Canada’s auditor general says our country falls short in things like cybersecurity and military recruitment, in a new report released Tuesday.
Karen Hogan says there are “significant gaps” in the government’s cybersecurity services, monitoring and response to attacks.
“As cyber-attacks become more sophisticated, pervasive and harmful, the federal government must continually bolster its defenses,” says Hogan.
The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Communications Security Establishment Canada and Shared Services Canada share the responsibility of protecting government information.
The report says the coordination among the three organizations was not sufficient during active attacks.
“For example, a lack of information sharing, delayed the government’s response to significant cyber-attack in January 2024, allowing the attacker prolonged access to personal information,” adds Hogan.
At the time, a cyber security platform and incident management tool had not received funding.
Military Recruitment, Housing
Another shortcoming highlighted in the report was the lack of recruitment in the Canadian Armed Forces.
“While thousands applied annually, only 1 out of 13 applicants were successfully recruited,” says Hogan. “The Canadian Armed Forces did not always know why applicants abandoned their applications during the recruitment process.”
Hogan adds, there was a challenge of attracting and training highly skilled recruits such as pilots and ammunition technicians.
“It was able to recruit more Indigenous and visible minority members, but the representation of women remained below its goals.”
Ineffective decision making for recruitment and training was also apparent.
Hogan says, gaps found could affect all branches in the military and how they respond to threats, emergencies or conflicts.
According to the report, military housing was also an issue with not enough units to meet the need.
“In spring 2025, there were only 205 residential housing units available, while 3,076 applicants were on the lists,” says Hogan.
CRA
The reports also had shortcomings with the CRA.
Hogan says it only gives accurate answers to general questions just 17 per cent of the time and callers are waiting too long to reach an employee.
In response, the federal government says they have hired more call centre staff since last month.
They are also reviewing call recordings to work toward answering questions accurately.
