These are some pretty interesting stories making news, but the truth is the government has essentially killed the Canadian military.
It's clear that this is no longer a military people many people want to join - I mean even the CAF is admitting it, the verdict amongst young people is out and overwhelmingly they know how much the CAF sucks these days. From long hours, lots of old junky equipment, very low pay, often no NVG's, radios that never work, mistreatment of veterans with limited help for those with PTSD, limited options if you're injured, boring human dog & pony show parades often for officers who have never even deployed, terrible isolated bases, DND public servants who make more and do less, Left-wing Liberal politics that don't really match the CAF, a controversial PM, and the fact the fed will throw this organization under the bus if it benefits them, it's painfully obvious to anyone who spends even 5-10 minutes researching the organization things clearly aren't how they should be in terms of a functioning military meant to protect the nation in full spectrum combat operations. Sorry that was a long rant - but these are things I hear literally ALL the time from people leaving.
I recently had a doctors appointment with my civilian doctor who told me he has seen an increase in young clients coming to him for medical appointments relating to joining the British and French militaries because they have no interest in the CAF.
The most senior members of this military seem too often have one specialty; telling us how big changes and improvements are "just over the horizon" and yet so few ideas ever come to fruition. They deliver on so little these days. There will always be some riding out the storm, and no doubt some people will keep trying the CAF as recruits. Without immediate massive pay increases, quality of life improvements, new equipment, and an overall revival of a real serious military type atmosphere I think we're stuck on a sinking ship in terms of both recruitment and retention. This isn't something that is realistically going to be fixed anytime soon.