
Ottawa considering ‘combination of approaches’ to 20% military pay hike
OTTAWA — Defence Minister David McGuinty’s office says it’s considering a “combination of approaches” to boosting pay for armed service members, including introducing retention bonuses for “stress trades.”
“This investment represents an almost 20 per cent increase to the overall CAF compensation envelope,” McGuinty’s spokesperson Laurent de Casanove said in an email statement to The Canadian Press.
“The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces are actively working on how best to implement this investment — looking at options that include a combination of approaches such as retention bonuses for stress trades, increased starting salaries for junior members, and a broad-based salary increase.”
While McGuinty’s recent public commitment to grant the Canadian Armed Forces a “20 per cent pay increase” won praise within the defence community, it has also led to confusion — and some experts are saying they want to read the fine print.