Inflection Point  -  LGen Michael Wright (S7 E1)

[Fast paced music plays]

Captain Adam Orton: Hi! I'm Captain Adam Orton for the Canadian Army Podcast. Throughout the Army headquarters, I hear people say that we're at an Inflection Point. Senior leaders across the Army are looking to make significant changes to how we operate.
We looked at how we're equipped, how we train, how we're organized, and so we've decided to undergo some major changes within our divisional structures to ensure we can respond effectively to crises and conflicts.

Joining me is the Commander of the Canadian Army, Lieutenant-General Mike Wright. He's going to share what the Army needs to look like to be at its most effective on the battlefield. Welcome to the podcast, sir.

Lieutenant-General Michael Wright: Hey, Adam. Thanks very much. Great to be with you.

[Music ends]

Capt Orton: So, let's look at the big picture right out the gate. What are the challenges that the Canadian Army is facing, especially with regards to the global threat environment? There's a lot happening in the world right now.

LGen Wright: Yeah, I think I'll start off by saying you said you've heard about Inflection Point. Hopefully by now you've read Inflection Point,...

Capt Orton: Oh yes.

LGen Wright: ...which came out in September. The opening line of Inflection Point 2025 is the Army we have is not the Army we need. Why is that? Well, first of all, we've been at a deficit across people, equipment, training, sustainment for years. But then if you look at the global threat picture, when we look at the continued deterioration of the rules-based international order, when we look at the effects of climate change. Just this past summer, we had again, Canadian Army soldiers involved in several Op LENTUSs. So, responding to weather-related emergencies. And then it's really going to affect how we need to be prepared to train and operate in the Arctic. There's emerging and disruptive technology. Really interesting.

Just before coming in here, I gave opening remarks for the MINERVA initiative, our initiative to try to introduce more uncrewed technology into the Army. And I know we'll have a chance to talk about that later. But there's so much technology accelerating so rapidly. And then frankly, the effects of misinformation and disinformation. So, you take the shortages at the Army had and people, equipment, training, sustainment. You look at the threats that exist now and how those threats will increase in the future. And it really led to taking a look at: What are the people we need for the Army? What are the capabilities we need? And what's the way that we're going to be structured? And you said a little bit of it, Army modernization is about ensuring that we're equipped, trained, sustained, structured, but also able to integrate, whether it's across the joint force of the CAF, within the government of Canada or with our allies.

Capt Orton: When you say we've seen a change in the rules-based order in the world, what does that mean?

LGen Wright: Yeah. So, rules-based international order is really the order that came about the institutions that were put in place after the Second World War. And that order is one of the reasons why Canada became the prosperous country that it is today. But we've seen, whether it's through the full-scale invasion in Ukraine, whether it's through China's actions in the South China Sea, whether it's increasing cooperation between Russia and China with countries like Iran and North Korea, weakening of some of the traditional systems that have existed, but also attempted weakening of some of the alliances that exist.

Capt Orton: That sounds like a big deal.

LGen Wright: It is a big deal, but the good news for Canada is we do exist in a number of alliances within the continent: NORAD, across the five eyes or with NATO. And so, a number of those countries that I just mentioned, they have alliances of convenience. We actually have alliances and partnerships that mean something.

Capt Orton: So, when you talk about big challenges, you put that on the same scale as the Arctic. Why is that important?

LGen Wright: So, the Arctic is important because, first of all, Canada's only permanent presence from a security perspective right now, in the Arctic, are the Canadian Rangers and the Canadian Coast Guard. And now the Canadian Coast Guard, as you know, are part of the Department of National Defence. We're already seeing increased activity in the Arctic and we have to be aware that the Arctic is going to become more accessible because of the effects of climate change. Which means we'll see even more people coming through. So, that could be anything from increased demand for search and rescue, which often we see our Canadian Rangers involved in, ground search and rescue. But also, countries increasingly using the Northwest Passage.

Capt Orton: You say, you know, it's been kind of a tagline, the rmy we have isn't the army we need. What's missing with the army we have? Like, what are we missing?

