Our Team
Our team strives to be the best in our industry, from our hands-on owners to our exceptional crew of welders, fabricators, installers, service technicians, service coordinators, and sales managers. We operate year-round out of our full manufacturing facility in Innisfail, Alberta. We love what we do and are proud to service all of Alberta.
Our History
Darwin and Janice Liknes established the Command Gate company in 1997 and moved it to Innisfail, AB in 2001. The company started with the simple concept of creating a solar powered automated gate. Darwin recognized the benefit of solar power. It would eliminate the need to trench expensive AC power to the gate location, thus providing a viable gate solution to all acreage owners including those in remote locations. The idea was genius and simple, however, the start-up was anything but.
In the early days of the company, Darwin tried to use existing solar gate products to operate his system with little success. All the products available on the market at that time, were flawed in design to operate reliably through the harsh Alberta winters. Determined to bring his solar gate concept to production, Darwin began designing a circuit board and actuator of his own. His persistence paid off. Command Gate began manufacturing its own automation system, this time with much success. Darwin and Janice created a solar gate system that could operate effectively at -40 degrees Celsius.
With a working product in hand, and support from their family, Darwin and Janice worked tirelessly to get the company off the ground. For more than 17 years they dedicated themselves to solidify the Command Gate brand across Alberta.
From the inception of the company, Darwin and Janice’s youngest son, Murray, provided assistance where needed. Murray helped with gate installs, sourced the first CG intercom system, and worked on developing new products. In 2011, Murray began working at Command Gate full-time. Murray brought fresh energy to the company along with fresh ideas for designing a full line of in-house Command Gate products. In 2014 Darwin and Janice retired and sold Command Gate to Murray and Angela Liknes.
Although Command Gate has grown and changed over the years, the family values Darwin and Janice established early on continue to drive this successful company.