[Dan Martel]

Since part of this thread delved off into the production of munitions in Canada, I thought I'd share a part of an article I'd recently found on Canadian Arsenals Ltd. It appeared in the July, 1952, edition of the RCEME Quarterly and was written by FB Strong of CAL. I won't repeat the entire article verbatim, but I thought that those paragraphs detailing the facilities then in operation would add to the conversation.

While Canadian Arsenals Limited was only established as a crown company in 1945, the production history of one of its six major divisions, Dominion Arsenals Division at Quebec City, goes back over 70 years. Another, Gun Ammunition Division at Lindsay, Ontario, dates back to World War 1.

The manufacture of ammunition in Quebec was started about the end of the 17th century, probably in the days of Le Sieur de Frontenac. Plans for a Canadian arsenal were not formulated, however, until 1879 and in October 1882 seventy machines came into operation with staff of a dozen employees. Such was the formal beginning of Dominion Arsenal.

At the outbreak of war in 1939 it was the only government-owned munitions factory and was administered directly by the army.

Today the Dominion Arsenal Division consists of two plants, the Palace Hill plant in Quebec City and the Val Rose plant at Valcartier. The former is equipped for the manufacture of cartridge cases, primers, and other miscellaneous ammunition stores, such as metal components for small arms ammunition, igniters, and cartridge clips. The Val Rose plant is set up for the manufacture of all types of small arms ammunition. A third plant is being converted from an existing factory at Quebec City to provide additional facilities for the manufacture of cartridge cases. This plant will be known as the Louise Basin plant and will be controlled by Dominion Arsenal Division.

Small Arms Division at Long Branch, Ont, consists of the former government-owned Small Arms Limited plant, and is equipped to manufacture or repair all small arms up to 30 mm calibre, together with their ancillary equipment. This covers such personal weapons as rifles, machine carbines, pistols, revolvers, automatic machine guns, light, medium or heavy.

The Filling Division at St Paul l'Ermite Quebec (formerly the government-owned plant of Defence Industries Limited) has facilities for the filling and assembling of shells, cartridge cases, fuzes, primers, tracers, mines, bombs, grenandes and other specialties. Production of pyrothechnic stores is limited to those types which cannot be undertaken by commercial facilities. Standby equipment is available for filling such stores as depth charges, hedgehogs, and torpedo war-heads. It is also possible to carry out experimental production and to make standard tests on fuzes, bombs, primers, tracers, caps, and detonators.

Gun Ammunition Division at Lindsay Ont has facilities for the development and manufacture of gun ammunition metal components, including shells, tracers, fuzes and other machined components and assemblies for 20 mm to 5.5-in guns inclusive, as well as mines, bombs and grenades.

The Explosives Division consists of five sections of which two, those at De Salaberry and Shawinigan, have been rehabilitated as part of the current defence production program. Defence Industries (1951) Limited, the wartime operator of these facilities, was engaged to carry out the rehabilitation and operation of these plants to the extent required.

The De Salaberry Works at Valleyfield covers some 1,800 acres and is producing smokeless powder (rifle and cannon), RDX and its various compositions. Facilities for producing cordite are being adapted to produce flashless powder. During the war this plant also produced trinitrotoluol (TNT), dinitrotouol, and tetryl. Production will be starting shortly on intermediates such as nitric acid and nitrocellulose.

The Hexachlorethane Works at Shawinigan Falls is actively producing this smoke generating chemical in fulfillment of current orders.

The article doesn't mention the locations of the remaining three sections of the Explosives Division. Can anyone fill this in?

The sixth and final Division of CAL was the Instrument and Radar Division at Leaside (now Toronto). It didn't produce munitions but did manufacture precision instruments and opticals. It was the follow-on to the wartime Research Enterprises Limited. The Leaside plant was being augmented by a new $2.5 million dollar plant in Scarborough (also now Toronto).

I think, but am not sure, that St Paul l'Ermite is now a part of Repentigny, a suburb north-east of Montreal.

Long Branch, at least that part that contained the Small Arms Division, is now Mississauga.

There's no mention of the manufacture of artillery at Sorel. Was this not undertaken until after 1952 or part of a completely different organization?

Cheers,
Dan.