Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Quebec daycare workers strike as negotiations with province stall

Unions considering unlimited general strike if deal is not

 reached

CBC News · 
Earlier this month, several hundred child-care workers affiliated with the CSN union walked off the job for a three-day strike. (Simon Turcotte/Radio-Canada)

Thousands of public daycare workers in Quebec are walking off the job for as many as four days starting today, after contract talks with the provincial government broke down last week.

"After a week of intensive negotiations, the representatives of [early childhood] employees … and the employers' party failed to come to an agreement and ended talks," the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) union wrote in a Friday press release announcing the strike.

All the unions representing daycare workers in the province are going on strike to once again push for higher salaries, the main sticking point in the talks. 

In daycares where workers are represented by the CSN-affiliated Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS-CSN), thousands of workers have walked out and will remain out Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 

Where daycare workers are represented by the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance du Québec (FIPEQ), affiliated with the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), strikes are taking place and will continue Tuesday and Wednesday.

As for the Quebec Service Employees Union (SQEES), affiliated with the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ),  the strike is scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

An indefinite general strike could also be called as early as Wednesday for some of those employees.

No contract for more than year and a half

Public daycare workers in Quebec have been without a government contract for more than a year and a half, and voted to start rolling strikes in September.

"The government stubbornly refuses to offer a salary catch-up for all employees, which we have been demanding from the very start of the negotiations," said Lucie Longchamps, vice-president at the FSSS-CSN, in the statement. 

On Monday, the government said it was willing to pay 20 per cent more to educators who work 32-36 hours a week. The pay increase jumps to 23 per cent if they agree to work 40 hours a week, bringing their hourly pay to more than $30.

Right now, educators in Quebec start at $19 an hour and can earn up to an hourly maximum of $25.18.

Support staff not getting the same offer

While the Treasury Board has agreed to give the same offer to specialized educators, it does not apply to other support staff, such as administrative, kitchen and maintenance workers.

Food staff in public daycares currently make a starting wage of $17.56. Non-educator attendants make $15.92 and teaching aides make $16.16.

The government said it would increase their pay by nine per cent, but no more, saying it has to be fair to civil employees who do those same jobs in other sectors.

All the unions representing publicly funded daycare workers in Quebec are going on strike starting Monday to once again push for higher salaries, the main sticking point in negotiations with the province. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada)

The CSQ says that is insufficient and is asking for 13 to 20 per cent raises for these workers.

Quebec's family minister, Mathieu Lacombe, said last week that his government "really wants to solve" the issue, acknowledging that educators were not paid enough for their skills.

"The negotiation is not over. The unions have demands; the government has demands," he said. "A negotiation is a conversation, and here we are in the middle of the race."

"I am confident that we will come to an agreement" prior to the walkout, he said.

But Quebec Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel struck a different tone in interviews Monday afternoon. 

"I find it deplorable that parents are being taken hostage while we're still in talks, while we still have meetings planned," Lebel told Radio-Canada. 

She said demands were supposed to stop at educators, "but after we meet and cross that line, unions keep adding and adding [demands]."

'It puts a lot of pressure on us,' says parent

A resolution couldn't come fast enough for parents like Arwen Flemming, who has been scrambling amid rolling strikes to find alternative arrangements for her 22-month-old daughter. She says the longer the strikes persist, the harder things get.

"It means I had to miss so much of my work and I love my job," she said. "Daycare allows me to do my job and I'm not able to do my job [without it] ... It makes living in the pandemic so much harder."

Another parent, Shane Bill, says the on-and-off days are negatively affecting his son. 

"It's really stressful. It's making it really hard for him to reintegrate and everything ... little kids don't understand that kind of thing," he said.

Flemming says she can't afford to pay $150 to hire someone to watch her daughter while on the job, and Bill says he doesn't get paid for the days he doesn't work. 

"It puts a lot of pressure on us," he said. 

If no progress is made in negotiations this week, unions say they will push for an unlimited general strike until an agreement is reached with the province. Currently, no new dates for talks are scheduled.

"Unfortunately, we have to admit that we must once again increase the pressure to get the government moving," said Stéphanie Vachon, childcare lead at the FSSS-CSN.

