Posts with the British Columbia tag

Barris Beat

Fabric of the nation’s navy

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
Royal Canadian Navy warship docked at CFB Esquimalt.
Royal Canadian Navy warship docked at CFB Esquimalt. March 2024.

About an hour into the tour, I discovered one of the secrets to Canada’s military capability at sea. The tour aboard HMCS Vancouver, a Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) frigate currently in a short-work period at the base just outside Victoria, had taken me through the operations room. I’d sat in the commander’s chair on the bridge. Then I’d seen the ship’s massive rudder system.

I happened to pause at a rack of fire extinguishers, helmets and gas masks. In the event of a major fire at sea, I asked, were the people assigned to fight fires on board the ship former civilian firefighters?

Lt (Navy) Konnor Brett guiding us aboard HMCS Vancouver.

“No,” explained Lieutenant (Navy) Konnor Brett. “Every member of the crew is a trained firefighter.”

And I realized immediately that teaching all RCN sailors to fight fires had nothing to do with personnel limitations and everything to do with practicality. If a warship couldn’t depend on every man and woman in her crew to quell fires, keep the sea from swamping the ship in gales or combat, and deliver basic first aid or rescue tasks, its effectiveness would be severely diminished at sea. “It’s a matter of the ship’s survival,” Brett said. (more…)

Barris Beat

Do battlefield anniversaries still resonate?

Written by Ted Barris on . 1 Comment
D-Day vet Simeon Mayou leads into a conversation of his wartime experiences.

It’s the way he cajoles strangers into friendly conversation. And at age 99, it seems to have worked pretty well for Simeon Mayou. He points out some of the commemorative pins and service medals he wears on his Royal Navy blazer. Then, he pulls his beret off the table and asks for help.

“Just hold the edge of the beret,” he says, “and help me put it on.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Promises, promises

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
Making political promises stick.
Making political promises stick.

It didn’t take long to determine whether Canadians would be going to the polls this spring or not. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty hadn’t even begun to introduce the 2011 federal budget in the House of Commons, Tuesday afternoon, when we knew that two of the three Opposition leaders – Gilles Duceppe and Michael Ignatieff – would not support it. Only Jack Layton kept the country in suspense until the end of the budget speech. And within minutes of Flaherty’s concluding remarks, the other shoe dropped.

“Mr. Harper had an opportunity to address the needs of hard-working, middle class Canadians and families,” Layton said to CBC microphones, “and he missed that opportunity… New Democrats will not support the budget as presented.”

(more…)