LGen Wright: The army we have is built for an era where Canada was very content to do what we call contribution warfare. So, you know, if you look at what we did, whether it was the Balkans in the 1990s, Afghanistan in the early 2000s, or even in the last decade, be it Operation IMPACT in the Middle East or Operation REASSURANCE in Europe. What does Canada need to do to be part of those alliances, which are incredibly important? But we have not had the ability to actually take a greater role in leading those alliances, nor have we truly invested in the capabilities that the army needs to invest in to be part of the overall joint defence of Canada. Because, you know, we talk about mission tasks, the most important mission task for the Canadian Army is to defend Canada. Defend Canada can mean within our borders, but defend Canada can also mean the mission that we have in Latvia right now, defending Canada as part of NATO's eastern flank deterrence line.

Capt Orton: So, Troops love talking about kit, we're getting new equipment because we're making these investments. What new systems, what new equipment are we bringing into the fight?

LGen Wright: You know, we do have 50 major capital projects ongoing right now.

Capt Orton: Just that?

LGen Wright: I'm not going to talk through all 50, but I'll talk about the five priorities, but then I'll also talk about what I think a lot of soldiers are more interested about, and that's what is going to make a difference in the next six to twelve months. So, first of all, with the 50 major capital projects, some of it is reintroducing systems that we used to have. Some of it is introducing systems that we've never had. And a lot of it is about updating systems that worked very well for us during a counterinsurgency fight but aren't what we need for the battlefields of today or the battlefields of the future.

So, the five priorities are what I call four plus one. First of all, long-range precision strike (land). That's the HIMARS system, which we are procuring from the United States government. Why the HIMARS? Well, first of all, it's proven on the battlefield in Ukraine, but importantly, we were talking about the Arctic before. The HIMARS is the only existing long-range precision strike (land) system that we can put onto the back of one of the RCAF's C-17 strategic airlift or C-130J Herc aircrafts and deploy it anywhere in Canada to be part of a joint anti-access aerial denial capability.

Capt Orton: It's worth saying also that this thing has crazy capabilities. The idea of scale of being able to launch something from Ottawa to Montreal is insane.

LGen Wright: And hopefully we won't be launching it from Ottawa to Montreal, but no, it is a capability that we've never had. It's a capability that we need because if you look at the battlefield right now, we are limited to the close fight where this actually will allow us to operate in the deep fight, which is incredibly important when we talk about being able to fight at the divisional level, which I know we'll get into.

Capt Orton: Yeah.

LGen Wright: Second priority is ground-based air defence. So, the good news, and I know a lot of the soldiers listening to this podcast have experience in Latvia. We've already introduced the very short-range, so the V-SHORAD system, the RBS-70 into Latvia. We will be introducing a SHORAD, so a short-range system into Latvia. But then importantly, the other two parts of that project are introducing V-SHORAD and SHORAD capabilities into the army here. So first of all, we can train in them, but then also as other missions come up, we could actually employ them on those missions.

Capt Orton: Right.

LGen Wright: Third one is what we call Domestic Arctic Mobility Enhancement, which is replacing the BV-206s, which have done a great job, but now they're over 40 years old and we need to make sure that we have vehicles that will allow us to be mobile and survivable in the Arctic.

Capt Orton: I'm an advanced BV-206 driver, actually. And those things are super great. They're great pieces of kit. For those that have never seen one, it's like an articulated snowcat type thing that has two chunks to it and it can drive anywhere. It's amazing.

LGen Wright: Exactly. And that's, you know, it's important because we were talking about climate change earlier. So, climate change in the Arctic is going to change also mobility in the Arctic. So that's something we're taking a look at. But one of the great things about the DAME, Domestic Arctic Mobility Enhancement project is that we're looking at that at the same time as a number of our Nordic allies like Sweden and Finland are. The fourth one is Indirect Fire Modernization. So Indirect Fire Modernization is about replacing the towed M-777 howitzers, which served us exceptionally well in Afghanistan, but are not fit for the modern battlefield. So, we need to replace those with self-propelled howitzers. We are also going to be reintroducing 120-millimetre mortars to our mechanized infantry battalions and then new 81-millimetre mortars for our light infantry battalions.

Capt Orton: Wow.

LGen Wright: Now the plus one is making sure that we have, I'm going to use my first acronym of the day, C5ISRT. What's C5ISRT? Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting. So basically we're getting a whole bunch of great kit, but if we're not able to integrate it into, first of all, the targeting and intelligence enterprise, make sure that the kit that's operating in Shiloh talks to the kit that's operating in Petawawa, then we're not going to get the full effectiveness out of these capabilities.

