Army strenght beween 65 and 70

[onecat]

I've been some research and haven't reallyfound the info i was looking for so I was hoping to maybe find it here.  I was interested in knowing the reg strenght of army in the mid to late 60's and then into the early 70's?  Before a lot of Liberal down sizing took place.  I the Black Watch was a reg unit til the 70's, but how many battalions did they have was it 3 like today or maybe 4?  Any other info would be cool as well, i find this is a really hard time to get facts on.

Thanks

 

[Gunner98]

Page 117-118 of J.L. Granatstein's "Who killed the Canadian Military?" states, "The strength of the CF fell between 1968 and 1974 by 17,000 all ranks to approx. 80,000."

Excerpt from Web page - http://www.blackwatchcanada.com/en/regs.htm
The formation and reinforcement of NATO in 1949-1951, and the beginning of the conflict in Korea in 1950 added further urgency to the peace-time armed forces of Canada which were expanded in these contexts, and in the wider one of the "cold war", to over 120,000 personnel. Of these, some 5,400 officers and 44,600 other ranks were in the Army.

Disaster struck the regiment in 1969. IN that year it was decided to combine the resources of six existing Regular Force regiments to form three regiments of three battalions each. The seniority of The Black Watch in the order of battle as a regular force unit only went back as far as 1953 in an unbroken lineage and therefore suffered under the government ax. The 1st and 2nd Battalions were reduced to nil strength and the combined manpower was amalgamated to form the new 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment on 1 July 1970. Once again the regiment was survived by its Militia battalion, the 3rd at the time, in Montreal.

The 1971 White Paper was entitled Defence in the 70s.   Subsequent White Papers are critiqued at:
http://www.thewednesdayreport.com/articles/historical/historical-2004-3.htm

Summer 2003 Canadian Military Journal has an article on Defence in 70s White Paper found at:
www.journal.forces.gc.ca/ engraph/Vol4/no2/pdf/v4n2-p19-30_e.pdf

 

[Gunner98]

Another source:
Canada's National Defence: Volume 1 Defence Policy Edited by Douglas L. Bland
http://www.mqup.mcgill.ca/book.php?bookid=168

 

[Michael OLeary]

The attracting of recruits [for the Canadian Forces] has not been very difficult, mainly because of the few vacancies in the Defence Force. General J. A. Dextraze, the outgoing Chief of Defence Staff, has been pressing hard for several, years to get the manpower ceiling raised from 78,000 to at least 83,000 The overstretch of the Force has caused some loss of morale, peacekeeping forces require a high proportion of specialists which leaves other operational units short staffed. The Minister of Defence appears to agree to the necessity of the increase but so far funds have not been made available. - Colonel Norman L. Dodd, The Defence of Canada, The Army Quarterly and Defence Journal, Vol. 108, No. 1, January 1978

There is no doubt that the [Canadian] military, until a short time ago, have not, had the support they deserve. Equipment has become elderly and sometimes obsolete and the manpower allocation has been insufficient. The upheaval caused by the passing of the Canadian Forces Reorganization of Act of 1 February 1968 caused a drop in efficiency and in the effectiveness of the Command and Control of the forces which has only been restored recently with the functioning of the new commands. Under the Act, the Navy, Army and Air Force ceased to exist as legal entities and between 1968 and 1973 the total regular armed forces strength was' reduced from 120,780 to 82,000. By 1977 the total was only 78,000, far too small to meet all the requirements placed upon them.
    The reorganization was carried out in two phases, the first was termed "integration" and involved the grouping of the former services under a common command structure and the second, "unification", was the creation of a single service. All members were issued with the same uniform and came under the control of a single personnel branch. The common uniform is still worn although it is noticeable that various embellishments and titles have started to appear. - Colonel Norman L. Dodd, The Defence of Canada, The Army Quarterly and Defence Journal, Vol. 108, No. 1, January 1978

 

[fredinsic]

In the same time line the 1ST Battalion Queens Own Rifles of Canada was dispanded and the formation of the 3Rd Battalion PPCLI was formed, this was another back day in Canadain Military History, The Regiment still lives on with the 3rd Battalion in Ontario.