Our doctrine is getting better, but still suffers from being too repetitive, too long, and too laden with valueless material and images. It seems that, if it doesn't start of with a diagram displaying the spectrum of conflict, it isn't doctrine. It'd be instructive to go back to the CAMT series of manuals produced in the 1950s and 60s to see what accurate, brief, and concise doctrine publications look like.
The USMC MCDP-series remains the benchmark for doctrinal publications. They are well written, instructive in what doctrine should be (establishing the foundation), and relatively short. The fact that they are still in use by the USMC 30 years after being published is a testament to the strength of these documents. Compare this to the US Army, which has rewritten its capstone publication FM 100-5/FM 3-0/ADP 3-0 six times in the same time span.
I find it interesting that we are reopening Cbt Tm in Ops when the last version was published in late 2017. Have combat team operations changed in the last year and half, or did we miss something as an institution? In reality, we (should) have manuals for our various Corps/Branch sub-units and units. Combat Team and Battle Group operations should be covered under a "Canadian Army Combined Arms Operations" manual. Looking at the Table of Contents for both Cbt Tm and BG in Ops lends to this idea (I've also added my commentary in brackets).
BG in Ops:
(1) Understanding the Nature of Land Combat (this is superfluous, and is already described in the capstone pubs)
(2) The Combined Arms Grouping
(3) Employing the Battle Group (this is mostly stuff already covered in the Land Ops pub)
(4) Commanding the Battle Group on Operations
(5) Sustaining the Battle Group
(6) Offensive Operations
(7) Defensive Operations
(8 ) Stability Operations
(9) Enabling Operations
(10) Specific Operations in Unique Environments (This can be covered in manuals on these specific environments)
Cbt Tm in Ops:
(1) Command and Control
(2) Offensive Operations
(3) Defensive Operations
(4) Stability Operations
(5) Enabling Operations
(6) Cbt Tm Sustainment
(7) Hides, Harbours, and Waiting Areas
Looking at this, you could probably write a "Canadian Army Combined Arms Operations" publication with the following chapters:
(1) Combined Arms Grouping
(2) Command of Combined Arms
(3) Combined Arms Offensive Operations
(4) Combined Arms Defensive Operations
(5) Combined Arms Enabling Operations
(6) Combined Arms Stability Operations
(7) Combined Arms Sustainment
What's important is that the manual should be brief, no more than 200 pages. If you keep it short, then you can have a realistic expectation of requiring Captains and Majors to know it cold. One of the problems is that all of our doctrinal publications are tomes, and because they are lengthy and repetitive, they are rarely read and understood - not a good sign for the profession. A good way to get rid of this is to get rid of the constant stream of "principles" and "fundamentals" which are fun for multiple choice tests of knowledge, but don't really add to knowledge and only take up space with needless adjectives....
As for your initial thoughts:
There will also be a "Degraded Ops" chapter which will account for things like EW, and maybe CBRN and operating without air superiority. (shouldn't this be in Land Ops?)
The defence portion needs to be fleshed out more and made less conceptual (agreed - the conceptual is for Land Ops, the prescriptive, for the Arms pubs)
It requires a chapter on direct fire control (not sure if its needs a chapter, but perhaps a section in the command chapter)
The seven step KZ development drill must be enshrined in it (drills should go in the SOP publication)
TTPs or templates for forms of maneuver other than frontal and flanking need to be discussed, such as how do we bypass (infiltrate)? (TTPs/templates should go in the SOP publication)
TTPs or templates for operations other than hasty attacks, such as defensive occupation, withdrawal, link up, etc. The British standard orders cards are an interesting example of these. (TTPs/templates should go in the SOP publication)
An emphasis on being able to execute battle procedure rapidly (yes, but this is more appropriate in the new B-GL-335-001 Decision Making and Planning at the Tactical Level)
A better discussion on where to dismount (agreed)
Put Reserve Demo Guard back in (agreed)
Time estimates for Off, Def, and enabling ops (agreed)
Staff data to support things like time estimates (agreed)
Guidance on how to integrate sub sub units from different nations (or perhaps a multinational operations publication is more appropriate?)
A more explicit discussion on the roles and responsibilities of the Coy 2IC, SSM, Coy CQ and Tpt Sgt in the A1 and A2 echelons (yes)
A discussion on the factors that drive the composition of the echelons, particularly ammo storage. (yes)
Remove some of the more technical artillery pieces (yes, that can go in the Battery publication)
Revise the Merry Up Checklist to include a few other items such as mission specific rehearsals (checklists should be in the SOP publication)
Formations, their adv and disadv (yes)
Night ops (ok - as it pertains to combined arms grouping I guess)
In essence, a Combined Arms publication should provide the fundamentals for putting together and employing all arms of the Canadian Army. Higher order operational stuff should go in the capstone publications of
B-GL-300-000 Canada's Army and
B-GL-300-001 Land Operations, while lower order TTPs, templates, and checklists should go in
B-GL-334-001 SOPs for Land Operations.