OTTAWA -- The number of Canadian peacekeepers deployed on United Nations missions has reached a new low, despite repeated promises by the Trudeau government to increase Canada's contributions.

The latest UN figures show that Canada had just 43 peacekeepers deployed on missions at the end of December, down from 62 in November.

The new figure comes despite the Liberal government having promised in August 2016 to make up to 600 Canadian soldiers and 150 police officers available for future peacekeeping missions.

Canada had 112 peacekeepers in the field at the time of that promise, but rather than going up, the numbers have been steadily dropping and are currently at their lowest point since the 1950s.

The Liberals did announce late last year that Canada was offering helicopters, transport aircraft, a 200-strong rapid-response force and dozens of trainers to the UN for peacekeeping.

But details on where and when those commitments will be deployed remain a subject of negotiations between the two sides, with no clear timeline for when a decision will be made.