"The numbers are not as high as we would like. And if we remain on the same trajectory, unfortunately, we can probably anticipate shrinking by another 800," Paul said on Wednesday.
The commander explained that the given number is equivalent to an entire battle group and the situation is raising concern as Canada is increasingly committing to deploy more troops abroad, notably in Latvia, where it pledged to double the size of the current 2,000-service member contingent in light of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.
Paul said he would be traveling to Europe in February to directly address the issue with NATO partners to find the most effective way to improve the situation.
Canada will seek to determine how many troops and equipment it is expected to permanently deploy in Latvia, to better assess what will be kept home, Paul added.
"If we were to generate two battle groups in Latvia, sustained, we cannot do it," Paul said, adding that everything would "break up" once the time comes to reconstitute lost troops.
On October 6, Canada’s Defense Chief of Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre announced sweeping course corrections as the military suffers from significant personnel shortages.
The military has said it plans to have 101,500 staffers, of whom 71,500 would be active soldiers and 30,000 reservists. As of July, Canada's regular force has approximately 63,500 service members.