AFGHANISTAN: COMING HOME
CFB PETAWAWA pumps millions into the economy, and enhances the local community in countless ways
PART 4 IN A SEIRES
Troops are back and they’re fuelling an economic boom in towns near Canadian Forces bases.
PETAWAWA, ONT. – The daily morning traffic jams attest to it. So do the rising subdivisions, the new schools, the plans for a shopping mall.
With troops home from Canada’s combat mission in Afghanistan and a new helicopter squadron en route, CFB Petawawa is fuelling an economic boom in this Eastern Ontario community.
There’s no post-mission slump here. Instead, Petawawa Mayor Bob Sweet says the town’s economy sagged at times during the mission, because so many troops were overseas. There were fewer people to buy groceries, new cars and other goods.
“I always say that Petawawa is kind of recessionproof, because you don’t lay soldiers off when there’s a downturn in the economy,” says Sweet.
“But when you send abroad 2,000 individuals, it’s virtually the same thing.”
But now, as Canada’s war in Afghanistan is morphing into smaller training mission, the communities around the country’s “superbases” – like Petawawa, Edmonton and Gagetown, N.B. – are undergoing a major shift.
And with nearly 5,000 soldiers and 900 civilians on the payroll, CFB Petawawa is by far the upper Ottawa Valley’s largest employer, pumping between $400 million and $500 million a year into the regional economy.
“Over the last three or four years, I suppose we’ve built a small community,” Sweet says. About 800 new homes have gone up, with another 1,200 or so planned.
With nearly 16,000 residents, Petawawa is already the largest community between Ottawa and North Bay. The population is expected to spike to about 19,000 by 2020, Sweet says. One new school is almost built and funding is in place for another.
The federal government’s decision to base Canada’s new fleet of 15 Chinook helicopters at CFB Petawawa also is boosting the town’s growth. The first 100 soldiers will arrive in May and the new helicopter squadron will become fully operational next year. When fully staffed, it will bring 400 to 500 soldiers plus their families to Petawawa.
Construction began about a year ago on a massive $135-million hangar, nearly a kilometre in length. “It’s a beast of a construction,” says Lt.-col. Chris Moyle, the base commander.
The military expects to spend $835 million on new buildings and infrastructure related to the new helicopter squadron by 2020.
Until now, commercial de- velopment hasn’t kept pace.
The town lacks a proper downtown – Petawawa Blvd., the main drag, is a nondescript array of strip malls, convenience stores and fast-food outlets – and there’s a dearth of stores and services. Most residents make the 20-minute drive to Pembroke for serious shopping.
That’s starting to change. Several new businesses have opened in recent years – many run by retired military personnel – and a 350,000-square-foot shopping centre is planned for 2013.
That’s good for Petawawa, but it could hurt established businesses in Pembroke, says Gary Melnyk, president of the Upper Ottawa Valley Chamber of Commerce.
“You’ll have fewer people from Petawawa coming to Pembroke to do their shopping.”
With the rapid growth come challenges. Some weekday mornings, the Petawawa Blvd. drag is backed up for two or three kilometres as soldiers and civilian employees head to work on the base. “It’s hard to imagine,” marvels Sweet.
“We’ve got gridlock here in the Upper Ottawa Valley.”
Fixing that won’t be cheap. A two-lane bridge over the Petawawa River would have to be replaced to widen the road into the base to four lanes.
The town is doing a feasibility study.
It also is spending millions to expand its sewer and water system, which CFB Petawawa relies on to meet its needs.
But the base offers plenty in return, including fabulous facilities open to townsfolk at minimal cost.
Local residents can use the base’s 18-hole golf course, sail at its yacht club, watch first-run movies at its theatre and work out at its world-class fitness centre, which features a track, two sheets of ice and indoor rock climbing walls.
The facilities were built to serve the needs of the soldiers and their families, says Moyle, who calls the base “a gem within a gem. If we can extend that capacity to the small communities that are around us, I think that just makes us better community partners.”
The town has a “wonderful relationship” with the base, Sweet says. “We meet on a regular basis with the base team. It’s a healthy relationship and one that’s worked quite well.”
That wasn’t always the case. Soldiers used to rotate out every three years, and more lived on the base.
“There was very much a division between the base and the military and ourselves,” says Sweet.
Posting out is less frequent now. Some soldiers stay in Petawawa for a decade or more. “We get to know our neighbours an awful lot better,” says Sweet. “You go to dances with them or play golf with them.”
The base’s soldiers are so well-integrated that when they were deployed to Afghanistan, it created something of a crisis for sports and other volunteer groups, which rely heavily on them as coaches and organizers.
“They’re tremendous volunteers and they very much want to be part of our community,” Sweet says.