Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground - Page 15

dockyards and airfields , along with the new chain of radar stations that would soon be in place to provide early warning of an air attack against North America .

The Department of National Defence ( DND ) needed to work with an organization that could administer and supervise the construction of these facilities . Speaking to the Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada in April 1965 , then-DCL President Alan ( Joe ) Goldworth Bland explained DCL ’ s beginnings :

It had been decided to … spend in the order of $ 100 million in a crash program over two to three years . No existing department or agency was geared to administer such a program and the government resorted to a favourite child of the Honourable C . D . Howe , a Crown corporation , which would operate clear of the Civil Service Act , enlist key people from industry , get into operation quickly , and disband when the crash program had been accomplished . This program represented the largest concentration of federal expenditure to that time in both design and construction .

The birth of Defence Construction Limited At the close of the 1940s , DND ’ s construction needs had been handled by the Canadian Commercial Corporation — an organization without the staff , geographic dispersion or specialized expertise required to handle the extensive program about to be launched . And the Department of Public Works wasn ’ t an option , as it would need two to three years to hire the necessary staff within the government ’ s procedures . But there was little time to create new organizations either , so the government turned to Wartime Housing Limited , another Crown corporation , to provide the administrative structure on which to build what would become Defence Construction Limited ( DCL ).

Being dormant , Wartime Housing didn ’ t have a nationwide construction supervision organization in place — but the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation ( CMHC ) did , so it was brought on board to be DCL ’ s operating and financial agent . This use of CMHC , particularly its personnel and administrative structures , would be a crucial element in early defence construction plans and in establishing DCL as an effective enterprise . At the same time , the government established the Department of Defence Production as a procurement agency for the Canadian military and for foreign countries procuring military supplies from Canadian industry , with C . D . Howe as its new Minister .

By November 1950 , senior personnel in CMHC and the Department of Trade and Commerce were taking active steps to create DCL . On November 22 , Cabinet authorized the name change , created the agreement with CMHC to supply management , supervisory and other services , and provided working capital . In turn , DCL created a staff structure : since the Army , Navy and Air Force each dealt with their own construction needs , an Engineer-in-Charge was created for each of the three services .

Federal officials requested that Richard Golding ( Dick ) Johnson , general manager of the Canadian Construction Association , be loaned to DCL as its first President . When Joe Bland introduced Mr . Johnson at DCL ’ s 25th anniversary dinner , held at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa , he described him as having led from the start . “ He set the standards . He set them high and he showed by personal example that they could be met and that it was fun ,” Joe recalled .

BREAKING NEW GROUND DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA

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