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QUEBEC
SAQ management reports 'significant impacts' on alcohol supply after warehouse workers launch strike


The Canadian Press
 Monday, November 22, 2021 



MONTREAL -- Management at Quebec's liquor board, the Société des alcools du Quebec (SAQ) says it is already experiencing significant impacts on its supply chain, after less than two days of strike action by the union representing warehouse and supply employees.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees local, affiliated with the FTQ, began an indefinite strike Monday morning at 5 a.m., after holding a single day strike on Nov. 16. The strike affects some 800 warehouse workers.

The walkout does not affect SAQ stores, where workers are unionized with another organization. However, SAQ management reports 'significant impacts on the entire SAQ supply chain.'

Among other things, deliveries to the stores have been cancelled, which could temporarily reduce the supply of products available in stores, management said Monday.

Similarly, car service and deliveries to restaurants, bars and licensees are suspended, as well as deliveries to grocery and convenience store warehouses.

As for the collective agreement negotiations with CUPE, management denies any allegation of using replacement workers, as the union claimed on Sunday. It assures that it has always negotiated in good faith and that it respects all the provisions of the Labour Code.

The issues being disputed during negotiations include wages, occupational health and safety, the precarious status of many employees, overtime and group insurance, said Michel Gratton, CUPE's union advisor on the matter.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 22, 2021.

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Restaurant owners say they have the answer to the current labour shortage: Better pay, benefits and balance

CHRIS HANNAY
INDEPENDENT BUSINESS REPORTER
THE GLOBE AND MAIL

While staff prepares for the day, Tamara Jensen, co-owner of Dispatch restaurant in St. Catharines, Ont. speaks to The Globe about how she deals with the 'labour crisis' in restaurants.
GLENN LOWSON/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

As the hospitality industry struggles to rebuild from the pandemic, it’s facing a mountain of unfilled jobs. Some restaurant owners say they have a solution: offer prospective hires more pay, better benefits and a more supportive work environment.

Employment in the food services and accommodation sector is still down more than 200,000 jobs from what it was before the pandemic, according to Statistics Canada. But the low employment is not only a function of businesses struggling under lockdown, it’s also because workers haven’t returned to jobs they held before the pandemic. The number of job vacancies – positions that businesses have advertised but can’t fill – climbed to nearly 160,000 in August.

Those in the restaurant industry have cited a range of reasons for the labour crisis, including workers moving into other industries that did not suffer lockdowns and front-line employees getting tired of heightened abuse from customers. But some restaurant operators say the key to recruiting and retaining staff right now is to just make the jobs themselves better.

When Tamara Jensen and her husband opened Dispatch restaurant in St. Catharines, Ont., in 2019, they took an unusual step. They eliminated tipping and guaranteed employees a salary that was to be no lower than the region’s livable wage ($18.90 an hour). That rate is higher than the industry average of $17.28, which has not budged during the pandemic despite the tightness of the labour market.

Ms. Jensen said banning gratuities ended the traditional tension between servers, who get most of the tips, and kitchen staff, along with providing staff a stable, predictable income.

“We’ve had employees apply for mortgages and we were able to say, this is what they earn, on paper, this is what they’re paying tax on,” she said.

When the pandemic hit, Ms. Jensen and her husband made further changes to the restaurant’s operations. They limited the restaurant’s serving days to four to enhance work-life balance and they started offering health and dental benefits to staff.

“The pandemic made us realize that [long hours] aren’t necessary,” she said. “We can function, we can have a business that generates revenue and not have to work seven days a week and a million hours.”

Michael Kapusty, restaurant manager at Dispatch since it opened, said he had been accustomed to working 14-hour days, five or six days a week, at other establishments but his physical and mental health have improved with a better work-life balance.

“It really is a less-is-more approach,” he said.

The food services sector has traditionally had a high churn rate of employees, in part because of the high-stress environment. Not 9 to 5, an advocacy group for hospitality workers, surveyed 673 of them this summer and found more than half expressed feeling anxiety or burnout. Of those, more than half cited alcohol as a way to cope with stress. The survey was funded by the federal government’s Future Skills program.

Hassel Aviles, co-founder and executive director of Not 9 to 5, said she’s seen restaurants make positive changes for employees, but that it is still new for the industry.

“It took us centuries to get here so it will take us a long time to course correct and repair damages,” Ms. Aviles said.

The pandemic has been a catalyst for some of those changes.

Nicole Turcotte, owner of Dinette Triple Crown in Montreal, said she had always tried to be a good manager to her employees after spending years as a server and bartender. But it wasn’t until the pandemic that she realized she needed to offer staff a benefit that those in many other industries may take for granted: sick days. Employees now get to use up to 10 sick days a year, including time off for COVID-19 tests, and Ms. Turcotte said she hasn’t seen any abuse of the system so far.

