There is no denying St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston is an upbeat kinda person, no matter the situation confronting him.
It would be a safe bet to say he could be branded Jovial Joe without a whole lot of pushback from the mayor’s corner.
For example, Preston and a city delegation, including councillors Tara McCaulley and Steve Wookey along with city manager Sandra Datars Bere attended this year’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference earlier this week in London and we caught up with him at the culmination of the gathering and his exuberance was palpable.
According to a release prior to the conference, the city advocacy work was to “focus around resources to create new and augment existing community mental health supports, support for capital investments in affordable housing, increased support for inter-community transportation connections and initiatives, capital funding for new childcare spaces, investments in social assistance programs and administration, and support for legislative changes and funding to alleviate pressures faced by St. Thomas Police.”
Team St. Thomas had meetings confirmed with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services and the Ministry of the Solicitor General.
In his speech to the gathering on Monday, Premier Doug Ford announced the Building Faster Fund, an incentivized program in hopes of inspiring local governments to do their part to help achieve the provincial government’s ambitious target of 1.5 million new homes by 2031.
Municipalities will receive additional provincial funding should they attain at least 80% of their housing targets each year, and a bonus should they surpass 100%.
The new fund is a three-year program and a $1.2 billion investment.
Whatever the city’s housing target may be, we asked Preston if it is attainable to capitalize on the additional dollars from the province.
“It clearly is,” assured Preston.
“Significantly, here in St. Thomas we haven’t established that goal yet . . . but we’ve got lots of big things going on and I would expect that even our single-family homebuilders will get truly back at it with the planning they’ve done this year and moving forward into subsequent years.
“We had a lot of conversations about housing at AMO and face-to-face with ministers. We know what we have to do and we feel comfortable St. Thomas will be able to house all the people that want to choose St. Thomas as their home and that would easily beat any goal that was set.”
Preston confirmed the city met with Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
“We go back a long way and we talked about the success we have had with Indwell and we hope to repeat that at least one more time if not two more times.
“We had a long conversation about Project Tiny Hope and it was incredible for me to see that the minister of housing knew all about it, what it was and what it needed.
“(Elgin-Middlesex MPP Rob) Flack had been poking him with details all along so we think we can continue to count on the province as a great partner on that project, too, moving it forward.”
“I think someone without a home tonight should be top of our list as to what we should do next and those are our conversations and Indwell has been helping us with that in a big way.”
Preston continued, “We did talk with the minister of housing about what growth we would need to do, certainly from a market-rent apartment point of view.
“And the minister said it out loud twice yesterday (Tuesday) in his speech that he’s working hard with the federal government to see if we can’t remove the HST off market-rent apartment projects.
“I think that would really move a couple more of them forward. It’s a large saving for somebody building a building of that type. Some really good, unique ideas out there too.”
With tenants now moving into Indwell’s supportive housing project The Station, located on Queen Street, we asked Preston if there is any timeline on Indwell’s Phase 3 in their supportive housing target of providing 100 units.
“I’d love to have two or three of these type projects on the go all the time and I certainly have a council that also thinks the same way.
“We continue to have to look forward as to what else we can do from attainable housing, affordable housing if you will, in our community on top of housing homelessness. I think someone without a home tonight should be top of our list as to what we should do next and those are our conversations and Indwell has been helping us with that in a big way.
“We have a number of parcels of available land in St. Thomas. Again part of my conversation with Minister Clark was about how to unbrownfield them if you will or decontaminate some of those pieces of property because it makes it a lot easier to get building happening.
“Council has to make those decisions on whether land is surplus or the land is ours to use and move forward and it’s a fairly complex list right now.”
Complicating matters is the decision by the federal government to deny CMHA funding for an Indwell project in London and the YWCA/Doug Tarry Homes/Sanctuary Homes Project Tiny Hope here in St. Thomas.
“It takes a while to get through the other levels of government and the federal government, of course, has been turning down maybe more projects in this area than we’d like them to do.
“And so we’re trying to find a way if we can do it without them then how do we do it without them but we’d rather that they instead of making announcements, they actually put some action on the table.”
“Everybody is saying ‘Yes’ and I’ve just got to lasso them all and put them in the same place and let’s move forward.”
As was the case at last year’s conference, regional transit is a pressing need within the region with the imminent opening of the Amazon fulfillment Centre north of Talbotville and the Maple Leaf Foods processing plant in south London.
