Canada.”

Let me just say off the top: shame on the CDS for even giving an ounce of her time and the CAF’s money to this idea. It is silly and stillborn. I’ll get into all the reasons why in a moment, but let’s flag the real reason this is happening.

In late November 2025, France announced it was creating a new national military service for its young people. Once up and running, “the €2 billion program would offer 10 months of paid military training to 18- and 19-year-olds, to provide thousands of young people [up to 50,000 annually] with domestic security skills, so that France has a deep pool of reserves in the event of an armed conflict.”

Similarly, Belgium recently invited 17-year-olds to join its military for around €2,000 per month, and Germany announced it was reinstating its voluntary military service for 18-year-olds. Finally, since 2023, the Netherlands has administered a national voluntary military program for its young people.

As recently as January 2026, UK politicians from across the political spectrum openly discussed the possibility that Britain may need to reinstitute some form of conscription to ensure its military has the personnel and skills it needs, because “the current volunteer model is insufficient for sustained combat operations.”

Why are all of these countries, including Canada, moving to a prelude of a national conscription program?

The conventional and wrong answer is Russia.

A less apparent and more likely reason, in my view, is that Western governments—aware that their younger populations are growing increasingly unhappy and disillusioned—plan to recruit individuals from this cohort to build a Brown Shirt-type force to intimidate, and if necessary, control those very segments of society who are fed up with how Europe and Canada are being run.

It’s a hot take, I know, but surely, Russian isn’t the answer. In four years, Russia hasn’t been able to take Ukraine; why the hell would you need millions more soldiers to beat back the Russian bear?

But let’s get back to Canada’s proposal for its new and bold citizen grand army.

Let’s briefly cover all the reasons this won’t work:

1. Money & Management or Lack Thereof: Canada and the CAF can barely fund or manage a Reserve force of 20,000 part-time soldiers. The folks advocating for this grand mobilization plan want to increase the Reserves to 100,000 – this is in addition to the 300,000 part-time soldiers, or whatever they are. It’s not going to happen. Outside of a WWIII-type situation, where Canada is spending upwards of 10% of its GDP on its military, the government and the CAF are not going to be able to find the money and the professionals who could give birth to and manage this monstrosity.
2. It’s Make-Believe Time: Outside of WWIII or a US invasion, Canada’s youth is not going to sign up for what is essentially a fake program. If people are going to volunteer their time and energy for something, it generally has to be well-organized and have a clear, important purpose. Does wearing hand-me-down uniforms and receiving a week of training on how to use a pickaxe (for forest fires) or dig a dyke (for floods) sound like something your 19-year-old son or daughter might sign up for?
3. Young Canadians Aren’t Stupid: They’ll see this program for exactly what it is – an effort to build the ranks of the first group of young people to be sent over to Europe to die in a war that young people themselves aren’t supportive of.ⁱ

Let me be clear. If there’s a war to be fought against Russia, it can be fought and won by the professional armies of NATO.

Combined, and excluding the US, NATO has approximately 2.1 million active soldiers under arms. Again, excluding the US, NATO has an advantage in almost every military weapon and platform. If it could get its act together on munitions, it could easily outproduce Russia there as well.

And this is before countries like Canada, Germany, and the UK begin updating and adequately funding their militaries. In three to five years, NATO, sans the US, and at least on paper, should have such a personnel and tech advantage over Russia that any conflict should be no contest.

Last Word

So, to conclude this far too long first section of my first newsletter, Canada should ditch the terrible idea of spending a single dollar on creating a citizen army of 300,000 and put every penny of those precious resources into adequately funding the CAF regular and reserve forces because these are the actual folks who will throw down with the Russians should the time come.