We regret to advise of the death of Colonel Ernest Allan Ballantyne OMM, CD (Ret’d), on 27 January 2001. He was the fifth Colonel Commandant of the Canadian Military Engineers serving in that appointment from 1988 to 1991.
Allan was born in 1919 in Ottawa, ON. He attended schools in Toronto before entering the Royal Military College of Canada in 1937. Upon graduating In December 1939 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers and assigned to Number 6 Detachment Royal Canadian Engineers in Halifax. In May 1940 he was posted to A5 Canadian Training Center in Petawawa where he was employed as a Training Officer and second-in-command of a Field Company. In 1941 he proceeded overseas to 1 Canadian Engineer Holding Unit in the United Kingdom. During the war he served in command and staff appointments in the United Kingdom and North West Europe.
Following the war Allan attended Queens University, earning his Bachelor of Science (Civil) degree in 1947. From 1947 to 1951 he served in the Directorate of Engineer Development as a Technical Staff Officer and for a year was Acting Director. From 1951 to 1954 he was posted as the Canadian Army Engineer Liaison Officer to the United States Corps of Engineers at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. In 1954 he was given command of 4 Field Squadron in Chilliwack BC followed in 1955 to 1957 by command of 1 Field Squadron in Chilliwack and Germany. From 1957 to 1959 he commanded 26 Works Company Royal Canadian Engineers and from 1959 to 1962 he was Commanding Officer of the Army Survey Establishment in Ottawa. Between 1962 and 1968 he filled various appointments as Deputy Chief Engineer and Acting Chief Engineer at Army Headquarters, as Canadian Army Liaison Officer in Washington, DC and as Regional Engineer in Halifax.
In 1968 he retired from the Canadian Forces and became the Director of Industry and Development with the Government of the North West Territories. From 1972 until his retirement from the Canadian Government in 1975 he was the Deputy Director of Resource Programmes with the Federal Department of Finance. During the period 1975 to 1977 he was with NOVA as Vice President of a subsidiary and later as Executive Vice President of Trans Quebec and Maritimes Pipeline Limited. During the period 1981 to 1982 he was President of a company providing consultant services in the field of energy, policy, corporate organization and management and government liaison. Allan was active in the Canadian Military Engineer Association 2003 National Organising Committee.
His funeral was held in Duncan, British Columbia in February 2001.
