The Conservative government has unveiled another step in its program to reconnect the Canadian Armed Forces with their British roots.

National Defence Minister Peter MacKay has announced the army will ditch the maple leaf rank designators used on officers' shoulder boards in favour of the "pips" and crowns the Brits use to tell lieutenants (that's leff-tennant, not lou-tennant) from colonels, The Canadian Press reports.

The army's non-commissioned officers and below will also be referred to by their original British Army and Commonwealth rank designations, CP says.

So the American-style private will give way to ranks such as trooper, bombardier, rifleman or guardsman, depending on the type of unit, CP reports.

"Our government is committed to honouring the traditions and history of the Canadian Army," MacKay said in a news release. "The restoration of these historical features will encourage the esprit de corps of our soldiers and reinforce a rich military tradition that will continue to develop as they serve their country."

Other changes include doing away with bland designations for the army's regional Canadian commands in favour of their historic division names, CP said.

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The changes are detailed in this National Defence backgrounder.

The Conservatives have been obsessed with reconnecting Canadians to the country's martial past, stretching back to the War of 1812. The ranks and designators being reintroduced were in use during the military's glory days of the First and Second World Wars. They disappeared during the Liberals' program of unifying the separate branches of the armed forces in the late 1960s.

The Conservatives have revived the royal designations for the navy, air force and infantry and tweaked naval protocols to jibe with traditional Royal Navy, CP noted.

MacKay defended the changes, saying they don't erode the army's Canadian identity but instead reinforce ties to its storied past.

"This takes nothing away from the Maple Leaf," he said, according to CP. "There are other places which the Maple Leaf is honoured. This in no way diminishes Canadian identity, and I would suggest we are returning to the insignia that was so much a part of what the Canadian Army accomplished in Canada's name."

Globe and Mail business columnist Michael Babad saw some irony in the fact the Conservatives are re-embedding some British traditions in the armed forces just as the British have imported former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney to run the troubled Bank of England and Newfoundlander Moya Greene, former Canada Post CEO, to head the Royal Mail. And Normand Boivin, who used to run Montreal Dorval Airport, has been running London's Heathrow Airport since 2011, Babad noted.

Liberal defence critic John McKay told CP he was puzzled by Conservatives' fixation of what is essentially military window dressing, when the armed forces are facing serious issues.

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The forces are wrestling with budget cuts, while veterans groups say the government is short-changing former soldiers suffering from wounds or mental problems resulting from their service.

The defence minister said veterans cherish these changes in their hearts. But here's been no "hue an cry" within the army to revert to the old system of ranks, McKay, the Liberal critic, told CP. They might even offend immigrants – especially those from countries with negative experiences of British colonial rule — at a time when the military would like its ranks to better reflect the country's multicultural diversity.

"It is an announcement that is not substantive," said McKay. "And I am not unmindful they would love to expunge anything Liberal out of Canadian history."