Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground | Page 18

Did You Know?
A Crown corporation differs from government departments
in key ways: it’s virtually free from government intervention
in its day-to-day operations, a Board of Directors is
responsible for the stewardship of the Corporation and
overseeing the conduct of operations by the officers and
management, and it has greater flexibility in establishing
its operating policies and practices.
Project: The Pinetree Line
As the Cold War began with its threat of a nuclear-based
conflict, and hostilities in Korea commenced, North
America was faced with the very real possibility of aerial
attack. Canada’s location in the middle of the shortest
aerial routes between the Soviet Union and the United
States, along with our wartime alliance with America,
made it crucial that we be involved in North American
air defence plans.
Negotiations that had begun between Canada and
the United States in the late 1940s came to fruition
on August 1, 1951, when the two nations reached an
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agreement to establish the Pinetree Line of 33 radar
stations roughly along the 50th parallel, just north of the
Canadian-American border.
It was an immense effort of coordination. On the
Canadian side alone, it involved support from DCL, the
Defence Research Board, the Department of Defence
Production, Bell Telephone, and the RCAF. And it
needed to be fast: using standardized building designs
to save time wasn’t enough—deadlines were so urgent
that foundations were poured at some of the early sites
before the fina l building dimensions were known.
One of DCL’s key roles involved the project’s speci-
fication of equal or even preferential treatment for
Canadian construction contractors and suppliers—a
result of Canadian government concerns about both
BREAKING NEW GROUND
DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA