Marc,

After reading the article, and cogitating a bit, I don't think this is anything particularly serious. The rise seems to be in minor infractions, handled at company level. In the US Army these would be Article 15s. The big rise (if I read correctly) is in AWOLs - which could be nothing more than a few hours or a day late in reporting back to duty after leave.

Another aspect, as one commenter pointed out, is the transition form peacetime army to wartime army - guaranteed to surface problems, which diminish over time.

Given the historic record of the Canadian forces, and their current performance in Afghanistan, I don't think there is anything to worry about.