So, I'd say those last two that I mentioned, Indirect Fire Modernization and the C5ISRT are really going to be two areas that are going to be focused on in 2026. Now I said, I also wanted to mention some capabilities that would probably mean a little bit more to a soldier who's making a determination as to, are they going to re-sign their contract in 2026. So, we've got the CMAR, the Canadian Modular Assault Rifle. We're going to start rolling out up to 30,000 in 2026. There's going to be two versions. One is going to be for all of our infantry units, Regular and Reserve across the country. And the other will be for the other units within the Canadian Army, but also those across the Canadian Armed Forces who need rifles. The second one is the first part of our Soldier Operational Clothing Equipment Modernization or SOCEM. We have started rolling out Merino wool long underwear. I never thought that I would spend so much time talking about long underwear, but it's actually important because the Army Sergeant Major and I at the end of July had an opportunity to visit Logistik Unicorp in Saint-Jean, Quebec. And we saw, first of all, the equipment they're working on, but more importantly, the passion of some former Canadian Army members who are working at Logistik Unicorp and who are understanding that there is no reason why we shouldn't be buying the type of clothing that, frankly, soldiers have gone out on their own and bought over the course of years.

So right now, that first delivery of the Merino wool long underwear is happening. Over the next few months, we'll get it out to all of our brigades and then it'll be on the clothing online system. That'll be the first of the base layers. So, it might not be the next, but also in the plan is going to be puffy jackets. So, my apologies to deputy commanding officers across the army because your regimental kit shops will see a dip in your sales. But I think the part of SOCEM that I'm the most interested in and excited about is new load carriage equipment. So, think daybags, rucksacks, making sure we have enough daybags and rucksacks for our soldiers across the Canadian Army. And then looking at the personal protective equipment, not only making sure we get the helmets that we've seen for our light infantry battalions and for our soldiers in Latvia across the Canadian Army, but the type of ballistic vests and ballistic plates that are made for every shape and size of soldier in the army.

Capt Orton: I like to say that I've trialed many tac vests over the past, whatever, 20 years, I would say. And I think a lot of people are really excited to see that new kit hit the ground because, you know, the world has changed a lot and double frontline ammo takes a lot of space on your gear.

LGen Wright: Yeah. And this is, you know, with SOCEM and CMAR, this is absolutely something that the army has been able to accelerate because of the increased funding coming from the government.

Capt Orton: I want to come back to C5ISRT real quick. I think it gets lost in the wash a little bit because when you watch like military movies or whatever, the command and control aspect, it's not the front part of the movie. The cool bit is the action and everybody's looking at this action, but why are these background systems important? Why is that investment a thing that we got to do?

LGen Wright: Well, it's important. As I said, couple of examples that I used, there's the long range precision strike, the HIMARS system, ground-based air defence, but it's hard to think of systems that we're bringing in where it's not incredibly important that not only do we have the hardware, the radios, but also the software and software that's able to be updated rapidly. You know, we can't afford to buy technology now that by the time it's delivered will be out of date. So, it's making sure that as we're bringing those capabilities into the army, we're having the flexibility to allow for updates and also to acknowledge that, hey, if we're going to roll out that first set of radios to 2 Brigade in Petawawa and Gagetown, maybe by the time we're rolling it out to 5 Brigade in Valcartier, it might be a different version of the radios, or at least with a more recent software update.

Capt Orton: IT affects us even in the military in the ways that it affects normal people, but on top of that, you're in the middle of the field and all that stuff. So, it's hard to deal with some of these problems. So, it's got to be wired tight.

LGen Wright: It is. You know, maybe that's also a good opportunity just to say, with the reliance that we have on communications, but also on GPS. I know myself sometimes, you know, even to go to the grocery store, I might look at what's the best way to take it. We have to make sure that for all the new things that are happening on the battlefield, there's a lot of old lessons that we need to make sure we're paying attention to, and we're incorporating that into our training. So, that's being able to operate in communications denied or GPS denied environments. It's also about making sure we're paying attention to camouflage, concealment, and deception. And it was great when the Army Sergeant Major and I were in Latvia at the beginning of November to see how the soldiers over there are incorporating, you know; How do you make sure that you're camouflaging a company command post from pervasive ISR? And how are you protecting from uncrewed aerial systems from flying into your position?

