Sure. Well, they were not suspended or eliminated.
I'm glad you asked this question, because reservists are an integral part of the Canadian Forces. They do spectacular work, and most, as you know, have other full-time positions and work in our communities in many different capacities. They're your neighbours, your hockey coaches, your teachers, and your firefighters. They are an integral part of Canadian Forces operations and plans. In some cases, on deployments such as Haiti and Afghanistan, 20% to 30% of the participants come from the reserves.
That being said, as you would expect, commensurate with the tempo of operations, we invest in and train up reservists to fit the need. So when the tempo is high, we need more reservists. When things start to slow down, that also impacts on the number of reservists and the training hours.
As well, adjustments are based on the number of regular forces that we have available. We're in a period of growth and expansion right now in the Canadian Forces. As part of the Canada First defence strategy, we have committed to bringing our entire force to 100,000--with 30,000 reservists and 70,000 regular forces.
I'm pleased to tell this committee--and I know you'd be interested in knowing--we've had a record year in terms of recruiting and retention. That is to say, because of the level of commitment and interest in the Canadian Forces right now--and there is a formula that's applied--attrition is down, retention is up, and record numbers are coming into the forces. This impacts very much on the number of reservists and the budgets committed for training. All of this is calculated by our senior officials within the Canadian Forces to meet the needs.
For your interest, colleagues, we've grown by 2,000 this year alone. That is, our force numbers have actually gone up by 2,000, which is a record year for us.
I want to be very clear that there is no impact on training when it comes to reserves that are deploying into Afghanistan. They receive the same training as regular forces because we expect the same of them when they're in the theatre of operations.
There is, from time to time, impact when financial implications arise, as they do in every budget year. Every effort has been made to ensure that our soldiers' preparation, training, and participation in operations are not affected in that regard. So I can assure you our reservists remain an integral part of all of this planning. Their service to country is remarkable and admirable, and we support them in every way.