Federal opposition parties are criticizing plans by the Canadian Forces to hire private contractors to train new soldiers to use weapons.

The army is looking for outside help to teach soldiers, drivers and maintenance crews at its Combat Training Centre (CTC) in Gagetown, N.B., as it begins to boost its numbers by 5,000 regular troops and 3,000 reservists.

The successful applicants will have experience in heavy equipment and weapons. Among other things, they will train recruits how to fire the cannon on the army's LAV-III armoured vehicle.

Until now, the army has handled such combat training in-house.

"This will be fairly new ground for us," said Lt.-Col. Steve Strachan, chief of staff at the Gagetown CTC.

He expects the winning contractors to be people who have left or are thinking of leaving the Armed Forces.

"We are anticipating a little risk that some of the people we have on staff now may opt to take their retirement and take some of these positions," Strachan acknowledged.

Nova Scotia MP Peter Stoffer of the New Democratic Party blames a trend that has seen the military privatize areas such as pilot training and medical services.

"They should have the people on board and in-step in order to do it in-house," he said.

"The minute you start giving it over to companies, when does it stop? What's next?"

The Conservative Party doesn't necessarily oppose privatization of government services.

However, defence critic Gordon O'Connor said the army is being forced into this latest move because military budgets have been cut so often and so drastically over the years.