Response from ADM (IE): visit to CFB Kingston

20 April 2018

 

Gary Walbourne
Ombudsman
Office of the Ombudsman
100 Metcalfe Street, 12th floor
Ottawa, ON K1P 5M1

 

Dear Mr. Walbourne:

Thank you for your letter of 29 March 2018 concerning the infrastructure issues that were raised during your February visit to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Kingston. As the advocate for Department of National Defence employees and Canadian Armed Forces members and their families, we appreciate your efforts to bring members’ concerns to us. The infrastructure issues brought to my attention have been reviewed by the local Real Property Detachment to ensure that available resources are applied towards Royal Military College infrastructure repairs in an appropriately prioritized manner.  

Students of the Royal Military College have the unique experience of living within their training institution for up to four years, which drives the importance of ensuring satisfactory living conditions in dormitories and fitness facilities. This requirement is balanced with the need to support the operations of CFB Kingston. Issues such as a lack of hot water in the dormitories, roof leaks in the gymnasium, elevators beyond repair, and heating and air conditioning balancing in the museum, are addressed as quickly as possible by the public service tradesmen employed by the Real Property Detachment. These hasty repairs and interim fixes are documented and feed into the planning of larger engineered maintenance programs that seek to address root causes based on the condition of the facility.

Betterment projects, such as adding climate control to the field house and systematically updating our infrastructure to meet barrier free access requirements, are prioritized based on the asset class of the infrastructure and in line the operational needs of the Base and College. This allows ADM(IE) to apply design capacity and to seek funding in a consistent and effective manner.

The maintenance, repair and betterments of infrastructure are addressed to meet all safety and compliance standards for a safe and healthy environment. In reviewing our finding allocation for fiscal year 18/19, the Ontario region has been allocated $25M for betterment projects that are valued below $2.5M, of which CFB Kingston will receive approximately $7M. Further, in our maintenance and repair projects fund, Ontario will receive $13.6M of which $4.3M will go towards 14 projects identified in Kingston.

My staff will reach out to other members of the defense team to address the concerns you highlighted, such as ensuring that Mobile Support Equipment staff ensure emergency exits are kept clear when planning snow and ice clearance operations next winter, and working the responsible CFB Kingston staff to educate employees on the importance of a well-managed recycling program.

We strive to ensure that there are mechanisms in place to assist our members to voice their infrastructure concerns in order to resolve them at the lowest level and in a timely manner. Thank you for bringing concerns to our attention so that we have the opportunity to assist our members in the use of safe and well-functioning infrastructure.

Sincerely,

 

Elizabeth Van Allen
Assistant Deputy Minister  

 

c.c Commodore S.N. Cantelon
Director General, Morale and Welfare Services
and Chief Executive Officer of the Staff of the Non-Public Funds, Canadian Forces

 

Colonel J.G.P Lemyre
Commander, Canadian Forces Base Kingston