CLARENCE-ROCKLAND Une communauté en plein essor A booming community
Gilles Maranda is ready to steer a steady course for the city in the machinist’s fields of welding, machin- ing, and hydraulics. where I was, and I think I’ve got what it takes to help the city.”
involved convoy patrols in the Gulf and neighbouring waters. One time Maranda’s shipwas sent to the Strait of Ormuz because of a report that someone was attempting to place sea mines in the area. The HMCS Regina returned to Canada in July after a six-month tour. Three years lat- er Maranda left his last ship and went into post-graduate studies at RMC for a master’s degree in business administration. He was then assigned to Ottawa and the Director- ate Soldier System Program Management, the military department that looked after supplying all the gear that the individual sailor, soldier, or flyer needs. “I looked after all the new projects for clothing the soldiers, airmen, and sailors. That was quite a lot of big dollars.” Maranda estimated that he handled close to $6 million worth of projects during his half-dozen years at the Directorate. He anticipates that his experience in deal- ing with military contracts will stand him in good stead should any difficulties arise in trying to manage the infrastructure and engineering contract needs for Clarence- Rockland. “A ship is not that far apart from dealing with the infrastructure of a city,” he said. “A ship is a small city in itself. The goal is to spend one dollar and have the feeling that you’ve gotten two dollars worth.” His new position at City Hall is his first ac- tual civilian posting since he left the navy. He could have stayed in the Forces for an- other seven years and retired on full pen- sion, but he started looking outside of the military for new opportunities and chal- lenges and just happened to come across an ad in the Vision newspaper for the city’s new infrastructure and engineering direc- tor position. “I realized I could be helpful outside of
“You don’t find WalMarts in villages,” he said. “We are growing, and we need to grow in a structured way. A lot of good things have already been done.” Now the thing is to chart a proper course to keep all that good work moving ahead. “Quite frankly,” he said, grinning, “I’m hav- ing a ball right now.”
Maranda sees his role as a lot like a gener- al manager’s, working with his staff to find the most efficient and effective way to get a job done. Clarence-Rockland, he noted, is a vibrant city with a lot of potential that just needs steering in the right direction.
Then he was posted across the country to Victoria for the rest of his six-year contract with the Forces on board the destroyer, HMCS Huron. “My first love,” he said, smiling. “You do have a special sense of belonging with your first ship.” After two years on board the Huron, Master Seaman Maranda applied for a university-level training program for non- commissioned officers. That led him back to Ontario and the Royal Military College (RMC) at Kingston. Four years later he grad- uated with a bachelor’s degree in mechani- cal engineering and a sub-lieutenant’s rank. Back to Victoria and the Huron to com- plete his officer’s training followed by a six-month posting at Gosport, England through an exchange program between Canada and the British Royal Navy. Then again back to Victoria. “I spent most of my career in Victoria on the Huron.” His next promotion to deputy engineer- ing officer saw him re-assigned to a frigate, the HMCS Winnipeg, where he assisted the ship’s engineer as part of his own training to become a fully-ranked engineering officer. His first assignment as a ranking naval en- gineer came in 2000 with a posting to CFB Esquimalt where he assumed the job as the base nuclear emergency response officer, “one of the most interesting postings for me.” He was later reassigned to another frig- ate, the HMCS Regina, anchored at Victoria which later deployed to the Persian Gulf in 2003 when the United States invaded Iraq. The Regina was part of the naval unit assigned to maintain and enforce the economic sanctions against Iraq, which
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