Capt Orton: So, I've done quartermaster tasks before, I've done some procurement, and we're a bureaucracy. It requires a lot of paperwork to get stuff. And army people don't always talk like normal people. So, when you're putting that stuff on paper, it can be really difficult to get the thing that you want. And that process is sometimes additionally more convoluted by us not understanding how the industry side works. How are we partnering with them and making sure that they know what our needs are and also that they can give us what we want?

LGen Wright: So, it's about involving industry in the process earlier. But it's also, as you pointed out there, making sure we're speaking plain English when we're saying what our requirements are. You know, one of the challenges for the army is we're procuring everything from generators or water purification units to go with the disaster assistance response team to that HIMARS system that can reach out and, deliver missiles over 300 kilometres away. So, the Chief of Staff Strategy, Brigadier-General Steph Masson and his team have done a fantastic job over the past year reinvigorating the relationship with defence industry. And I'd say even more importantly, given what's happening in Canada and the focus of the government, reinvigorating it with Canadian defence industry. There's been a number of industry days, whether for the army's projects writ large or specific projects they've had industry in. So, we can explain to them, there can be a dialogue between the army and industry. But I was using the example earlier of the MINERVA initiative, where the Canadian Army has paired with the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, so CADSI, to have an industry day to bring in Canadian industry, specifically small and medium enterprises, to look at what uncrewed technology is out there. And, I think a lot of people know that in June of 2025, I said I want to flood the army with drones or flood the army with uncrewed technology.

As the Army Sergeant Major and I have been traveling around the country and to Latvia, I've seen that saying at the strategic level, I want to flood. By the time you get down to the tactical level, it's a bit of a trickle. You know, there are units with none or there are units with one or two UASs. So, what we're trying to do here is to provide a testing ground for industry, but to provide, frankly, a testing ground to our soldiers as well. It is incredible when we go out and we see the initiative and the innovation that exists in our soldiers. I'll use the example at the beginning of October; we were out in Gagetown for 2 RCR’s training that they were doing before going over to Latvia. And a couple of master corporals from the infantry company showed us what they're doing to incorporate drone technology into the company's tactics, but also some of the discussions that they've had with industry. So frankly, part of the MINERVA initiative, as well, is just to take all of that great work that's being done across the Canadian Army and make sure we have as much of a common operating picture or an all-informed net across the army as possible.

Capt Orton: Yeah, I mean, we're seeing a lot of different technologies out there and it's all moving very fast. You talk a lot about land power because that's what the army is basically. It feels like drones or armed robots of some sort with grenade launchers on their heads or something of that nature will exist soon enough. How do we keep land power relevant on the modern battlefield?

LGen Wright: So, I think land power is as relevant, if not more relevant than ever, because you're absolutely right. Uncrewed technology, whether it's in the air, on the ground or in the sea is becoming incredibly important. And we need to make sure just as the Air Force and the Navy are, that we're incorporating technology. However, at the end of the day, uncrewed technology cannot hold terrain, can't seize terrain, can't interact with the population and it can't operate in all weather. But guess what Canadian soldiers can do? Hold terrain, seize terrain, retake territory, interact with the population and operate all weather, including through some pretty horrendous conditions, whether it's up in our north or look at any of our training areas at any point during the year.

Capt Orton: It goes without saying the military is always trying to modernize and we've seen a lot of different orders and plans throughout the past couple of decades on making that happen. Why is it different this time?

LGen Wright: Yeah, I think it's different for a couple of reasons. First of all, if you look at those threats that I spoke about at the beginning. If you looked at the fact that the army over the course of decades has made some small changes to how we're structured, but frankly, right now doesn't look all that different from the general structure of the army that I first joined as a second-lieutenant in Winnipeg in 1994.

Capt Orton: Right.