And, not unlike last year’s conference, Preston got the attention of the right people but still no firm commitment backed up by provincial dollars.
“The minister (Caroline Mulroney) gave us a full ear on that again and I also did a little bit of sideline work with (London) Mayor Josh Morgan and Voyago (the city’s transit provider) and some other potential suppliers and I feel very comfortable we will probably be meeting again within the next week or two weeks to discuss how we can set up regional transit between London and St. Thomas in a cost-recovery manner.
“Everybody is saying ‘Yes’ and I’ve just got to lasso them all and put them in the same place and let’s move forward.”
Because Amazon is committing to an Oct. 1 launch.
“St. Thomas is clearly on the map and the conscience of the ministers of the Province of Ontario.”
Also of note this week at the conference in London, the city met with Michael Tibollo, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions about what is desperately needed in St. Thomas.
“And that’s detox and rehab beds,” reminded Preston.
“We believe that the problem with addictions is far more solvable with treatment than it is with harm reduction and we continue to say we’re happy to do both but we won’t do only one.
“Some money has already flowed to our local CMHA through Minister Tibollo and he recognizes that this is an ongoing effort here in St. Thomas and likes the successes we’re seeing.
“Certainly in the supportive housing side, as the supportive housing side also being the mental health and addiction support.
“When we can open up a facility (The Station) and overnight treat 45 more people 24 hours a day, that’s a significant piece and he is quite pleased with where we’re heading.
“And we will continue to have ongoing conversations on how we can treat more.”
“They sure know where St. Thomas is right now.”
Preston was very upbeat about their meeting with Michael Parsa, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.
“Really to talk about the difficulty in the administration of Ontario Works and ODSP and the difficulty of moving some people from one of those files to another.
“And, how can we best serve the people of St. Thomas and where the cost of housing is going for our clients across the county because St. Thomas does all of the social services and housing work across the county.
“This was the first time we’ve met face-to-face with that minister on the file and we’re quite pleased with his knowledge of what’s going on and his questions about how he could help us.
“So we think that was another great meeting.”
Concluding his AMO synopsis Preston noted, “St. Thomas is clearly on the map and the conscience of the ministers of the Province of Ontario.
“And we got to spend time with the Premier and Minister (Vic) Fedeli on Monday out at the (Volkswagen) megasite.
“And the Premier said some very nice things about St. Thomas in his opening remarks at AMO.”
Specifically, Ford referenced the province’s growing auto sector.
“Working with great mayors like (Drew) Dilkens (of Windsor) and Joe (Preston) and Joe, our Indigenous, labour and business partner, we’re building a home-grown electric vehicle supply chain that’s going to benefit every community in this province.”
Preston stressed, “We keep getting pointed out . . . Many mayors and councillors I know across Ontario come up and say ‘congratulations, but how else did you get there?’
“And, I’ve told them how important a strategic plan was so you can measure yourself as to what you’re trying to do.
“Whether it’s job creation or services.
“I’m thankful for the Premier pointing out the special relationship we have here in St. Thomas between mayor and council and council and the City of St. Thomas.
“We’ll take advantage while people are talking about us. This is kind of what advertising is. If you can get people talking about you because of what you’ve done, then more people are listening.
“They sure know where St. Thomas is right now.”
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ARE WE TO BECOME A STRONG MAYOR CITY?
Monday at the AMO conference, Premier Ford announced strong mayor powers will be extended to 21 additional smaller municipalities with populations projected to exceed 50,000 by 2031.
Surely that would include St. Thomas and according to a background document from the province, if the mayors of these 21 municipalities commit in writing to their housing targets by Oct. 15, they will receive strong mayor powers by the end of October.
We asked Preston about the possibility for St. Thomas.
“I would think with the parameters they set, we would now be included. But, we’ll wait for the legislation to make it happen.
“I’ve said from the beginning, and will continue to say, with the council we have there is no reason for this mayor to have more powers.
“That (the legislation) was put in place in municipalities where mayor and council couldn’t always decide on growth goals or how to do them or how fast to do them and so I feel pretty good with this group I don’t have to really have too much to say about that.”
We put it to Preston, Would you have to ever resort to using those powers?
We know what we have to do and we feel comfortable St. Thomas will be able to house all the people that want to choose St. Thomas as their home and that would easily beat any goal that was set.”
