Program directory · National Defence
Recruitment
- Department
- National Defence
- Program code
- BUP01 (ND)
- Core responsibility
- Defence Team
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
The Recruitment Program attracts, processes, selects, transfers and enrolls sufficient numbers of quality internal and external applicants to meet the personnel needs of the Canadian Armed Forces and specific occupations.
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2018-19. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recruitment | This program | 2018-19 – 2028-29 | $1.05B |
No earlier or later program in the same department has a similar name.
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | Spending $157M, against $103M in 2018-19 (+52%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2020-21 | Indicators added: % of Reserve Force positions that are filled; % of Regular Force positions that are filled | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2020-21 | Indicators dropped: % of Canadian Armed Forces Regular Force positions filled; % of Canadian Armed Forces Reserve Force positions filled | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2022-23 | Indicators added: % of occupations with critical shortfalls; % of the Regular Force Establishment that is filled | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2022-23 | Indicators dropped: % of Regular Force positions that are filled | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2022-23 | Spending $167M, against $115M in 2021-22 (+46%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2026-27 | Planned spending $245M, against $155M in 2025-26 (+58%). | Latest Departmental Plan |
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | ≤ 5% | 2023 | 70% Given the emergence of a CAF applicant crisis and the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on CAF's ability to attract, recruit and train personnel, the intake into the CAF has been less than CAF attrition resulting in the inability to sustain and grow the health of occupations. It is important to note that these stats are a snapshot in time and do not provide a full understanding of the oc… | Not met |
| 2023-24 | ≤ 5% | 2024 | 72.9% In FY 2023-24, the CAF’s intake reached 4 823 personnel, surpassing the attrition numbers of 4 630. Nevertheless, the percentage of occupations with critical shortfalls has increased because of the training requirements to bring new recruits to trained effective strength. In addition, these figures represent a snapshot and may not fully reflect the overall status of each occupation. For example,… | Not met |
| 2024-25 | ≤ 5% | 2025 | 69% The target was not met due to ongoing shortages in some occupations; however, as a greater portion of the Regular Force Establishment was filled, more occupations are now forecasted to recover within two years. This contributed to an improvement from 72.9% in FY 2023-24. During the 2024–25 reporting cycle, the target date for achieving this performance indicator was amended to March 2032. | Not met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | ≥ 95% | 2020 | 96.5% | Met |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 95% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≤ 5% | 2032 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 95% | 2032 | — | Planned |
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | $88.7M | $103M |
| 2019-20 | $109M | $157M |
| 2020-21 | $132M | $148M |
| 2021-22 | $123M | $115M |
| 2022-23 | $133M | $167M |
| 2023-24 | $149M | $173M |
| 2024-25 | $153M | $192M |
| 2025-26 | $155M | — |
| 2026-27 | $245M | — |
| 2027-28 | $247M* | — |
| 2028-29 | $253M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 472 | 515 |
| 2019-20 | 519 | 617 |
| 2020-21 | 1,113 | 548 |
| 2021-22 | 657 | 527 |
| 2022-23 | 547 | 617 |
| 2023-24 | 576 | 608 |
| 2024-25 | 571 | 622 |
| 2025-26 | 596 | — |
| 2026-27 | 708 | — |
| 2027-28 | 724* | — |
| 2028-29 | 735* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 plan | $88,740,462 | $89,253,851 | $89,919,450 | ||||||||
| 2019-20 plan | $108,683,310 | $110,378,404 | $112,852,567 | ||||||||
| 2020-21 plan | $132,316,098 | $130,568,347 | $132,651,968 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $123,327,332 | $122,496,101 | $124,416,717 | ||||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $133,012,617 | $131,162,463 | $132,266,442 | ||||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $148,907,270 | $145,770,979 | $147,860,891 | ||||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $153,308,845 | $148,764,471 | $148,243,801 | ||||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $155,307,800 | $152,342,238 | $153,946,018 | ||||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $244,741,749 | $247,072,233 | $253,391,271 | ||||||||
| Actual | $103,144,553 | $157,113,418 | $147,673,596 | $114,732,526 | $167,492,983 | $172,887,441 | $191,507,380 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