“If I had said to myself, well, I never had sick days when I was working in restaurants, this isn’t part of the industry, then it wouldn’t have gotten better,” she said.

Bucking tradition – both on the plate and in the kitchen – has been a hallmark for Restaurant Pearl Morissette in Ontario’s Niagara region, which has had a positive reputation among hospitality workers since it opened in 2018.

Pearl Morissette offers staff two weeks of paid vacation a year in addition to being closed around holidays, the option of RRSP matching, a training budget that can include meals in other countries, and even a monthly wellness box full of local wine and produce for staff to take home.

While there is no tipping allowed at Dispatch, Jensen not only pays higher wages but allows for sick leave and more routine scheduling as a way to retain workers.
GLENN LOWSON/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Daniel Hadida, chef and founder of the fine-dining restaurant, said he has gone from 17 employees before the pandemic to about 50 now as the restaurant expands, including the opening of a bakery.

He said that while not all restaurants will be able to offer the same level of compensation as his, it is important for operators to engage with their staff and find out what can work with their business model.

“The way I look at it is, for us to earn the right to employ or have a team of real professionals that are really committed, we need to provide an environment that fosters it,” he said.

Jed Agbayani, a chef de partie at Pearl Morissette, said he’s appreciated the professional challenges on the job and that he used to leave a kitchen within six months if he didn’t like it.

“I’m here two years now, so, pretty much, I’m enjoying it,” he said.
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Wet’suwet’en supporters, B.C. pipeline and RCMP protesters block Edmonton's High Level Bridge

Lauren Boothby
Nov 22, 2021  • 
Demonstrators march down Jasper Avenue towards the Alberta Legislature, as they rally against the use of legal injunctions, police forces, and criminalizing state tactics against the Wet'suwet'en Nation in their fight against the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021.
Demonstrators march down Jasper Avenue towards the Alberta Legislature, as they rally against the use of legal injunctions, police forces, and criminalizing state tactics against the Wet'suwet'en Nation in their fight against the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM /Postmedia

Reverberations of the Wet’suwet’en and TC Energy pipeline dispute near Houston, B.C., were felt in Edmonton Monday night as a crowd marched through downtown and temporarily blocked the High Level Bridge.

About 200 people rallied to support the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs’ stand against the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Protestors condemn both the construction of the Coastal GasLink LNG pipeline and the arrests of 15 people, including two journalists, present when the B.C. RCMP moved in to enforce an injunction last week

Carter Gorzit, a spokesperson for Climate Justice Edmonton, said the protest is meant as a show of solidarity and also to send a message.

“Unceded Indigenous territories and First Nations are sovereign spaces, and (the RCMP) don’t have jurisdiction now and can’t be arresting people or invading or forcing through the CGL pipeline,” he said. “It’s particularly (messed) up when they’re doing it with ongoing climate crisis occurring in British Columbia.”

The rally began at Beaver Hills House Park at 5 p.m. The group marched down Jasper Avenue and 109 Street chanting “Always was, always will be Indigenous land,” and “How do you spell racist? R-C-M-P.” They carried colourful banners and signs condemning police, and asserting Indigenous peoples’ land rights.

Judith Gale was discouraged to again be protesting the RCMP’s decision to arrest people who were opposing the pipeline’s construction.

“As Indigenous people, we are the stewards of this land since time immemorial. And we’re only exercising our right that is afforded us by our ancestors,” she said. “Everybody join this movement, and let’s fight for our mother (earth).”

Police vehicles trailed the crowd as it headed toward the High Level Bridge. Some tensions rose between drivers attempting trying to cross the bridge and the crowd with some motorists loudly and repeatedly blaring their horns.

The group stopped half-way across the bridge to light a ceremonial fire and sing a song before completing the march on the south side. The bridge was blocked for over half an hour before the crowd disbanded.

Lyndsay Breadner Quewezance-Leclaire, a sacred fire keeper, extinguishes a fire lit in the middle of High Level Bridge after a song. Around 200 people marched from downtown across High Level Bridge protesting the arrest of Wet’suwet’en members and supporters opposing the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia. Photo: Lauren Boothby/Postmedia
Lyndsay Breadner Quewezance-Leclaire, a sacred fire keeper, extinguishes a fire lit in the middle of High Level Bridge after a song. Around 200 people marched from downtown across High Level Bridge protesting the arrest of Wet’suwet’en members and supporters opposing the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia. Photo: Lauren Boothby/Postmedia

Lyndsay Breadner Quewezance-Leclaire, a sacred fire keeper, said it was important for her to perform the ceremony and rally to support the next generation of Indigenous youth.

