The Canadian Defence department will require additional funding to hire more public servants and military personnel to manage the influx of 300,000 Canadians into a new mobilization force, according to federal government documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen.
Background of the mobilization plan
The mobilization plan, championed by Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan, was first reported by the Ottawa Citizen in October 2025. It calls for the creation of a 300,000-strong supplementary reserve force and an increase in the primary reserves from the current 23,561 to 100,000. The new pool of volunteers would be utilized in the event of a national crisis or emergency.
Need for additional staff and infrastructure
Internal documents reveal that those working on the defence mobilization plan emphasize the need for more public servants and military personnel to process the massive influx of new recruits. Additionally, new infrastructure will be required to support healthcare for the volunteers. The documents state: “Funding will be required for new military and civilian positions to review enrollment medical and dental files, and for provisions for healthcare, particularly on Bases/Wings used for training. Clinic infrastructure may have to be increased.”
The documents, obtained by independent researcher Jerome Roy through an access-to-information request, also highlight that additional public servants would be needed for the procurement of equipment and ammunition for the new recruits.
Focus on the reserve force
The main focus for planners is the 300,000-sized reserve force. Conditions must be established “to intake, minimally train as required, and hold at readiness up to 300k Canadians for service,” according to the records. When the plan is presented to the government, it is crucial that the additional public service hires “are captured in policy/Cabinet documents and account for the increase in funds needed to support PS positions.”
Gen. Carignan told CBC that she is finalizing recommendations for the new force and expects to present various options to the Liberal government in the coming month. Neither the Canadian Forces nor the Department of National Defence (DND) would provide details on how many new public service jobs would be needed or what the cost might be.
Separate hiring initiative
In a separate initiative, DND has already been in the process of hiring up to 3,000 employees from other federal departments as it prepares to spend tens of billions of dollars in new defence funding approved by Prime Minister Mark Carney. In 2025, the Liberal government unveiled a budget committing $81.8 billion to defence over the next five years.
Throughout the Cold War and its immediate aftermath, the Canadian military maintained plans to mobilize a force in the event of a national crisis, but that changed with the war in Afghanistan.