I would think not. I have always said I almost don’t want them but if the province wants to put them in place for municipalities that cannot get along and cannot move forward, that’s a great place to put them and we’ll carry on with the great council we have and the great respect we have for each other and moving projects forward and our strategic plan forward.”
Of note, the city has not established any firm housing targets and we asked Preston about that.
“Significantly, here in St. Thomas, we haven’t established that goal yet because it comes with that power as we move forward, but we’ve got lots of big things going on and I would expect that even our single-family homebuilders will get truly back at it with the planning they’ve done this year and moving forward into subsequent years.
“We had a lot of conversations about housing at AMO and face-to-face with ministers. We know what we have to do and we feel comfortable St. Thomas will be able to house all the people that want to choose St. Thomas as their home and that would easily beat any goal that was set.”
YOU DON’T CALL SOMEBODY BY THEIR DISEASE
A couple of weeks ago we referenced the fourth annual International Overdose Awareness Day event coming up this Thursday (Aug. 31) in the parking lot at White and Centre Streets in St. Thomas.
It’s a cooperative effort hosted by The Nameless, the city’s emergency shelter The Inn, the CMHA, The Salvation Army, Indwell and Southwestern Public Health.
At last year’s event, we heard Mathew’s story, as recounted by his mother Anna Maria Iredale of St. Marys. She lost her son to fentanyl and you can read Mathew’s story here and that his last gift to mankind was to let someone else live.
We caught up with Anna Maria yesterday (Aug. 25) and unfortunately, she has a commitment elsewhere and will not be at this year’s gathering.
The emotion of talking about her son’s death can be heard in her voice throughout our conversation which began with the takeaway message from last year’s event.
“He did not fit the image of that person most people think of when they say – and I don’t like this word – drug addict because they are people and it is labelling them when you say addict and that’s what a lot of people do.
“You don’t call somebody by their disease.
“Mathew wasn’t that person you would see in a photo in an alleyway by himself on the ground with a needle beside his arm.
“That was not Mathew.
“He went to the gym and worked out and he was buff. He was doing very well. He joined his church, he was leading the youth group. He was doing so much. That’s who he was.
“And when he relapsed, he just struggled and stepped away more and more from some of these things.
“He couldn’t get any help with his grief for his stepbrother.”
Mathew relapsed the night he was told his stepbrother passed away.
He struggled every day with his addiction for that following year.
Mathew died on Sept. 8, 2017, in Oshawa.
Talking about his relapse after the news about his stepbrother’s death, Iredale suggests, “A lot of people aren’t prepared for more trauma.
“You know where your life is today and where your life is going, but you’re not prepared for something that might come along and fall on your head like a ton of bricks tomorrow.
“People who have struggled with addiction and they recover and are living in recovery, I think it is important to have some kind of plan for trauma.
“How would you and I handle it? I might crawl into bed. Some people might go and drink, a lot of people might go and drink, but then stop.”
So Thursday is an important day in her life.
I have many friends who have lost children. Some of these moms have just lost their kids a year or two ago.
Iredale is a member of Moms Stop The Harm, a network of Canadian families impacted by substance-use-related harms and deaths.
In her absence from next week’s St. Thomas event, Iredale acknowledges she has several messages to convey.
“Have a plan in place for future trauma for anybody that is in recovery. And people who are helping in recovery have to have a plan in place for trauma.
“Don’t give up hope. You’re living and breathing so there is always hope.
“A big hug to all of them.”
“To the world you are one person, but to one person, you may be the world.”
She recounted her first visit to St. Thomas three years ago for the inaugural event.
“I was very grateful to meet the people in The Nameless and to be a part of it.
“Because they understood. Most of my friends and family do not understand. But all these people do understand, they know somebody who died or they know someone who is struggling.
“So, it sort of feels like coming home. A part of my heart will be in St. Thomas, believe me.
“They’ve been very welcoming, warm and kind. The Nameless has been a place, a cause and the people are pretty close to my heart for quite a few years now.
Ireland picks up a plaque given to her by her father.
It reads, To the world you are one person, but to one person, you may be the world.
Iredale left us with one more snapshot of her son.
“He was a happy bricklayer,” she chuckles. “He wasn’t interested in getting into modelling. And he didn’t want to focus on his good looks.
“He wanted to be comfortable and have messy hair. When he was young, he would be a little more picky (about his hair) and he wanted to get over that and just be himself, as he was.”
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