LGen Wright: So, it's the time for change. And I'd say more importantly, we also have the opportunity to be resourced now. So, you know, there's been some fantastic work that's been done over the course of years, including the army modernization strategy that was put out in 2020. But then you look at what happened after that, you know, we entered COVID, we entered Canadian Armed Forces reconstitution, and we were talking about scarcity, not abundance of resources. So having the resources to actually be able to build the strength on the Regular Force side, on the Reserve side, Canadian Rangers, but also defence team civilians, but also to invest in those capabilities is incredibly important. But I'd say as well, whether it's for operations in Canada or around the world, we needed to restructure the way that we fight, because we are limited to that close fight now. And we're very limited because of how we have divisions that are currently geographically divided.

And frankly, they're asymmetric divisions, but they're asymmetric because of years of divestment, not by design. So, I have confidence because first of all, there's been incredible amount of work that's been done by our army modernization team. Before we started the podcast, you and I were discussing how in September at the Army Council, right before we had the Senior Army Leadership Symposium, where we released Inflection Point 2025, I gave the direction to the division commanders to say, “Hey, we've come up with the plans up to this point. Now we need to hand it to you so you can look at your tasks and you can come back to me and say, give me a back brief. Here's the tasks that you've assigned me. Here's how I'm going to execute those tasks, but also here's the resources that I need.” So, we just completed that with an Army Council and we're setting things up for the transitions to occur in 2026.

Capt Orton: So, the concept of a division is pretty challenging. It's basically, as it stands now, we have four divisions that divide the country into four areas. Each one of those has a lot of different tasks, thousands of soldiers that are spread out into multiple brigades that each do their own thing. You've got more centralized Regular Force, mechanized brigades with a ton of equipment and vehicles. You've got Reserve brigades, which are lighter on the ground, but they're more spread out. They cover more area. We have Canadian Rangers, which in many cases are in remote communities. That's a lot of things going on and now we're changing it. What's changing?

LGen Wright: So, what's changing is we're going from those divisions that are geographically organized. And as you said, those division commanders currently are responsible for everything in the sun that happens in their region, whether it's their Regular Force, Canadian Mechanized Brigade Groups, Reserve Force, Canadian Brigade Groups, the Canadian division support groups, Canadian Ranger Patrol Groups, et cetera, et cetera.

Capt Orton: Yeah.

LGen Wright: What we're now going for is three divisions that are based on task and purpose, and then a refreshed Canadian Army Doctrine Training Centre.

So, I'll talk first about our Defence of Canada Division. So, as the name would suggest, the most important role of the Defence of Canada Division is to make sure we are postured to defend Canada. It's going to be headquartered in Montreal. So, look at the current 2 Division headquarters, and they are responsible for looking at how we need to ensure that we are well postured for domestic operations. Domestic operations could include, as we've seen, in fact, we've seen over the past decade a tripling of the frequency of Operation LENTUS deployments. We saw this past summer support to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for the G7 Summit in Kananaskis. We've seen in the past similar summits or the Olympic Games in Vancouver, Whistler. It's also about making sure that we can exercise, but be able to operate in the Arctic. So, through our Arctic Response Company Groups and through participating in Operation NANOOK, which are going to be going from four serials a year to seven serials a year.

It's also about taking those five Canadian Ranger Patrol Groups, which are currently split amongst the four divisions and putting them under a single Canadian Ranger formation. So first of all, as we go through the Canadian Ranger Enhancement Project, which is about not only saying that the Rangers are eyes and ears in the north, but saying they're excellent sensors. How can we make sure they're part of the common operating and intelligence picture in the north? So we can inform the Canadian Armed Forces, but also the Government of Canada, making sure they have the equipment that they need and making sure they continue to be vectors of community resilience.

The third part of that division is a future project. It's what's the Army's role going to be in integrated air and missile defence. So this past summer, we actually sent three officers from the army over to work with the Royal Canadian Air Force who are leading the joint integrated air and missile defence office. And we are working with them as the integrated air and missile defence plan for the Canadian Armed Forces is put together to determine what's the army's role in that IAMD protective bubble going to be. Probably starting with CUAS, definitely going up to V-SHORAD, going up to SHORAD probably, but these are the discussions that are happening right now. I do think it's important for me to acknowledge here that we are going to be maintaining our Reserve units across the country. So we've got Reserve units in over 120 communities across the country. And we need that because you've heard in recent weeks, a lot of talk about growth of the Reserves and being ready for mobilization. So I do not have any orders to mobilize, but what I am doing is putting in place the structure that if we needed to mobilize, we have the footprint across the country to be able to attract, recruit and train soldiers for a rapidly expanding Canadian Armed Forces. So that's the Defence of Canada Division.

