The Canadian Armed Forces has kicked off a massive annual training exercise that’s seeing nearly 1,500 military members and several small vehicle convoys move across Ontario on various highways.
Dubbed ‘Exercise Stalwart Guardian,’ the Canadian Army reserve members and vehicles began heading toward Garrison Petawawa around 170 kilometres away from downtown Ottawa on Friday. The vehicular convoys were expected to continue throughout the day on Saturday.
“This is a significant scale,” Col. Frank Lamie, commander of the 32 Canadian Brigade Group headquartered in Toronto, said while describing the exercise.
“It is the consolidation of our annual training cycle from an army reserve perspective in the 4th Canadian Division. These organizations will be put together in a simulated combat environment, in a simulated operational environment.”
Chief Warrant Officer and Brigade Sergeant-Major Margaret Stawarz said the exercise will allow members who have been on courses throughout the past year to come together.
“This is a chance for them to hone those skills, improve them and for leaders to actually have platoons and companies to lead in the field and at an extended period of time,” she said.
Lamie told CityNews the 33 Canadian Brigade Group based in Ottawa will also be participating. He said reservist combat fighters, engineers, communications specialists and support services personnel will all be involved.
In order to get to Petawawa, many smaller convoys will be heading out on major corridors like highways 401, 403, 407, 417 and the QEW. Other connecting highways (7, 115 and others) will also be used. The reservists will travel through Toronto, Ottawa, Peterborough, Sudbury, North Bay and other cities across Ontario.
Lamie said the vehicle convoys are not expected to impact traffic.
“I’d say to drivers that we always respect the rule of law and the rules of the road. We’ll be at or below the speed limit. You’ll see us in the right lane. We move in convoy packets, so they’re small groupings of vehicles. So while the exercise is on a significant scale, they’re all released at different timings,” he said.
“No different than having two or three transport trucks in a right lane. You may see seven or eight or nine army vehicles.”
Canadian Armed Forces personnel noted that weapons and ammunition are not being transported in the convoys.
“This is what we would call a dry exercise,” Lamie said.
“There will be no live rounds that would be moving on any highway from that perspective. Our artillery component will be firing, but those are carefully secured in the training location.”
He added that the training scenarios are happening at fenced-off military properties and aren’t accessible to the public.
Reservists are set to return to their home communities in Ontario on Aug. 23 and 24 using the same routes.
