According to the Ottawa Citizen’s David Pugliese, the prime minister’s office directed defence minister Peter MacKay to “find a new role for the Canadian Forces at Goose Bay”.
The PMO sent letters to MacKay in January and again in June.
“As part of this process, you will need to include options and recommendations to establish a clear sovereignty protection mandate for 5 Wing Goose Bay,” Harper told MacKay in his June letter.
-srbp-
As a general background on 444 Squadron at Goose Bay, here is the text of a question posed in the House of Commons by member of parliament Marc Garneau and the reply from defence minister Peter MacKay dated June 19, 2012:
Marc Garneau Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC : With regard to 444 Combat Support Squadron: (a) how many aircraft were in the squadron on April 10, 2012; (b) how many aircraft were in the squadron on April 12, 2012; (c) is the aircraft which the Minister of National Defence references in his press release of April 12, 2012, an aircraft allocation which was not previously present at the squadron, or is it the restoration of an aircraft allocation which was previously seconded to other duties; (d) if the aircraft referenced in (c) was previously seconded to other duties, what were the nature and duration of those duties; (e) what is the mandate of the squadron; (f) in what orders, instructions, or other documents is that mandate set out; (g) what is the date or what are the dates of those orders, instructions, or other documents; and (h) did the mandate of 444 Squadron change at any point during the present calendar year, and if so, what was the nature and date of any such change in the mandate?
Peter MacKay Minister of National Defence: Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), on April 10, 2012, 444 Squadron had two CH-146 Griffon aircraft on strength.
With regard to (b), on April 12, 2012, 444 Squadron had three CH-146 Griffon aircraft on strength.
With regard to (c), the aircraft that the Minister of National Defence references in his press release of April 12, 2012, has restored 444 Squadron to the full establishment of three helicopters for which it was originally created.
With regard to (d), in October 2005, a CH-146 Griffon was transferred from 444 Combat Support Squadron to 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron, 8 Wing Trenton. The Griffon referenced in (c) was transferred to 424 Squadron to support the CH-149 Cormorant search and rescue fleet when it was recognized that the Cormorant fleet was not able to sustain primary search and rescue operations at four main operating bases alone. CH-146 Griffons continue to be stationed at 424 Squadron to support search and rescue. The aircraft that is now being used to provide a third CH-146 Griffon to 444 Combat Support Squadron was provided by 438 Tactical Aviation Squadron, Saint-Hubert.
With regard to (e), (f) and (g), the mandate of 444 Combat Support Squadron is to provide support to air operations at 5 Wing Goose Bay. This role is set out in Canadian Forces Organization Order 7697, dated October 18, 2001, which superseded Canadian Forces Organization Order 2.2.5.2, dated May 15, 1993.
The roles, tasks and responsibilities of a combat support squadron are further defined by the operational document 3010-7, A3 Tactical Aviation Readiness, Concept of Operations--Combat Support Capability, dated March 25, 2002. This document provides that combat support squadron roles are as follows: primary role, to provide rapid search and rescue response to air emergencies resulting from local military flying operations; secondary role, to provide administrative and utility airlift in support of Wing operations; and tertiary role, to provide national secondary search and rescue and civil assistance capabilities.
In its tertiary role, a combat support squadron can be expected to respond within 12 hours of notification. However, within the context of the Canadian Forces search and rescue response, this does not imply a mandated response posture. Such secondary search and rescue resources are considered for assistance only when circumstances permit, and are not accountable to the search and rescue system for the provision of a dedicated resource.
With regard to (h), the mandate of 444 Combat Support Squadron has remained to provide support to air operations at 5 Wing Goose Bay.
-srbp-
From David Pugliese at the Ottawa Citizen:
■ Military housing at Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg will be shut down.
The story appeared on April 11.
Biggest take away from that right up front is that all those Conservative promises for the last half dozen years about Goose Bay remain the total bullshit they always were.
Someone should ask Leo Abbass, John Hickey and other federal Conservative backers all about that. After all, if DND sheds all that housing, that battalion or the UAV squadron or all the other BS that Leo and John campaigned for just isn’t showing up.
Then someone should contact local developers and see what a sudden dump of good affordable housing will do to the local market.
Potentially very good for consumers.
