ABSTRACT
Unlike many militaries in Europe, the Canadian Forces (CF) have no union or representative association. Although two separate studies have shown that more than one-third of military members think positively about forming a union (Bradley and Charbonneau 2004; Deneumoustier 1971) there has traditionally been little movement toward any form of associationship within Canada’s military. While there is no formal ‘contract’ between the CF and the government of Canada, an informal social contract has appeared to be successful in maintaining the status quo. Critics of the social contract argue that the agreement is one-sided. Specifically, the responsibilities of the member to Canada are well defined in the National Defence Act and Queen’s Regulations and Orders, but there is ‘no such articulation of the responsibilities of the Government of Canada to the men and women of the CF’ (Milner 1998: 10).
