Service men and women at the Land Force Central Area Training Centre near Meaford had a special visitor Tuesday morning.
National Defence Minister Peter MacKay dropped to see the troops and offer them his support.
In an exclusive interview with Bayshore Broadcasting News, MacKay says letting the troops know about his interest in their well being is a great morale builder for them and their families.
MacKay says he uses opportunities like this to let the troops know that he and the DND staff are there to work with them and help improving their working conditions.
He says they are doing an extremely important job right across the country and around the world in such places as Afghanistan and Haiti.
MacKay says he is very pleased with how support for the military among Canadians has grown over the years with people now stopping military personnel on the street or in a Tim Horton’s to tell them what a great job they are doing.
The Defence Minister says one of his top priorities is increasing Canada’s presence in the Arctic to defend out sovereignty and in the near future there will be a much larger Canadian military presence in the far north.
As part of his visit to Meaford, MacKay also attended a fund raiser for the local Military Family Resource Centre.
MacKay says these community based organizations do a fantastic job offering support to the families of military personnel who have been posted over seas and he tries to visit the centres every chance he gets.