Likely not so good for speculators.
- srbp -
or just full of it?
Leo Abbass on news that no one wants to use Goose Bay as a supersonic flight training venue:
“From what we were told the base has a bright future, they're working to come up with that operational requirement,” Abbass told CBC News. “As long as they're working towards that, I'm content with that.”
For the record, you don;t have to work at finding an “operational requirement”. It is usually so friggin’ obvious that only an idiot couldn’t find it.
Anything else would be bullshit.
A big, steaming pile of it, in fact.
Now this is not the first time that Leo has soft-pedalled a failure by his political friends to deliver on yet another of their promises to Goose Bay.
Leo’s boundless optimism about Leo’s federal friends is understandable. Their promises are sure, after all. Goose Bay doesn’t need flight training, what with those hundreds of soldiers now living and working in Goose Bay.
Or not.
And when he wasn’t cheering one crowd, Leo was changing his position from one deal to another. The second one is the favoured one of Leo’s buddies.
Their promises are sure, too.
Nor is it the first time he has been rather obviously full of crap.
Leo Abbass: partisan hypocrite or just full of shit?
Take your pick.
There’s no difference in the two.
- srbp -
Anyone following the ongoing saga of the Goose Bay air base could hardly be surprised to find out that no one is interested in supersonic flight training in the Big Land.
People have been chasing after this idea for years, just as they have been trying for years to keep the military in Goose Bay. They are trying not because Goose bay is militarily relevant but because some people want to keep public money flowing into the town. Go back to February 2005 and you will find a post here at SRBP on exactly that idea of trying to keep the town firmly on the public tit.
So seven years later, the future of Goose Bay remains the same: not with the military.
When will the provincial and federal governments, and some of the people in Goose Bay get the message?
Seems like they are all – like the provincial Liberals – destined to be clueless on this issue.
- srbp -
The Department of National Defence will freeze the size of the Regular Force and sell off property in an effort to cut spending and control budgets, according to David Pugliese.
The man knows what he is talking about.
Take it as a given that this is what DND is planning to do.
You can also take it as a given that one of the properties on the block is Goose Bay.
Liberal Sen. Colin Kenny said closing bases and selling off surplus property is essential since unwanted or underused facilities are costing the military hundreds of millions of dollars annually to maintain. Up to 25 per cent of DND’s facilities, some of which date back to the Second World War, could be sold or shut down, said Kenny, the former chairman of the senate’s defence committee.
He said Goose Bay in Newfoundland and Labrador is a good example of a site that has become redundant to military needs.
“It’s been kept alive by political pressure,” Kenny noted, “and it’s costing millions to keep operating.”
He said any closure should be accompanied by a financial package to help communities and workers involved and money from the sale of properties should be funnelled back into the defence budget.
People in Goose Bay will get their knickers in a knot. Provincial politicians will beat their chests and spit and foam and stamp their feet.
And nobody will notice that DND has been down this road before and never sold off bits of stuff he was supposed to sell.
Like the airfield at Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia.
In the 1990s, DND figured out it didn’t need the Shearwater base that was home to the Canadian Force’s maritime helicopter fleet. So they proposed to sell off the airport and all the prime real estate that went with it. The helicopters would move to Greenwood out in the Annapolis valley.
Eventually.
Well, 15 years later, the only bit of the old Shearwater that isn’t still owned by National Defence is one runway. Everything else is still where it was.
And the taxpayers of Canada are still pumping cash into upgrading and repairing and refurbishing one of the oldest air bases in the country.
Now, to be sure, Shearwater still has an operational purpose. While the air force could have moved it’s helicopters out to Greenwood, having the helicopters at Eastern passage makes it just a wee bit easier to marry them up with the navy when the ships deploy. In fine weather you can fly the Sea Kings on or off the ships. If the weather is crappy, you can just bring the ships alongside the Shearwater jetty and winch them on or off.
Goose Bay, on the other hand, simply has no operational purpose for the Canadian Forces.
Still, if you dig around the records of previous efforts to sell off all the surplus military infrastructure, you are bound to find an example that fits the Goose Bay situation.
You see, as much as DND will talk about selling off places like Goose Bay, the odds are it will never happen.
As much as it makes sense, the politicians can’t afford to let it happen.
