The federal Defence Minister is encouraged by an increase in the number of recruits who have enrolled into the Canadian Armed Forces, but he acknowledges there’s still a ways to go in terms of basic training.

David McGuinty says 44,400 people have applied for the Canadian military over the last year and more than 7,300 have been enrolled – far exceeding Ottawa’s initial recruitment targets.

However, McGuinty calls that encouraging, and now they’re working on accelerating training.

“We have some ways to go in terms of post-recruitment and post basic training, to accelerate the pace at which individuals are being trained for their professions. And the good news is, with the pay package that we’ve introduced, the incentives to hire more instructors, to bring folks from the practice of what they’re doing into the realm of instructors, those numbers are up. So we are seeing a decline from the time you are actually integrated into the forces after basic training, and your beginning of training for your specific trade. That is one of the gaps we’re working to address. That’s the next big challenge that we’re working on.”