There’s a new commanding officer of the Army Training Centre – Central in Meaford.
Lt-Col. Tim Day officially took over from Lt Col. Joe Tobin Thursday in a change of command ceremony and parade.
The commanding officer of the army base changes approximately every two years.
Originally from Toronto, Lt-Col. Day began his army career in 1999, and went on to become an armour officer. He has completed four operational deployments in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2003, in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2008, Kabul, Afghanistan in 2013 and Baghdad Iraq, in 2016.
Day tells Bayshore Broadcasting News, he’s coming from military recruiting in Borden over the last few years. “Recruiting is on the rise. We’re going to be bringing in 13,000 recruits a year by 2030. Now that I’m in the army training system and a lot of those recruits are going to be coming here to Meaford, I want to make sure that we have the structures, the people and the infrastructure in place to make sure that we’re ready for that increase in training demand,” says Day.
He’s familiar with the Meaford area, as he spent his summers in Collingwood growing up. “I’ll say I got my start in the Army in Meaford. My parents took me up to an open house in 1988 when I was all of eight years old and I was given the opportunity to crawl in and around an armoured vehicle and fire blanks from a machine gun and I remember walking away from that experience thinking, ‘well now I’ve got to wait ten years before I can sign up, but I’m definitely going to sign up. Lo and behold I’m now an armoured officer and now I’m back here in Meaford and I am just very excited to be here and to be able to work here,” says Day.
Day says a strong relationship with the Meaford community is a focal point for him, noting, “We’re close neighbours. Neighbours that get along very well, and what do neighbours do? They help each other out.”
He explains, “We’ve already identified some areas where we’d like to start working together and community relations is one of those. The base has been participating in a lot of community events, that’s not going to change.”
“We’re looking at opportunities to find military housing somewhere in the community,” says Day.
Day says in the immediate future, reserve summer training will wrap up, then new instructor training will take place. After that, Day says his work will involve preparing for 2030. “We’re going to be doing a structures working group on what we need to do in terms of creating an ideal unit. Identifying how many people we need, what kind of infrastructure we need and then getting that process started, to start building on base.”
He says right now, at their peak they have about 1,500 staff and students on the base, and he says that number is expected to grow.
The federal government announced this year, it surpassed its 2 per cent of gross domestic product defence spending target in the 2025-26 fiscal year, investing more than $63 billion in defence across the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces, and other government partners.
Local representatives attended the change of command including Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Alex Ruff, Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Paul Vickers, Meaford Mayor Ross Kentner, representatives from police services in the area and a large crowd of military members and families, as the parade also marked a graduation ceremony for a number of soldiers from their Rank Qualification Infantry – Private course as well as graduates from the Canadian Army Soldier First Course.
Meanwhile, Outgoing Lt. Col Joe Tobin oversaw a significant amount of infrastructure work and changes during his command, including road work and range renovations, the reopening the gym on the base to the community and welcoming everyone to a well-attended open house. His time also included the beginning of army modernization, focusing the role of the base on training as part of its new division and the renaming from the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre in March to the Army Training Centre — Central.
“This unit was the first unit to move in modernization back at the end of March of this year,” Tobin says, “We were able to take on some of those early changes. We’re now reporting to a new headquarters. We’re evolving structurally right now in order to better support what Canada needs out of this base in Meaford, whether that’s training or support to training.”
Lt-Col. Tobin is heading to Petawawa to take over the position of Deputy Commander of the 4th Canadian Division Support Group. He says formation is responsible for the delivery of institutional support all across Ontario. Much like overseeing the infrastructure work at the Meaford base Tobin will be involved in similar projects on a larger scale.
Tobin says he’ll miss the community in Meaford, explaining, “I’ve loved my time here,” noting he completed on-the-job training as a young officer cadet in Meaford in 2004, then returned as a lieutenant, then was posted in Meaford as a captain. “Every time I come back, I just fall in love with this place all over again. It’s such a beautiful area. The community is wonderful and I just really enjoy how this town and the base work together,” says Tobin, adding, “There’s a tremendous feeling of community.”
My personal thanks to LCol Joe Tobin for his #leadership over the last two years in command of the Army Training Centre – Central . It was a great Change of Command & Grad parade. Wishing LCol Tim Day all the best as he takes over the reigns. #ProPatria #BruceGreyOwenSound pic.twitter.com/9E7D3bJ6Z1
— Alex Ruff (@AlexRuff17) July 31, 2026
Lt-Col. Day in the foreground
Photo by Claire McCormack