Among OECD countries, Canada has one of the smaller armed forces in absolute terms (66,000 approx.) or on a per capita basis. Our military can do what it has to do in Canada (Olympics) or abroad (Afghanistan) partly because some reservists leave their regular jobs for active duty for periods ranging from a few months to almost two years.

A recent paper released by the C.D. Howe Institute recommends that Canada follow in the footsteps of the U.K. and Australia and provide compensation to employers, for example, with respect to the costs of finding replacements or retraining reservists upon their return.

An overwhelming majority of CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS business panel advocate government compensation for employers who lose employees in the reserves to active duty. Panelists feel this way strongly both in fairness to employers who experience disruption and to employees in the reserves so that they do not have to fear discrimination in the regular job market.

Opinion is more divided about whether our regular armed forces should be expanded in size.

These are the key findings from this past week’s Internet survey of CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel. The weekly business survey is undertaken for Canadian Business magazine under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.

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