For the second time in a decade, the St. Thomas Cemetery Company has begun the process of abandoning St. Thomas Cemetery (West Avenue) and South Park Cemetery, south of the city.
In 2015, the board of directors had served notice that it would seek to abandon the two burying grounds if the long-standing city grant wasn’t reinstated.
And in October of that year, city council voted to extend the cemetery board of directors a financial lifeline of sorts by way of a $20,000 operating grant. Combined with the first instalment in April of $30,000, it left them $9,000 short of the amount requested during 2015’s budget deliberations.
Category Archives: Federal politics
‘St. Thomas is exactly where we need to be’ – Vianode CEO Burkhard Straube in announcing a $3.2 billion investment in the city
With the Yarmouth Yards industrial park serving as a backdrop, Ontario Premier Doug Ford called Thursday’s (Nov. 20) announcement of a $3.2 billion investment by Norwegian firm Vianode a historic milestone for southwestern Ontario and a major win for workers.The ceremonial ground-breaking was on the site of what will become a state-of-the-art synthetic anode graphite manufacturing facility that will initially result in 300 new, good-paying jobs.
Anode graphite is a critical component in electric vehicle batteries, nuclear reactors, semiconductors, aerospace and defence systems, steelmaking and other strategic industries.
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‘Our communities feel abandoned by the very institutions meant to protect them.’ – St. Thomas Police Chief Marc Roskamp
“In communities plagued by chronic criminality, safety seems to have become a privilege instead of a fundamental right.”A compelling observation from St. Thomas Police Chief Marc Roskamp.
It was not spoken at city hall during a council meeting; instead, it was delivered Thursday afternoon via video conferencing to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights at their meeting in the Wellington Building in Ottawa.
Elgin-St. Thomas-London South MP Andrew Lawton sits on the committee, as does Brantford-Brant Conservative MP Larry Brock, who visited St. Thomas in July for a roundtable discussion to examine the evolving challenges impacting public safety in St. Thomas and Aylmer.
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PowerCo launches recruitment campaign: ‘We are committed and we really want to be the future for St. Thomas’
“We are very excited, and we also talked as a team and said this is the time when we really want to go out there and again talk about the progress we’re making. So we are excited to create more jobs for St. Thomas and the region.”And that is precisely what transpired on Wednesday morning as Norman Wickboldt, Chief Human Resources Officer at PowerCo Canada, launched a hiring campaign with high-quality, well-paying jobs available at what will become the largest EV battery plant in Canada.
PowerCo, a Volkswagen subsidiary, has already hired about 200 employees working out of their Talbot Street office in the downtown core, and the plan is to open a second office at the Yarmouth Yards industrial park.
And now, about 50 new high-quality, well-paying jobs have been posted on the PowerCo website.
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Andrew Lawton uses the occasion of the MP-MPP luncheon to announce the launch of his business advisory roundtables
Normally, events like the MP-MPP Luncheon and Mayor’s Luncheon, hosted each year by the St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce, are fairly subdued gatherings.There was a luncheon a couple of years ago, following the significant land acquisition by the City of St. Thomas, where former Central Elgin Mayor Sally Martyn dominated the Q&A period, targeting Mayor Joe Preston.
But despite the stifling heat inside the Elgin County Railway Museum this past Monday (July 28), this MP-MPP get-together did have its moments, no doubt the result of the Trump tariffs impacting almost every facet of life as we know it.
The answer to literally all questions directed toward the two participants ultimately referenced the tariffs in some form.
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Returning balance to Canada’s criminal justice system the subject of a community think tank held in St. Thomas
A roundtable discussion was held on Thursday (July 24) to examine the evolving challenges impacting public safety in St. Thomas and Aylmer.In attendance were St. Thomas Police Chief Marc Roskamp, Aylmer Police Chief Kyle Johnstone, along with deputy chiefs from both services and Elgin-St. Thomas-London South MP Andrew Lawton and Brantford-Brant MP Larry Brock.
The two Conservative MPs are members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
Front and centre was the growing concern over repeat offenders, a matter well documented in both municipalities.
The need was expressed for stronger accountability to curb chronic offending and reduce the burden on victims and frontline responders.
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A spike in St. Thomas arson incidents sparks calls for action on the catch and release of ‘destructive and violent criminals’
St. Thomas was rocked this week by a pair of arson-related fires, which, thankfully, did not result in any injuries.A blaze early Sunday morning destroyed part of the Acacia Block on Talbot Street, which dates back to 1881.
A couple of young entrepreneurs were close to completing renovations on the building adjacent to the Railway City Transit terminal that would have housed commercial operations on the ground floor and apartments on the second level.
Earlier this year, the ground floor was the campaign headquarters for Elgin-St. Thomas-London South MP Andrew Lawton.
Joseph Penfound was quickly apprehended on Sunday morning, and the accused, “a prolific offender,” according to St. Thomas Police, has been charged with arson along with a couple of other offences.
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The return of School Resource Officers – ‘It’s important for youth to connect with police officers as people’
As part of the Supporting Children and Students Act, introduced by the Ford government at the end of last month, is a provision whereby public school boards would be required to implement School Resource Officer (SRO) programs in areas where they are offered by local police services.This is to take effect in the fall.
In 2021, the Thames Valley District School Board hit the pause button on the School Resource Officer program board-wide.
That prompted Dave Jenkins, chair of the Elgin Group Police Services Board, to advocate for a return of the SRO program.
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Elgin-St. Thomas-London South MP Andrew Lawton puts the Liberals ‘on notice’
The riding’s newest MP was sworn in on Monday, and although he was still awaiting an office where he could focus his attention, Andrew Lawton joked there was always a vacant park bench or his hotel room, which would afford him an impromptu workspace.And before the week was over, Lawton had a warning for Liberal MPs.
Connecting with the Elgin-St. Thomas-London South MP later that day he noted, “This is a chamber that I’ve studied and observed for years in my media career, and then to walk in on the floor wearing a Member of Parliament pin is a really surreal feeling.
“And it really underscores the honour it is to be here and to be representing the people of Elgin-St. Thomas-London South.
