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In 2024, Philippe Lagassé and Justin Massie wrote, “Don’t Count on Us: Canada’s Military Unreadiness,” where they argued that Canada’s military was in a death spiral. In the midst of heightened tensions between Canada and the United States, we thought now would be a good time to revisit the question of Canada’s independent military readiness.Image: Petty Officer 2nd Class Robert SimpsonIn your 2024 article, “Don’t Count on Us: Canada’s Military Unreadiness,” you argued that Canada’s military was in a death spiral, completely unready to face a serious adversary or make meaningful contributions to allied security needs. What is your assessment of the strength and readiness of Canada’s armed forces today? Canada is slowly beginning to increase its military strength. The new government of Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to meet NATO’s 2 percent of GDP target this fiscal year. Over the next five years, Canada will be spending an additional CA$82 billion on defense. The government is also retiring a number of older fleets as new ones come online, which will improve readiness. Equally important, the government has greatly increased salaries for military personnel, which should help with recruitment and retention.Yet challenges still remain. Recruitment remains very difficult, given the lack of capacity to take people in and get them trained for the trades where they are most needed. New capabilities are being acquired, but the question of whether the Canadian Armed Forces will have enough people to use them effectively remains open. Indeed, the Carney government is currently looking into increasing the size of the primary reserve from about 23,500 today to 100,000 soldiers, and the supplementary reserve from 4,300 today to 300,000. But the mobilization plan has yet to be approved or funded.The 2025-26 Departmental Plan estimates that the regular forces will reach their authorized strength of 71,500 in