Reservists that deploy are put on class C now. If the personel are rotated in and out of CARBs on a time based system ( 6 months? A year?). I don’t see how they are reg force as opposed to deployed reservists in their own formations.
I see nothing wrong whatsoever employing a reservist on Class C for a period of a year or even two, if that is the extent of it. But reservists are :
- 15 (3) There shall be a component of the Canadian Forces, called the reserve force, that consists of officers and non-commissioned members who are enrolled for other than continuing, full-time military service when not on active service.
(4) The maximum numbers of officers and non-commissioned members in the reserve force shall be as authorized by the Governor in Council, and the reserve force shall include such units and other elements as are embodied therein.
By legislation, reservists are not to be used in the ordinary course of things at continuing, full-time service. That's the job for the RegF.
What legislation would be violated by being on Class C for deployments?
NDA 15(1) and (2)
- 15 (1) There shall be a component of the Canadian Forces, called the regular force, that consists of officers and non-commissioned members who are enrolled for continuing, full-time military service.
(2) The maximum numbers of officers and non-commissioned members in the regular force shall be as authorized by the Governor in Council, and the regular force shall include such units and other elements as are embodied therein.
What you have is a regime whereby the government authorizes x number of full-timers and y number of part-timers.
There is nothing wrong with surging part-timers into roles that are temporary in nature. Where the problem comes in is when you establish an indefinite role - say 4,000 Class B position in Ottawa or a CARB in Latvia of 600 folks full-time - then what you are effectively creating are additional continuing, full-time positions.
Yes, by rotating different individual reservists on one year contracts through it then you are not turning the individual into a regular, continuing, full-timer but you are effectively creating 600 new continuing, full-time positions which were not authorized by GiC.
Think of it this way - you have 30,000 full-time with pay and benefits at $100,000 per annum ($3,000,000,000). and 30,000 part-time at $15,000 per annum ($450,000,000 / Grand Total
3,450,000,000).
Now put one 600-man CARB on continuing rotations there then you have the following: 30,600 full-time at $100,000 per annum ($3, 060,000,000) and 29,400 part-timers at $15,000 ($441,000,000 / Grand Total
$3,501,000,000).
In practical terms you have increased the total GiC authorized pay envelope by
$51,000,000. Add in the 4,000 Class B's for another $340,000,000 and another CARB on predeployment training for another $51,000,000 and pretty soon your talking serious funding in the nature of $442,000,000. Obviously, I have simplified the math, but you get the point.
It's one thing to surge part-timers for things like a war in Afghanistan or to send one CARB rotation every three years or so to give the regulars a break, its an entirely different matter to populate Ottawa with continuing, full-time Class B's and Latvia with continuing, full-time expeditionary Class Cs. Breaking those positions into short term contracts is merely bureaucratic sophistry. Just as important is the question of where this additional pay comes from. Even at times when the RegF is unable to fill its authorized strength, the money does not come from the authorized RegF pay. It comes from a variety of O&M and other budgets reducing what can be spent on those categories. It's a game of wink, wink, nudge, nudge that the CAF has played for decades.
