News media reported the Ontario provincial police (OPP) have arrested a soldier for improper use of a firearm.
The story might not warrant front-page coverage were it not for the fact that this soldier happens to be the commander of Canada’s largest operational military base.
And worse, the air base has a terrible criminal history at the highest level.
CBC reported last week, “The commander of 8 Wing and Canadian Forces Base Trenton has been temporarily removed from his role after being charged by the OPP with firearm-related offences.”
Esprit de Corp publisher and former soldier Scott Taylor looked more closely at the story, and sorted through the media fog that surrounded the story and uncovered some disturbing facts.
Taylor calls it “a truly bizarre story out of Belleville, Ontario.” CFB Trenton is located near the southern Ontario city.
Watch the video by Scott Taylor
https://youtu.be/GY0vR3DwqV8?si=uQIXg6OTpdusqSMF
Col. Leif Dahl was arrested following an Aug. 25 incident on the Murray Canal in Quinte West, Ont., where provincial police say they received a report of a gun being fired at "protected wildlife" from aboard a boat.
An OPP dive team found a firearm at the bottom of the canal, apparently tossed over by Colonel Dahl. After questioning and a search of his home, a second firearm was found in the canal and the charges against Dahl were increased to include obstructing a peace officer.
As Taylor reminds readers, a former base commander was found guilty of far worse crimes. In January 2010, the world was shocked when then 8 Wing commander Col. Russ Williams was charged and convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and rape along with 82 counts of break-and-enter.
(Cover: A Royal Canadian Air Force CC-177 Globemaster from 429 Transport Squadron based at 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario, delivers a Leopard 2A4 main battle tank to Poland on April 10, 2023, as a part of Canada's commitment to donate Leopard II tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Photo by: Corporal Marco Tijam, Operation UNIFIER, Canadian Armed Forces photo)