The cuts will halve training programs for the naval reserves. (CBC)

Canada's naval reserves are facing a five per cent budget cut, CBC News has learned.

The $3-million rollback will affect sailors based in Nova Scotia.

The cut, which the navy describes as a "re-allocation," will be announced in a couple of weeks, but reserve personnel have been told what to expect.

Training exercises will be hit the hardest.

Commander Tim Gijzen, a spokesman for the reserve, said Thursday that "50 per cent of training will be cut."

The reduction will apply to every trade and every job, he said.

In May, Canada's Marine Command ordered half of the navy reserves' coastal patrol vessels to be tied up to save money.

A navy spokeswoman told CBC News at the time that a shortage of money and sailors would force Canada's navy to mothball half its fleet of 12 coastal vessels used to patrol the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Walter Natynczyk, the chief of defence staff, reversed that order within hours of the story being broadcast.

He said he wasn't aware of the order to mothball the ships.

Gijzen confirmed Thursday that of the 12 coastal vessels under scrutiny, only seven are able to go to sea, as the reserves don't have enough sailors or money to crew the other five.

Although the naval reserve cuts are approved and weeks away, Natynczyk was sending a different message Wednesday.

"I want to say the reserves do a great job," he said. "As part of the Canada-first policy, we are actually growing the reserves."