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Armouries

One thing I do notice is that the Sigs are pretty itinerant. They seem to slot in anywhere they can find a roof. Sometimes they collocate with the Navy and sometimes, as in Saskatoon, they find their own satellite property.

And why not? If they co-locate with an average size Naval Reserve Unit, they instantly gain access to about 20-25 more signalers and 2 to 4 comm officers. ;)
 
And why not? If they co-locate with an average size Naval Reserve Unit, they instantly gain access to about 20-25 more signalers and 2 to 4 comm officers. ;)

Once upon a time the Comm Squads were above all this petty service rivalry.
 
Added some information - median ages and the area served by an armoury

If it looks as if Ontario has shrunk it is because it has ceded half of its territory (The North West) to Western Canada and 3 Cdn Div. 3 Cdn Div is also responsible for 1 CRPG so its Recruiting Area is actually about 7,300,000 km2.

OrganizationArmouriesRecruiting PopulationPop/ArmouryProvincial AgeArea km2km2/Armoury
Canadian Army Reserve Force14438,300,000265,972
1 CRPG1127,00037.7/35.8/26.53,921,4433,921,443
3 Cdn Div4012,400,000310,0003,432,69785,817
39 CBG185,200,000288,88942.3944,73552,485
41 CBG94,400,000488,88937.9661,84873,539
38 CBG132,800,000215,38538.1/37.81,826,114140,470
4 Cdn Div4414,800,000336,36440.7549,58312,491
31 CBG14
32 CBG14
33 CBG16
2 Cdn Div288,600,000307,143431,668,00059,571
34 CBG13
35 CBG15
5 Cdn Div322,500,00078,125539,06416,846
36 CBG181,300,00072,22245/42.460,9443,386
37 CBG141,200,00085,71446.2/47.8478,12034,151
 
So which city is the largest city in Canada without an armoury?
 
Dalton Armoury now belongs to 32 CBG Battle School, it's actually a different building than the one that was closed down that was used by the QOR.
 
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So which city is the largest city in Canada without an armoury?

Don't know for sure but you might want to look at Grande Prairie, Fort McMurray and Lloydminster as candidates. Maybe even High Level.
 
Dalton Armoury now belongs to 32 CBG Battle School, it's actually a different building than the one that was closed down that was used by the QOR.

Thanks for that.
 
Neither Surrey (517,000) nor Burnaby (232,00) in BC have armouries.
On the other hand both are well connected in the Greater Vancouver Area to a number of armouries.

Some other parts of the country are less well-endowed.
 
On the other hand both are well connected in the Greater Vancouver Area to a number of armouries.

Some other parts of the country are less well-endowed.

The great irony is that the CAF plowed tens of millions into a new armoury based on the Seaforths, in downtown Vancouver, who consistently parade amongst the fewest troops in the Bde. Few in downtown Vancouver are really interested in joining the Army. This was clearly a shameless political move.

They would have been smarter to invest in building infrastructure in the faster growing parts of the Lower Mainland, like Surrey (the third largest city in BC with a large percentage of 'fighting age male/females'), where there is currently zero military presence/infrastructure.
 
As noted in other threads, heritage buildings are largely unsuitable, and expensive to maintain.

But the fight to keep them (Halifax, I'm looking at you) saps money from the Defence budget that should be invested in growth instead.
 
The great irony is that the CAF plowed tens of millions into a new armoury based on the Seaforths, in downtown Vancouver, who consistently parade amongst the fewest troops in the Bde. Few in downtown Vancouver are really interested in joining the Army. This was clearly a shameless political move.

They would have been smarter to invest in building infrastructure in the faster growing parts of the Lower Mainland, like Surrey (the third largest city in BC with a large percentage of 'fighting age male/females'), where there is currently zero military presence/infrastructure.

You want to talk about inconsistency? I offer the Maritimes vs Alberta.
 
The great irony is that the CAF plowed tens of millions into a new armoury based on the Seaforths, in downtown Vancouver, who consistently parade amongst the fewest troops in the Bde. Few in downtown Vancouver are really interested in joining the Army. This was clearly a shameless political move.

They would have been smarter to invest in building infrastructure in the faster growing parts of the Lower Mainland, like Surrey (the third largest city in BC with a large percentage of 'fighting age male/females'), where there is currently zero military presence/infrastructure.
Same back in Toronto in the mid sixties. They sold off a large old armory downtown (University Armory) to make room for a new courts complex and built a brand new one in the middle of a bunch of rooming houses, missions and shacks of ill repute at Queen and Jarvis (Moss Park Armoury) while the population boom was going on in the east in Scarborough where I lived. It took me an hour to get there on a bus, transfer to streetcar, transfer to subway, transfer to another subway, transfer to a another street car.

😓
 
You say missions and houses of ill repute, I say prime recruiting territory for the infantry.
 
You say missions and houses of ill repute, I say prime recruiting territory for the infantry.
Not at this level.

You never were at Queen and Jarvis in the sixties, were you? It's been spruced up quite a bit since then. It was a regular little hell hole then. There was a big open area of grass next door (calling it a park would have been far to kind). Every morning on my recruit course we would do morning PT by running around the park in formation doing steeple jumps over the homeless folks that had passed out in the dirt after being evicted from the mission houses while the trollops would cheer us on from their second storey windows.

Fun times.

😉
 
Armouries in Montreal (R de Mais, in particular) enter the conversation.
 
Not at this level.

You never were at Queen and Jarvis in the sixties, were you? It's been spruced up quite a bit since then. It was a regular little hell hole then. There was a big open area of grass next door (calling it a park would have been far to kind). Every morning on my recruit course we would do morning PT by running around the park in formation doing steeple jumps over the homeless folks that had passed out in the dirt after being evicted from the mission houses while the trollops would cheer us on from their second storey windows.

Fun times.

😉
It's still pretty bad. Someone decided to turn it into a homeless shelter a couple of winters ago. They completely destroyed some of the washrooms. I think that they are still fixing them. The fence that has been put up has done wonders.
 
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They would have been smarter to invest in building infrastructure in the faster growing parts of the Lower Mainland, like Surrey (the third largest city in BC with a large percentage of 'fighting age male/females'), where there is currently zero military presence/infrastructure.
I'm actually shocked that hasn't happened, or at least have X Coy of [insert units] there.
 
I'm actually shocked that hasn't happened, or at least have X Coy of [insert units] there.

Some units have tried to start up 'outlying companies' in space shared with cadet organizations in the Surrey area, but I don't think that's gone very well.

Mainly because it's not at all supported by the Army with the infrastructure, position numbers, and the whole gamut of other things it takes to stand up and sustain a sub-unit. It was a fight from the start, which is not how the whole experience should have actually played out, of course.
 
The Lanark and Renfrew Scottish Regiment now 42nd FD RCA use to parade in Perth, Carleton Place, Renfrew, Smiths Falls, and Pembroke. The unit was down sized to just Pembroke, Renfrew Armouries were sold off to local group. Perth Ontario armouries is now Asbury Free Methodist Church. Smiths Falls armouries has interesting past. The building has a colourful history. It once housed a speakeasy in the basement which was followed by a chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous. On the main floors it went from being a post office to an armoury to a girls’ high school to office space. ( Buinessman honoured for post office restoration ) In the 60s there was parade held at the Renfrew Armouries, 9 ranks of men the parade square, 450 plus men shoulder to shoulder. Never saw numbers like that since.
 
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