Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground | Page 56

The submarine HMCS Ojibwa is hauled out
of the waters at Halifax on the Syncrolift
for a refit in September 1986. DCC is cur-
rently retrofitting the Syncrolift for another
generation of Canadian submarines.
Expo 67 opened on schedule on Friday, April 28, 1967
and closed six months later. DCL’s support continued
even through 1968, completing the administrative
details of various contracts. When DCL’s role ended in
April that year, DCL had recovered $250,000 in salary,
administration and other costs from the CCWE. DCL
noted subsequently that this represented a significant
cost savings—direct hiring would have cost more than
$300,000, while hiring consultant firms would have
been in the $600,000 range.
Project: Operating
Underground
Leonard Harper, who was DCL staff in Penhold, Alberta
during this period, later noted that “during the DCL low
period of the mid- and late 60s, the O&M operation
consisting of some 210 personnel was not mentioned
in the Annual Report until very late in the game. It was
a cash recoverable operation, not a budget item and
hence not worthy of mention. (But) the O&M component
was equal to the whole of the rest of DCL.”
Despite being well lit and well ventilated inside, the
exterior of these shelters resembled heavily fortified,
dirt-covered mounds with a small door leading to the
underground. Aesthetically, it could be said that they
were less than appealing.
As noted in the previous chapter, DCL’s responsibility Prestigious award…
for the BRIDGE and EASE emergency government
CFB Shilo, 1965—Mike Shandro
When I was leaving my position as supervisor at Shilo,
headquarters sites continued even after construction
I was given a plaque which read as follows:
was finished. At the regional BRIDGE sites across the
country, the company carried out operation and
maintenance (O&M) of the buildings and equipment;
“ Certificate of Achievement
at the federal EASE site in Carp, DCL administered the
This is to certify that Mike Shandro, on this 15th day of
contract for operation and administration.
May, 1965, [has] passed all the requirements of a
Mushroom Engineer, in that he, by starting at the bottom
of the “Hole,” rose to the top level of the “Mound” to
become Shilo’s authority on Mushroom Engineering.”
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BREAKING NEW GROUND
DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA