I was an officer for a couple years in the military. 

 Canada has extremely well trained officers and senior NCOs. As good or better per capita as any In the world.

The numbers in the article are neither low or high. What matters is having a infrastructure in place that can respond to policy as determined by the Minister of Defence…be that major war, emergency services, etc.

An aside: ranks only have meaning in relation to one another. At the L Colonel and above appointments mean more  than ranks.