- srbp -
Once upon a time, the federal Conservatives promised the good people of Happy Valley-Goose bay that their airport would once again be the scene of major military activity.
Battalions of infantry soldiers and fleets of unmanned flying contraptions., none of which appeared despite promises and assurances and wild claims from everyone including the Pavement Putin of the Permafrost that these things were on the way.
Fast forward to a Conservative majority, including Peter Penashue as the member for Labrador and the man with a federal cabinet seat.
Now Penashue is merely assuring the people of Labrador there’ll be no more cuts at the Goose Bay base.
As Voice of the Cabinet Minister reported Penashue’s speech to a St. John’s Rotary club:
There will be no cuts to 5-Wing Goose Bay. So says the federal
minister responsible for Newfoundland and Labrador, Peter Penashue. He says the federal defence minister, Peter MacKay, told him there will
be no change this year.
But here’s the thing people in Labrador might ponder: is that promise of no cuts as reliable as the promise of infinite riches?
- srbp -
Our man in Menihek.
The Pavement Putin of the Permafrost.
Currently the Labrador affairs minister and reputedly wannabe Conservative candidate in the next federal election.
Well, he may not be seen anywhere other than the A&W in Goose Bay for breakfast but certainly no one has heard from him on a CBC story that the Department of National Defence isn’t interested in spending any more cash on sustaining the infrastructure at Goose Bay beyond what they need.
Funny that Hickey is so silent. In 2006, for example he was adamant that the fine people of Goose Bay could count on the promises of his political pals in Ottawa. Here’s what he said in the House of Assembly in April 2006:
Although there was some fearmongering [sic] going around the community and there were some moments there last week when people were not really sure, I want to commend the new Minister of National Defence, Minster Gordon O’Connor, for coming out publicly on Monday morning and reconfirming the commitment that he made to the people of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, that he made recently to Premier Williams in Ottawa, and the commitment that Prime Minister Harper made to our Province in a letter that he wrote to the Premier during the election. The commitment is there, Mr. Speaker, it is solid, 650 troops on the ground. We are going to see an army base there with an extra 100 support troops for a UAV squadron. This is fantastic news, Mr. Speaker, for the Town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay and for the
District of Lake Melville.
Fantastic news of the glories to be delivered onto the fine people of the Big Land by John’s Big Friends.
Anything to the contrary was fear-mongering.
Five years later?
Fantastical nothingness.
In fact, the likelihood of the federal Conservatives delivering even the promise to promise something vaguely like they’ve been promising is so remote at this point that some of the local movers and shakers in Labrador are thinking about trying to press the federal Conservatives for the loan guarantee on Muskrat in lieu of the numerous lavish and thus far unfulfilled pledges to bring riches to Goose Bay via National Defence.
- srbp -
The guy who liked to recycle expense claims (in one case three times) and who serves in an administration renowned for recycling announcements (in some cases as many as eight times) is criticising another politician for supposedly recycling announcements.
Oh yeah and to make it even funnier, this same guy campaigned not once but twice for the guys he now criticises and he’d-a-been out there a third and fourth time if his boss hadn’t told him he couldn’t.
Can you say “credibility gap”, boys and girls?
Maybe he’d have been waving around a signed contract for the feds to help pave the Trans-Labrador Highway.
Speaking of HMV, where exactly is that lawsuit against Roger Grimes, John Hickey? If memory serves, Hickey was suing Grimes for something Danny Williams actually said.
Now there’s a brilliant law suit for you.
By the by, who is stunneder in that case: the guy who gave the advice to sue or the guy who took it and wound up paying the bill out of his own pocket?
Tough call.
Oh yes, and this latest release recycling news release is itself recycled.
-srbp-
The federal government will spend $300 million for environmental clean-up at 5 Wing Goose Bay. The clean-up project will end in 2020.
The clean-up is being touted as an economic boost to the town in addition to the obvious environmental value.
"This significant investment benefits the Wing, contributes to the economic foundation of the community and mitigates risk to human health and the environment," MacKay, who visited the base Sunday, said in a news release.
Liberal member of parliament Todd Russell sees the clean-up as a prelude to shutting the military base. Russell is quoted by the Ottawa Citizen’s David Pugliese:
"When governments clean up they're looking to clear out," he said.
