OTTAWA, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Canada says it will shut facilities, sell properties and freeze the size of its permanent military forces as part of its fiscal belt-tightening.
Defense Department documents show regular Canadian forces will be frozen at 68,000 for the next several years and possibly 25 percent of redundant or underused facilities, some dating back to World War II, could be either shut down or sold, Postmedia News reported Sunday.
Gen. Walter Natynczyk, chief of the defense staff, and Deputy Minister Robert Fonberg issued a national directive to deal with a tightening fiscal situation projected into 2016 by cherry-picking which of the 21,000 buildings, many of which have cultural significance, will be shuttered.
"We will also reduce portfolio size, footprint and associated overhead costs by consolidating defense operations and programs to fewer operational sites and ensuring maximum usage of all facilities in an affordable and sustainable manner," the directive said.
The Defense Department said it will reduce its civilian workforce and freeze regular forces at their current level for now.
"We will hold regular force growth, which is ahead of schedule, at the current level of 68,000 for the next few years," Fonberg and Natynczyk said.
