CAF grilled over recruits who lack language skills, don't reach training

The Canadian Armed Forces is boasting of a record recruitment drive but questions remain about lower standards and recruits who face language barriers.

The federal government celebrated what it called record recruitment in the Canadian Armed Forces, but parliamentary testimony paints a more complicated picture of lower standards, including recruits who lack basic English and French language abilities.

At a meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts on Monday, senior officials from the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces were questioned alongside the Office of the Auditor General about recruitment flows, training capacity and attrition rates that continue to sit stubbornly high despite higher enrolment numbers.