CHAT News File Photo

By Chris Brown

Partnership between CFB Suffield and BATUS ‘very much secure,’ says base commander

May 26, 2022 | 4:00 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Representatives from CFB Suffield were in Medicine Hat on Thursday morning reconnecting with community leaders.

Base commander Lt.-Col. Stephen Burke was here to reassure them that it is not “doom and gloom” and in his estimation the future of CFB Suffield and British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) is “very much secure.”

“Right now the plan that they have signed up for is we’re going to see, instead of a battle group coming all at once effectively what it will be is a battle group spread out over the course of the summer,” Burke said following the presentation. “So at any point in time, we’ll see roughly about 300 or so British soldiers at any time doing training and we’ll see that for this year, next year and probably the year after as well.”

Burke added that depending on the British Army’s training needs, more personnel may arrive at CFB Suffield throughout the year, saying that depends on what the international situation is at any given time.

Last fall a British newspaper reported that country’s military would end its nearly 50-year use of the training grounds at CFB Suffield and move training to the Mideast.

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That claim was quickly shot down by the U.K. defence minister and Burke but concerns about the British Army’s relationship with CFB Suffield lingered.

Burke adds battle groups will continue to train at the local base but they’ll take on a more agile and adaptive form to better meet the needs of the British Army.

Part of the morning’s presentations, which were organized by the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce was to provide information on the impact of the base and BATUS on the local economy.

Burke says CFB Suffield will spend close to $150 million in the local economy this year and that the base tries to support local businesses as much as possible.

The significant impact of the base on the economy is not lost on Chamber executive director Lisa Kowlachuk.

She says the Chamber can connect businesses with the base to explore opportunities.

“I think any of the goods and services that we’re able to source or that the base is able to source locally benefit our community and a lot of businesses may not be able to do those high-value service contracts,” she says. “So it provides the opportunity for local businesses to seek out some of those opportunities whether it’s you know whatever kind of widget or food or catering that they might need and certainly to always kind of keep in touch with what the base is looking for.”

Burke says people may have recently seen or heard of equipment being moved out of CFB Suffield, about 40 kilometres west of Medicine Hat. He said that’s part of normal operations due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Burke also says the base’s Suffield Research Centre is as busy as ever and expects there to be a significant reinvestment into in it in the next few years.