MacKay announces $6M in infrastructure spending for Alberta military bases

EDMONTON - Defence Minister Peter MacKay was in Edmonton Saturday to announce a number of funding projects, including nearly $6 million in upgrades to aging infrastructure in Edmonton and other Canadian Forces bases in Alberta.

?We, as a government, have a responsibility to ensure that our forces have the proper tools that they need to do the important work that we ask of them: The equipment, the infrastructure, and the programs that support them,? MacKay said at CFB Edmonton.

MacKay announced a $4.6-million contract to upgrade sanitary and storm sewer systems at CFB Edmonton. The contract, which went to Edmonton?s Sprague-Rosser Contracting Co. Ltd., is designed to prevent sewer back-ups in military quarters, especially for those living on base with their families. It will also see a new stormwater sewer system installed where none existed before.

MacKay also announced a $1.28-million contract for inspection, testing and maintenance of fire-protection systems at Canadian Forces Bases Cold Lake, Suffield and Wainwright. That contract went to Tyco International of Canada Ltd. and Simplex Grinnell of Mississauga, Ont.

He said these investments are only the start of what the CFB will be seeing. He noted that Edmonton, which he described as a microcosm for the Canadian Forces as a whole, plays an extremely important role in providing security both home and abroad. The funding reflects Alberta as a priority for military modernization, which he said is currently happening across the country.

?From Wainwright to Suffield to Edmonton to Cold Lake, this is where so much of the important training and preparation takes place and happens for our members of the Canadian Forces.

?Both of these contracts represent the government?s ongoing commitment to make sure that Canadian Forces personnel have the facilities, the infrastructure that they need to live, to work, to train, all the while benefiting local economies.?

Also Saturday, MacKay told reporters that Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors will invest in the University of Alberta to support the establishment of a training program for the aerospace sector. The program, valued at $3.7 million, will be aimed at undergrad and graduate engineering students.

The donation is part of a deal with Lockheed made in 2007, when the government purchased 17 planes from the company. It required Lockheed to reinvest 100 per cent of the contract value in Canada.

MacKay?s day in Edmonton also saw him watch a firecracker parade in Chinatown and to announce $191,000 in funding for the Laurier Heights community league alongside Laurie Hawn, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre. The money, coming from Canada?s Economic Action Plan, will go toward renovations to the league?s park and recreation centre.?

?Anything that we can do is so important in keeping families together and keeping kids on the right track, keeping adults on the right track, giving them something to do that is productive and fun,? Hawn said at the Laurier Heights community league.

?Even $5,000 or $10,000, $20,000, to a local community league can make a huge difference.?

MacKay was asked about reports that funding for military reservists will take a cut in the upcoming federal budget, but he said the reports are exaggerated.

?We have no intention of reducing the readiness of our reservists, just as we are going to continue to prepare our regular force for whatever inevitabilities and whatever challenges may come. That has been the state of intent of our government, who will continue to invest in the Canadian Forces to ensure that it?s a modern, capable and multi-task force for the world.??

aash@edmontonjournal.com

Twitter.com/AmandaAsh

Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F264/~3/egfFpxmG34E/story.html

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