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Readiness is the term militaries use to describe their ability to do their jobs at a given moment. For the Army, that means being ready to fight.

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

That might not seem important during a time of relative peace, but Eyre says training is essential to ensure the Army can respond whenever and wherever a threat to the country emerges.

“It’s like a hockey team that would never train, never play on the ice together, and then all of a sudden being thrown into an NHL game and be expected to win,” he said in an interview. “You’ve got to keep doing that (training).”

Training has not been affected to a significant degree yet, but Eyre says commanders are “watching closely.” The concern is that disasters often occur in the spring and fall, which are also the Army’s primary training periods.

The Liberal government’s defence policy, unveiled in June 2017, set aside money specifically for brigade-level training, which involves bringing together thousands of soldiers as well as artillery, armoured vehicles and aircraft to simulate a large-scale military operation.

Photo by Corporal Braden Trudeau, Trinity - Formation Imaging Services

Exercise Maple Resolve, as the brigade-level training is called, is conducted at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta in May. That was around the same time last year as more than 2,000 military personnel were helping with floods in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.

“I’m not too worried if we missed it for a year or two,” Eyre said. “But if we missed it, that type of training, for a significant period of time, the cost down the road is where we would pay it.”