Second division is a Manoeuvre Division. So, think your Regular Force Canadian Mechanized Brigade Groups, 1 Brigade in the west, 2 Brigade in Ontario and New Brunswick, 5 Brigade in Valcartier, our 6 Canadian Combat Support Brigade, all working together with a few new formations. So, the new formations, we're going to take the 3rd battalions, so our light infantry battalions out of each of those CMBGs and form a light infantry regiment, not regrouping it geographically, but regrouping it for command and control. That will help us ensure that we're able to respond with high-readiness forces at scale.

Second one is a fires brigade. We were talking earlier about not only the HIMARS system we're bringing in but also introducing self-propelled howitzers to replace the M777s. That's going to be part of a fires brigade. And then we're also standing up a sustainment brigade where after we've been able to rebuild the strength of our administrative companies, headquarters, squadrons, our service battalions across the army, we're going to be able to stand up for the first time in recent history, a sustainment formation that will ensure that we are paying adequate attention to what we need to do to sustain ourselves and survive on the battlefield.

Another part of that division, although it doesn't fall under the Canadian Army is an aviation brigade. Right. So, we have Canadian Army officers who are with the Air Force right now working on the next tactical aviation capability to look at when the Griffin helicopter is replaced, what's it going to be replaced with, and how's that going to be able to integrate with the Canadian Army.

So that division headquarters is going to be working out of Edmonton, Alberta, but like the Defence of Canada Division headquarters. And in fact, like all of our L2 formations now is going to have a coast to coast to coast footprint and going to have to be able to operate in English and in French. Our third division is a Canadian Army Support Division. So, think about our Canadian Army division support groups right now, what we have based in Edmonton, based in Toronto and Petawawa, based in Montreal and Gagetown. And we're going to maintain a support group headquarters for each of those regions, but we're going to have a centralized command and control in Kingston, but decentralized execution. Cause I always like to say, there's a huge difference for how a base like Shilo works versus how a detachment like Aldershot or a massive base like Valcartier works.

And then the last one is our Canadian Army Doctrine Training Command. Their focus for the foreseeable future is going to be on individual training, making sure we're making the changes necessary to bring soldiers in, as we're seeing growth in the Canadian Armed Forces, bringing those soldiers into the Canadian Army, refreshing the collective training that we're able to do here in Canada. And then also working on professional military education to be able to operate at the division level.

So maybe I'll end this part off by saying, what's the importance of the division level? Well, it's a division level that will allow Canada to get away from pure contribution warfare. It's the division level that we need to operate at in order to respond to crises at scale. But it's also the division level that allows us to have national agency, national credibility, and national sovereignty. Don't get me wrong. This is not a small lift. This is a major undertaking. The Canadian Army has not exercised at the division level since RV 92, when I might've been doing my phase two infantry engaged down, but I think it's safe to say you weren't yet in uniform. No, sir. And we have not fought at the division level since World War II, but it's a step that we absolutely need to make. And it's a step that frankly, when I look at Australia, what they've done over the past few years, and one of the things that was really informative as the army modernization team was going through their work was looking at what countries like Australia and the United Kingdom have done.

Capt Orton: I would say conceivably, as I listened to you talk, I think about that mobilization piece, which is basically, if that comes to pass, that becomes a requirement, right? The world is in crisis and Canada is stepping up and we're going to do the thing.

LGen Wright: Yeah. And I mean, right now, you know, we have that division for the defence of Canada, division for maneuver, which will for the foreseeable future really be responsible for continuing to force generate for international operations. It's also got what we call Composite Armed Reserve Battalions. So, the Reserves will absolutely continue to augment our deployed operations, whether it's from the individual level to in the future, maybe up to the unit level. but no, it's incredibly important for us to be able to operate at that level.

Capt Orton: So, as you were saying before, we're moving from something that's tied to geography to something that's more task related. What impact is that going to have on the official languages aspect of things?