Members of the Gidimt’en clan, one of five in the Wet’suwet’en Nation, set up a road blockade last week after giving the pipeline company an eviction notice. RCMP moved in to clear the blockade, sparking solidarity protests for those arrested and opposing the pipeline. The two journalists detained were released on Monday.

Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and others have opposed the pipeline although the elected Wet’suwet’en council supports it.

The Alberta NDP passed a resolution over the weekend expressing solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Nation demanding the RCMP immediately withdraw from the area, and halt construction until hereditary chiefs give consent.

The United Conservative Party responded by releasing a statement condemning the NDP for endorsing the protests.

“Not only does this resolution ignore a clear order from the B.C. Supreme Court, but it ignores the will of elected First Nations leaders all along the Coastal GasLink project route,” MLA Searle Turton said in a press release.

Premier Jason Kenney brought in the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act in 2020 in wake of nationwide rail blockades in support of Wet’suwet’en members’ fight against the pipeline. The law makes it illegal to enter or damage infrastructure like roadways during a protest in Alberta.

Demonstrators march down Jasper Avenue towards the Alberta Legislature, as they rally against the use of legal injunctions, police forces, and criminalizing state tactics against the Wet’suwet’en Nation in their fight against the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. Photo by David Bloom
Demonstrators march down Jasper Avenue towards the Alberta Legislature, as they rally against the use of legal injunctions, police forces, and criminalizing state tactics against the Wet’suwet’en Nation in their fight against the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. Photo by David Bloom PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM /Postmedia
Demonstrators march down Jasper Avenue towards the Alberta Legislature, as they rally against the use of legal injunctions, police forces, and criminalizing state tactics against the Wet’suwet’en Nation in their fight against the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021.
Demonstrators march down Jasper Avenue towards the Alberta Legislature, as they rally against the use of legal injunctions, police forces, and criminalizing state tactics against the Wet’suwet’en Nation in their fight against the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM /Postmedia

– With files from the Canadian Press and Matt Scace

lboothby@postmedia.com

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Alberta workers need better protection from bears, inquiry into 2014 Suncor death finds

Lorna Weafer, 36, of Fort McMurray was fatally attacked by a bear at a Suncor site

Jamie Malbeuf · CBC News · 
Lorna Weafer was 36 when she was killed by a bear near Fort McMurray. (Supplied)

A provincial court judge has made four recommendations to improve bear safety for workers after a woman was mauled to death at an oilsands site in 2014.

Judge James Jacques wrote the recommendations after a public fatality inquiry held last June in Fort McMurray. His report was made public Monday.

In 2014, Lorna Weafer was an electrical and instrumentation technician working at a Suncor worksite known as La Bodega, north of Fort McMurray.

Around 2 p.m. on May 7 of that year, the 36-year-old was fatally mauled by a large male cinnamon-coloured black bear while walking from a washroom facility to a shop building.

Weafer screamed for help and her co-workers tried to drive the bear away while the bear dragged her into the nearby forest. The co-workers were throwing rocks, clamps and metal bars, but "failed to deter him," Jacques said in his report.

The plant's emergency services team arrived and drove the bear away with a water cannon. 

"By that time it was apparent that Ms. Weafer was no longer alive," wrote Jacques. 

RCMP arrived and shot the bear with a rifle as it was trying to return to Weafer's body. 

The bear's behaviour and necropsy showed that it was a predatory attack, Jacques said in his report.

He noted that there had been two other bear sightings in the area the previous month.

Several preventative measures were discussed during the inquiry, including bear education, personal deterrents, the use of guns, electrified fences and provincial standards for bear safety. 

Jacques made four recommendations:

  • Make bear safety training mandatory for people working in areas near bear habitats, even if they are not working in the forest.
  • Introduce electric fences when possible to prevent bears from interacting with people. 
  • Workers in high-risk areas should be trained in and given deterrents such as bear spray. 
  • The province should consider introducing bear safety standards for industry.

Guns would create other hazards: judge

At the time Weafer was attacked, there were no firearms available to her co-workers. 

