The thing is, that not everyone in the CAF will be trained on the new handgun. Trades such as Fin Clerks, Cooks, Air Frame techs, MSE Ops etc, etc will never handle one. It will be mostly MPs and Combat Arms trades that will get the training.

Take an Air Force Base for example, MPs are the only personnel carrying sidearms. Base Defence Force personnel are armed with long guns when they are required to perform during an emergency.

Some things change Jack and some things remain the same....The only armed personnel on any domestic base are MP's. No one else, except those on a range will have ammunition. Some air force units will have an integral armoury (i.e., Tac Hel Sqns) with the most current firearms available to the CF. Air base armament sections will have the most current firearms on hand in order to provide weapons for training and to deployed air force units (transport/maritime/fighter squadrons). A table of organization and establishment will determine who is armed with what weapon................In Afghanistan, many if not most support trades carried handguns, at the most junior rank levels. Much has changed over the years. Occupation is not necessarily a factor.....

Base Defense is old terminology............now coined Force Protection, with a broader mandate.

I guess there have been a lot of changes since I retired in 1987.:)

I was under the impression the CF have been carrying the Sig226 for several years now. Was that just a limited purchase for clerks visiting the Tim Hortons in Afghanistan?

I hope this decision doesn't last my whole life like the sea king fiasco.

Time for the 1911 to make a come back. My vote.

Stopped Jerry and ole Hirohito Dead in there tracks , without the 1911s in American boys hands , Australia and India would have been over run .... Ghandi wouldn't have been a pacifist and No more kangaroos ..... And the beacheads at Anzio and Normandy would have been pushed back into the sea . Hmmmm doubtful the Muricans would have even made it at Torch

MURICA

The Sigs we currently have are nearing the end of their service life. Parts are getting harder and harder to get due lack of in the system.
Whatever the pistol we get will be manufactured by Colt at Colt Canada.
No plastic or polymer.

Everything in the cf takes forever to get new equipment.
When I joined in the late 80s did was driving armoured vehicles older than me built in 1966 retired the lynx in 1993.

Before I joined the Reg Force (RCAF), I drove a Sherman Tank with the KOCRs. Reg Force Army was driving Centurion tanks then.