Category Archives: Federal politics

10.17.26
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St. Thomas secures close to $20 million to boost affordable housing and infrastructure in exchange for reducing development charges

A funding announcement Thursday (Oct. 15) in St. Thomas is an important step toward making housing projects more viable and building more homes.
The city is receiving up to $19.6 million in exchange for reducing development charges for three years.
The provincial and federal funding is through the Development Charge Reduction Program.
MP Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, stressed the announcement “Is creating the conditions to ensure communities like St. Thomas can continue to grow and thrive.”
He continued, “There’s no doubt we’re in an affordability crisis in many ways, but especially when you talk about housing. That is the crisis of the day. And we’re trying to change that.
“And what you need to do to change that is work with all levels of government, federally, provincially, and municipally, and I think that is exactly what is happening here today.

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10.03.26
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‘I want to make sure that the community that has moved mountains to make this happen is getting the 3,000 jobs that made all that worthwhile’ – MP Andrew Lawton on last week’s PowerCo announcement

Following last week’s PowerCo announcement, MP Andrew Lawton cautioned that the community has the right to know what’s being done to ensure the promised jobs materialize.
You can read last Saturday’s item here.
This comes in light of the federal government offering up to $13 billion in subsidies.
On Sept. 24, Powerco announced that production at the massive EV battery factory in St. Thomas has been pushed back until some time in 2029, although the move is not being painted as a step back.
Lawton, Conservative MP for Elgin-St. Thomas-London South, said it is important to acknowledge work is proceeding at the site.
“Look, we have to be very clear to acknowledge that there is work going on. And even the announcement from PowerCo indicates they intend to see this project through.

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09.12.26
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Railway Lands Area Master Plan presents a dramatic view of the shape of things to come in St. Thomas

Two weeks ago, we documented the public meeting held at the CASO station to garner public input on the Preferred Master Plan for the railway lands downtown.
The plan will identify areas for development and redevelopment, permitted land uses, transportation and mobility connections, parks, public service/community uses, and infrastructure strategies.
All of this while recognizing the historical significance of the railway lands and the Downtown St. Thomas Heritage Conservation District to ensure an appropriate transition of new development to low-rise residential areas.
In part, this follows the recent sale of a parcel of land at the Elgin County Railway Museum to Doug Tarry Homes for a planned residential development.
You can read that item here.

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08.08.26
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‘Public safety is the foundation of every healthy community’ – St. Thomas Police Chief Marc Roskamp

A comprehensive report from St. Thomas Police Chief Marc Roskamp on public safety is included on the agenda for Monday’s (Aug. 10) city council meeting.
We sat down with the chief last week for a lengthy discussion on the report and related matters, including Bill C-14,  the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act.
More on that later in this post.
Roskamp’s report to council was initially presented to the Police Services Board last month and addressed the 2025 Crime Severity Index values as reported by Statistics Canada.
The Crime Severity Index (CSI) is a measure of police-reported crime that considers both the volume and relative seriousness of criminal offences. Unlike a traditional crime rate, which counts all offences equally, the CSI assigns greater weight to more serious offences based on sentencing patterns established through Canada’s criminal justice system.

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08.01.26
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‘With every milestone reached, we sustain St. Thomas’ growth for decades to come.’ – Vic Fedeli, Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade

For a glimpse at the shape of things to come for St. Thomas, simply drive to the perimeter of the Yarmouth Yards industrial park.
An equally dramatic preview is now available through the transformation of the road infrastructure on the western doorstep to St. Thomas.
The Talbotville Bypass (photo below) has rapidly displaced the farmland between Wonderland Road and Hwy. 4 north of Talbotville and is due for completion by the end of next year.
And this past week, the twinning of Hwy. 3 in St. Thomas was officially launched with a ceremony on the roadway, just west of the Centennial Avenue roundabout.
Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack was joined by Prabmeet Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation and Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, on Tuesday morning to announce the start of advance work, including utility relocations and grading.

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07.11.26
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‘We do not require conservation authorities to protect, preserve, and conserve what we need to environmentally in the province’ – Leith Coghlin, EnPointe Public Affairs

Shortly after posting last week’s column, the following comment appeared on the City Scope Facebook page.
“That and they are unmeasured, anti-democratic, and fail in their original mandates. 63 subnational jurisdictions in North America, every one of them, save Ontario, get by without conservation authorities.
“And several have far better conservation outcomes that are actually measured, monitored, and reported upon.”
The comment was posted by Leith Coghlin, a St. Thomas resident who is Managing Director of EnPointe Public Affairs, a London-based advocacy and public policy analysis firm.
Coghlin released a response to Conservation Ontario’s comments in November, 2020 regarding proposed changes to conservation authorities.
Last week, we spoke with Morgaine Griffin, chair of the Catfish Creek Conservation Authority, on the province’s plan to consolidate the existing 36 conservation authorities into 9 regional bodies. You can read that item here.

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07.04.26
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‘I don’t think there was a single conservation authority that wanted to be forcibly combined with any of their neighbours’ – Catfish Creek Conservation Authority board chair Morgaine Griffin

To Premier Doug Ford, it would seem that conservation authorities are annoyances that just get in the way of the province’s land developers.
And so, it is full speed ahead with consolidating the current 36 authorities into nine regional authorities.
Under the original consolidation scheme, much of southwestern Ontario would have been lumped into the Lake Erie Regional Conservation Authority, which would have covered watersheds draining into Lake Erie, including the Thames, Grand, and Sydenham systems, supporting agriculture, industry, and shoreline communities.
In November of last year, we spoke with Dusty Underhill, General Manager of the Catfish Creek Conservation Authority, who conceded the word ‘consolidation’ is certainly not music to his ears.

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06.27.26
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‘Dangerous people who commit serious crimes should not expect to be released on bail’ – Justice Minister Sean Fraser

In February of this year, we wrote at length on Bill C-14, the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, which reforms Canada’s bail and sentencing laws, including changes to reverse-onus provisions, bail conditions, sentencing factors, and restrictions on house arrest, to increase public safety.
The bill received Royal Assent on June 15, officially passing into law. The majority of the changes and stricter measures will officially come into force on July 15.
There was local input on Bill C-14 on a couple of levels.
Elgin-St. Thomas-London South MP Andrew Lawton, who sits on the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, put forth an amendment that was included in the final bill, although not without some tweaking.

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06.20.26
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‘The dream of home ownership should always be within reach’ – St. Thomas homebuilder Doug Tarry

“We’re not so much in a housing crisis; we are in an affordability crisis.”

That was the observation this week from Rob Flack, the province’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

He was speaking Monday afternoon at Geerlinks Home Hardware, as he toured several of the outlets in Elgin-Middlesex-London with Home Hardware President and CEO Ian White (second from right in the photo below).

For the St. Thomas stop, they were joined by Mayor Joe Preston and homebuilder Doug Tarry.

Flack continued, “And everybody knows that things are expensive in this world these days. Everything has gone up in price, especially housing.

And when that happens, people put their thumb on the pause button, Number 1.

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