Jacques discussed the use of guns in his report. He wrote that using a firearm can have additional dangers, like accidentally hitting the victim. 

"It would require excellent marksmanship or a very close approach to the animal, and anyone attempting it would undoubtedly feel a great weight of responsibility," the report says.

At the inquiry, Weafer's father had said that someone being attacked would want someone to try to kill the bear with a gun.

Jacques wrote that having at least one person armed at each Suncor site would "create safety hazards of its own … In an operation as large as the Suncor plant, this option is not practicable." 

The judge also explored the possibility of having a locked weapon on site, instead of an armed guard. But he said it would create "logistical issues."

There would need to be a trained employee at each site, entrusted with the keys for the weapon and ammunition. It would again, "exacerbate safety issues," Jacques wrote.

The judge said that he was unable to make any recommendations regarding the use of firearms in the context of the incident that led to Weafer's death.

Since Weafer's death Suncor has put in and improved many wildlife protocols, Suncor spokesperson Sneh Seetal said Monday.

That includes hiring an onsite wildlife contractor for bear surveillance and monitoring, expanding safety training and introducing wildlife advisories and alerts, Seetal said.

Some employees carry bear spray. There is also fencing in some areas, where feasible. 

Seetal said there have been no other maulings or incidents with bears since 2014. 

"Our top priority is always the safety of our people," said Seetal.

In an email, Joseph Dow, press secretary for Labour Minister Tyler Shandro, said there have been "no potentially serious incidents, reportable incidents or Workers' Compensation Benefit claims in the past five years related  to bears."

Many employers in the Wood Buffalo region have put in bear safety protocols that align with Occupational Health and Safety laws, Dow said.

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 Nfld. & Labrador

'1 in 100-year storm' could drop 350 mm of rain on southwestern Newfoundland

Some areas could see 15 to 20 mm of rain per hour, says

 meteorologist Ashley Brauweiler

Alex Kennedy · CBC News · 
Parts of southwestern Newfoundland could see between 200 and 350 mm of rain beginning Tuesday and into Wednesday. (Ashley Brauweiler/CBC)

The southwestern edge of Newfoundland could see between 200 and 350 millimetres of rain over the next 36 hours in a weather event meteorologists say will likely land in the record books.

According to Justin Boudreau of the Environment Canada weather office in Gander, heavy rain will begin Tuesday morning and continue into Wednesday as a tropical trough parks over the Port aux Basques and Wreckhouse area of the island.

The system will bring 24 to 36 hours of steady rain, along with sustained winds of over 100 km/h that could gust to 150 km/h.

"200 [mm] is a good low-end at this point. On average, we're seeing about 200 to maybe as high as 350, maybe even higher than that," Boudreau told CBC News Monday. The storm could set the record for the largest rain event recorded in the province, which was 268 mm in Burgeo in 2016.

"From what I've been looking at, it's more than a one in 100-year storm type of thing."

Boudreau said the system will be almost entirely confined to the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, something he called "remarkable."

"When I look at 48-hour rainfall totals, there's a huge number down between Port aux Basques and Burgeo and Gander and the northeast has 0.5 mm. It's something else," he said.

The system brings a high potential for washouts and flooding, according to CBC meteorologist Ashley Brauweiler.

The system is driven by an atmospheric river, according to Brauweiler, very similar to what brought intense rain and flooding to British Columbia earlier this month.

"The rain dramatically drops off for the west coast, less than 30 millimetres, except in the higher terrain where 30 to 50-plus millimetres is possible. There is a potential for some significant rainfall Tuesday night through Wednesday along the strait in southern Labrador as well, with 50-plus millimetres," she said.

 Brauweiler added rain will be intense, with as much as 15 to 20 mm falling per hour.

'It's pretty scary stuff'

The upcoming storm has already cancelled Marine Atlantic crossings for Monday and Tuesday, with communications head Darrell Mercer saying service could be affected until Thursday if the weather lands to its full extent.

"[Captains] want to see some future forecasts before they make a decision," Mercer said.

Travellers planning to ride the crossing are asked to contact Marine Atlantic's reservation line if they'd like to make alternate arrangements.

Marine Atlantic crossings for Monday night and Tuesday morning have already been cancelled. (Marine Atlantic)

The weather also has residents in the Port aux Basques area bracing for impact. Crews in the town of Channel-Port aux Basques have been out throughout Monday checking storm drains and making sure residents are prepared, according to Mayor Brian Button.