LGen Wright: Yeah, that's a great question. So, I mean, one of the things about the Canadian Army is we have elements in all 10 provinces, all three territories. We have units that are in English speaking regions. We have units that are in French speaking regions and we have units that are in those regions designated as officially bilingual under the Official Languages Act. What it really means is, you know, right now we have a division that operates in French. We have the other divisions that operate in English. As of when we make the transition in the summer of 2026, that means all of our L2s, the divisions and Canadian Army Doctrine Training Command are going to have to be able to operate both in English and in French. It reinforces the importance of our leadership, taking second language seriously, ensuring also that we're able to provide them with the necessary training and resources. But it is something that I know and it's something I've already spoken to the division commanders about, something I've spoken to the Deputy Commander, but also our director of official languages about to make sure we're thinking about what it means, anything from training, translation resources, things like grievances.

We need to ensure that we're able to treat all members of the Canadian Army so that they can operate in the language of their choice.

You know, French is something that I continue to practice up to this day. I was very fortunate earlier in my career, I had the opportunity to spend three years with the 2e Battalion de Royal 22e Régiment in Valcartier. So, I got that opportunity to be immersed in French, but this is something, it's going to be another change that the army will need to adapt to.

Capt Orton: You mentioned earlier on, when we were talking about MINERVA, right? That sometimes we want to flood something at the top, but when it hits the bottom, it's more of a trickle effect. This is a question I could only ask the Commander of the Army.
How do you fight that challenge of downward flow in terms of communication and/or like intention and projects? That seems like that's a pretty difficult part of the job.

LGen Wright: Part of it is the increasing money that's been coming in. So, 81 billion for National Defence this fiscal year. So, going up until the end of March 2026.
So, starting to see that money coming into the Canadian Army, making a difference with things like procuring uncrewed systems, but also we're seeing some small changes with whether it's equipment like the base layers that are rolling out or some improvements in infrastructure. So, it's the availability of those resources, but then it's also making sure we have the right delegation of authorities. And I'll be upfront, we don't have that yet. What we want to do is make sure we're able to delegate the authority as low as we can. So, it is not the Commander of the Canadian Army or our division commanders across the country who are signing off for things that we should absolutely be delegating much lower. And I think this is one of the things that as we come out of a time of scarcity to a time of opportunity that we're going to have to consistently look at.

Capt Orton: Delegation of authority is an interesting problem because for people who have not been involved in this problem in the military before, it's one of those things where there's a set of rules that military members can only spend so much money on so many things. And because of that, we don't necessarily control our procurement in the way that we want to, right?

LGen Wright: Right. Now, the good news is there is some work ongoing and I'm hoping we'll see further delegation of authorities that will further empower it. Because, we talk about mission command. Mission command, you know, works for how we conduct operations, but not necessarily for how we conduct procurement.

Capt Orton: I think to wrap things up, you know, I'd say our listeners are pretty good cross-section of the Canadian population. We got an emphasis of people who are obviously interested in the military and or are actual serving members. What would you say directly to them about the stuff that's coming up?

LGen Wright: Yeah, so I think for listeners, those outside of the army, it's, hey, we're taking the steps that are necessary to make sure that the army remains relevant, whether it's for operations here in Canada or around the world, because we know that you look at the demands on the army over the past decade, those demands are only going to increase. And so, we're doing what's necessary to make sure that their Canadian Army, your Canadian Army is set up for any tasks that the government can ask of us here in Canada or around the world.

For the soldiers of the Canadian Army, I'd like to say to you, this is a big change, but what I'll ask the soldiers to do is concentrate on what they can influence. So, you know, if you are a member in one section of Duke's Company of one RCR, focus on being an excellent infantry soldier. If you're a driver with a 32 Service Battalion, I'm being a little bit 4 Div centric here, so I'll figure out some more. Focus on being an excellent MSC Operator, because what I need to do is continue making the arguments for why we need to make those investments in the Canadian Army. But I need the soldiers of the Canadian Army to continue to be our best ambassadors by going out and every day, making sure they're excellent at their job, making sure they're professional, making sure they're mentally and physically resilient so that we can show the Canadian government the importance of having a Canadian Army that's strong, proud, and ready.

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Capt Orton: All right. Well, thanks so much, sir, for coming on the podcast and telling us about what's going on.

LGen Wright: Okay, thank you, Adam.

Capt Orton: That was Lieutenant-General Mike Wright, who is the Commander of the Canadian Army. I'm Captain Adam Orton for the Canadian Army Podcast. Orton out.

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