Some big announcements were made at the Garrison Petawawa Leadership Team’s annual business luncheon. The event took place Thursday in the 450 Tactical Helicopter Squadron building on base. Over 200 people attended and the theme this year was “celebrating aviation history” at Garrison Petawawa. Base Commander Colonel Louis Lapointe says we have more air traffic here than any other Canadian Armed Forces base in the country. It was also announced that next year soldiers from Petawawa will be deployed to Latvia, the Ukraine and Iraq. Lapointe says this is his final year in Petawawa and a new commander will be welcomed in June. He says he’s most proud of the Garrison’s men and women in uniform.
Lapointe says the first time he was in Petawawa was in 1991 as a cadet in the Mattawa Plains. He came back and served from 2013 to 2015 as the deputy commander, and spent the last three years as commander of the Garrison. Lapointe says he will likely be deployed to Ottawa to continue to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces. The base commander says some of the major infrastructure projects in the works include a new health facility that will be finished in the next year, a special operations building to be complete by 2021 and announcements for a new RCD building. Lapointe hopes his replacement will have spent time in Petawawa to be able to understand the dynamic of the community and how involved they are.