A group of our RCAC cadets traveled to Toronto, Ontario to see Queen’s Park, our provincial legislature. We had a looong school bus ride, went through two separate security checks with our tour guide and then were met by our local member of provincial parliament (MPP) Sam Oosterhoff. Mr Oosterhoff posed for a picture, gave us some history, and answered questions and then went off to Question Period with the government. We watched Question Period for a bit and then met the Provincial Premier, Doug Ford in his office. Mr Ford told everyone how proud he was of the cadets for their community service and contributions to society in general. Mr Ford shook hands, gave a short speech, answered MANY questions, and then gave out his personal cell number in case anyone ever needed his assistance for them or their family.

We left for lunch at Denison Armouries and then went for a tour through an even more secure facility – the CFEME testing facility where astronauts, pilots and divers for the military get tested. We toured the hypobaric chamber where they can change the atmosphere for divers and astronauts. We toured the dive chamber where scuba divers who run into medical emergencies can get medical treatment for diving emergencies. Training to depths of 100meters can be completed and we learned of international recognition for the dive tables used by SCUBA divers and gravity pants used by fighter pilots that were developed at the facility that are used world-wide. Next we toured the centrifuge where potential pilots have their tolerance to high gravity tested. We watched as the equipment was sent from zero to 7 ”Gs” in 2 seconds and kept there for 15 seconds just as they do for pilots wanting to fly the F-18. Testing on new pilots for the new F-35 will also be done at this facility.

Having had our questions answered, we were back on the school bus for another looong drive home.