The defence minister’s spokesman, Dan Dugas, denies the claim according to Pugliese:
Dugas said Goose Bay continues to play an important role in the Canadian Forces operations. "We believe in the base," he added.
Dugas noted that around $100 million a year is spent annually operating the base. In addition, $20 million was recently spent on improving runways there.
-srbp-
Over at the redesigned voice of the cabinet minister website, there is now audio with just about every short news clip. In some cases there’s a bit of video.
In the story on a news release from opposition leader Yvonne Jones, the audio clip is from Dave ‘Sentence Fragments” Denine, the intergovernmental affairs minister.
Denine got scooped by the opposition, but never let it be said that VO didn’t make sure the CM got his own words on a story.
But that just raises another bunch of questions.
Denine’ s the guy who should have been talking about the fact the federal Conservatives aren’t delivering on their 2005 promise. After all, that’s the government talking point to try and deflect attention from the fact that most of them bought the Connie bullshit umpteen times after 2005.
For an opposition party, reminding Denine and the rest of that fact would be the logical starting point.
They could drag in John Hickey, the minister for Labrador Affairs who campaigned a couple of times on the bogus battalion alongside his federal Connie cousins.
And if all else failed, they’d could now tee off on Denine and Hickey for failing utterly to hold the federal Connies feet to the fire, to use that horrid phrase.
Instead, Jones goes after Stephen Harper as if she was a federal politician.
All is not lost in the local opposition world.
Jones now has the chance to go headlong at the local crowd. Denine – obviously knowing nothing at all about the military - refers to a bunch of buildings constructed decades ago for the air force as “first-class” infrastructure for the army. He then tells VOCM that he’ll be going back and have a chat with the federales to see where Goose Bay fits in.
Hint: it doesn’t.
Jones could be pinging political hit after political hit against the skulls of two incompetent cabinet ministers for building up false hopes in the people of Goose Bay when they should have known - and should now know – much better.
Shame on Dave and John, should be her line.
Shame on Steve is just too easy, too obvious and totally meaningless locally.
People around these parts - especially Bond Papers readers - already knew not to trust the federal Connies on the bullshit battalions.
All Denine does in his voice clip is pretend the promise is real.
Just wait until the ABC Leader gets back.
-srbp-
The new battalion of soldiers promised to Goose Bay by the always-desperate federal Conservatives way back in 2005 does not exist.
The Connies promised it several times after that.
But it does not exist.
It never has existed.
In a recent letter to the provincial government, National Defence Minister Peter Mckay [sic] confirmed that the federal government will not be making any investments into their rapid response battalion or additional troop deployment at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Goose Bay, says Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones.
The June 3rd letter is written to Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dave Denine and states, “Goose Bay was never considered as an option for the territorial battalion group” and “…the army currently has no planned investment in Goose Bay”. This is in direct contrast with the 2006 election commitment of Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he stated that a new rapid reaction army battalion of approximately 650 personnel would be established at CFB Goose Bay and that these plans would result in a significant increase in employment in the Goose Bay area.
Hands up anyone out there who is surprised by this?
See there.
That fellow in the back of the room there needs to be reading Bond Papers.
Regular readers had the scoop four years ago and hopefully didn’t fall for yet another ludicrous political promise - unlike some provincial Conservatives - in any of the federal elections since.
-srbp-
Goose Bay might soon be home to an unspecified number of CF-18 Hornets, according to David Pugliese.
Lots of anger there as you can see, although I don’t know how shocked they could be since I’ve reporting since April 2007 that the recommendation from CANSOFCOM is that JTF2 should move to Trenton.
So will anything ever be done about Goose Bay? I’m told a plan might be in the works to station a small number of CF-18s at the base for Northern sovereignty patrols. That would have a double impact in the sense it would show the Conservative government is acting on its commitments to defend Arctic sovereignty while at the same time doing something for Goose Bay.
It probably doesn’t make military sense but it would indeed be “win win” for the Conservatives and get people off the government’s back on the Goose Bay issue. No word, however, on when this might happen and whether it will even get beyond the planning stages (who knows what the bean counters are going to say on the cost of this proposal).
-srbp-
