Article by: Captain Kyle Ho, Real Property Operations Unit (West)
In mid-October, the Real Property Operations Unit Western Region (RPOU(W)) HQ hosted the Associate Deputy Minister Natasha Kim. Recently appointed to the position, she was eager to learn about the infrastructure portfolio and discover some of the local challenges impacting Edmonton operations.
The visit started with a briefing from RPOU(W) Commanding Officer, LCol John Hallet, regarding the 5.91 billion dollar portfolio spread across nine detachments within the region. Understanding workflows and organizational designs, national shortages of tradespersons, contracting authorities keeping up with inflation and classification challenges were some topics of discussion. Following the brief, Natasha was escorted to the Fire Hall by RPOU Det Edmonton OC, Maj Mackenzie Smith and Det Sergeant Major, MWO James Richardson. The site visit highlighted challenges of retrofitting extant buildings over the years to accommodate new equipment requirements. The site visit also allowed firefighters to explain the technical nuances of remaining compliant in older infrastructure.
For her last stop, Ms Kim moved to 1 Combat Engineer Regiment (1 CER), where she met with the CO, LCol Michael Veitch and DCO, Maj Melissa Gilbride. A visit to the ‘white elephant’, a large tent used to store vehicles combat engineering vehicles, was the main point of discussion as the tent highlighted some of the challenges of meeting carbon footprint reduction initiatives. The tent also provided a great venue to discuss the challenges of maintaining a diverse combat engineering fleet as there were many diverse vehicle platforms stored inside the tent.
Armed with what she learned on the tour, Ms Kim aims to develop potential solutions with her staff when she returns to Ottawa.