"We have to prepare for the worst. If anything, we may get a best-case scenario maybe that we only might get 100 mm of rain," Button said. "But the forecast and the eye of all this, it's looking like it's got the potential to be something that we haven't seen in perhaps 100 years or more. It's pretty scary stuff."

Button is encouraging residents to make sure drains are cleared around private property, be prepared with enough food and water and to contact the town in case of an emergency

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FLATTEN THE HEIRARCHY
Canadian Forces top-heavy with generals as rank and file shrinks

Other forces have a much leaner structure. The U.S. Marine Corps has 180,000 active personnel commanded by a maximum of 62 generals.

Author of the article: David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Nov 22, 2021 •
Acting Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre. 
PHOTO BY ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS/FILE

Canada’s military has become increasingly top-heavy in recent decades, with the number of rank-and-file soldiers significantly shrinking and the number of generals remaining about the same, new documents reveal.

As of March 31 this year, the regular force had dropped to 65,644 and was commanded by 129 generals and admirals, according to Canadian Forces figures released under the Access to Information law. That is in contrast to statistics from 1991, when the Canadian military’s regular force was 85,977 personnel commanded by 137 general officers.

The documents show that the significant drop in personnel was absorbed by the rank and file.

The number of privates and their naval equivalents in 1991 was 16,677. In 2021, that was 9,263. Corporals and master corporals and their naval equivalents numbered 32,265 in 1991. By 2021 that number dropped to 26,009. The number of sergeants and naval equivalents dropped from 10,211 to 6,804. In 1991, there were 8,625 warrant officers, master warrant officers and chief warrant officers and their naval equivalents. By 2021, that figure dropped to 6,376.


The numbers of captains, majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels and their naval equivalents stayed relatively stable over the same period.

Michel Drapeau, a retired colonel and Ottawa lawyer, says the growth in numbers of general and flag officers is out of control. “This is ridiculous,” said Drapeau, who obtained the documents. “We are starting to look like Brazil or Argentina.”

Drapeau noted that each general required additional personnel and staff officers to support their needs, taking away individuals from front-line jobs.

A brigadier general and their naval equivalent earn a maximum of around $182,000 a year, a major general earns $227,000, and a lieutenant general is paid $269,000.

Other forces have a much leaner structure. Drapeau noted that the U.S. Marine Corps has 180,000 active personnel commanded by a maximum of 62 generals.

A second set of records obtained through the access law by this newspaper showed the military’s public affairs branch was concerned earlier this year there might be increased scrutiny about the number of generals, in particular, because of the Canadian Forces’ plan in the spring to create six new positions.

In response, public affairs officers developed messages highlighting the leadership abilities of Canadian generals. If a journalist asked about the high number of generals, the military response was to be: “General Officers and Flag Officers lead the CAF in defending our country’s values and interests, here at home and abroad, and they are considered institutional leaders.”

Another of the public affairs messages to be issued to journalists noted that, “General Officers and Flag Officers are instrumental to meet the increased coordination and leadership requirements associated with Canada’s complex operational commitments.”

The Canadian Forces issued a statement Friday that “the current approved permanent establishment for General and Flag Officers accounts for 120 positions.” The figure included 110 regular force positions and 10 reserve force positions, according to the military. The statement, however, did not provide details on the number of officers who have been temporarily promoted to the position of general. Those individuals receive the same pay and benefits associated with the rank of general.

Last month, Acting Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre raised concerns during a conference in Kingston about the decline in both regular and reserve forces.

Eyre said he was particularly alarmed at the number of experienced leaders, both officers and noncommissioned officers, who were leaving the military, CBC reported. During the Oct. 25 conference, Eyre blamed the military’s sexual misconduct crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic for the exodus.

“We need our mid-level leaders to dig deep and do this for the institution, to put service before self, not to retreat into retirement, but to advance forward and face the challenges head-on,” Eyre stated.

Response in online forums among military personnel to Eyre’s claims was mostly negative. Military personnel commented that Eyre was either tone-deaf or out of touch and that the exodus of personnel had started well before the pandemic or the sexual misconduct crisis. Poor leadership and concerns about quality of life were among the issues cited by those who had left the military.

A 2011 report by Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie warned about the significant growth in headquarters jobs. As a result, the Liberal election platform in 2015 promised to reduce the size of administration within the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said his government would ensure the military would have “more teeth and less tail.”
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