Significant investments are taking place at one of the largest operational military bases in Canada, located in Renfrew County.
Colonel John Vass, the Commander of the 4th Canadian Division Support Group at Garrison Petawawa provided an update to members of County Council at the inaugural meeting on December 14th, 2021.
Vass says with the only fleet of Chinooks in Canada and elements of the disaster assistance response team located in Petawawa, members are called out often to support missions around the world, often times on short notice.
Vass talked about how local troops have been deployed to Latvia, Ukraine, Iraq and assisted with evacuation efforts of Canadians from Afghanistan. The Commander of the 4th Canadian Division Support Group says they’ve also supported domestic operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and assisted with the water crisis in Northern Ontario.
Colonel Vass also shared some of the large scale projects that have recently been completed or are currently underway at Garrison Petawawa.
- Royal Canadian Dragoons moved into a new 10,000 square meter facility in September ($85-million).
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Canadian Special Operations Regiment facility currently being built which includes 10 buildings over 50,000 square meters on an 88-acre site ($350-million).
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Health facility for uniformed members to be opened in April ($45-million).
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New Petawawa Family Military Resource Centre ($42-million).
- Communications and Information Systems building ($29-million).
Plans are also in the works to construct a new roundabout at the entrance to the base. Colonel Vass says a lot of local subcontractors can take advantage of work that needs to be done in a short period of time.
Garrison Petawawa employs 6,000 uniformed members of the Canadian Armed Forces and another 1,000 civilians.
