The Tutor served as the Canadian Forces primary jet trainer until it was replaced by the CT-155 Hawk and CT-156 Harvard II in 2000. The CL-41G model supplied to Malaysia was built as a ground-attack aircraft. The Tutor is currently still used by the Snowbirds aerobatics team.

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In September 1961, the Canadian government ordered 190 examples of the production variant, CL-41A for the RCAF as the CT-114 Tutor. The Tutor served for over thirty years as a primary trainer. In 1976, the Canadian Forces modified 113 remaining aircraft with upgraded avionics and provisions for two belly-mounted 41 US gal (155 l) external fuel tanks.

 

Canadair also developed an armament training and light attack variant, the CL-41G, with an uprated engine and underwing hard points to allow the carriage of external stores (up to 4,000 lbs (1814 kg) of weapons) and drop tanks. In March 1966, the Royal Malaysian Air Force ordered twenty (serials M-22-01 to M22-11) examples of the CL-41G-5 Tebuan (which means Wasp in the Malay language) aircraft as a counter insurgency (COIN) aircraft. The Tebuan entered service in Malaysia in 1967, serving for over twenty years, before being phased out in June 1986 and replaced by the Aermacchi MB-339A.

 

One other variant was developed, the CL-41R which was fitted with an F-104 Starfighter nose as a proposed electronic systems trainer for future RCAF CF-104 pilots. A single airframe (CF-LTX-X) was built but the R model never went into production.