By Lee Carter BBC correspondent in Toronto

Canadian troops currently head the Kabul peacekeeping force

The minister, David Pratt, said it was time to scale back Canada's missions in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Defence analysts in Canada say the armed forces have been overstretched and under funded for decades and need to be completely restructured.

A government review of the military is due to be published by the end of 2004.

Limited capabilities

"There comes a point when you have to say, for the sake of your troops, that we're going to take a rest for a while," Mr Pratt said on Sunday.

"Like many of our allies, we do not have a limitless capability.

"We do not have limitless depth, not just in the army, but in the navy and the air force as well, and we want to ensure that the family unit within the Canadian forces remains as stable as it can possibly be," Mr Pratt said.

Canadians are proud of the role their peacekeepers have played around the world.

In the past 10 years those troubled regions have included Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Somalia, Cyprus and Afghanistan.

But with each deployment have come warnings from former generals and defence experts that Canada is not providing adequate funding and resources for these missions.

Mr Pratt's comments are an indication of the way the new Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin, views the role of the country's armed forces.