Category Archives: Parks and recreation

06.21.25
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Future tourism signage: Come and enjoy the sun, sand and surf at the County of Elgin’s smoke-free beaches

With the blistering hot weather steamrolling into southwestern Ontario this weekend, Lake Erie beaches likely will prove a popular destination to seek relief from the heat and humidity.
However, is that quality outdoor time sprawled on a beach towel atop the sand negatively impacted by a blue haze of cigarette smoke wafting in the breeze?
The Smoke-Free Ontario Act (SFOA) prohibits smoking in many public areas; however, municipal bylaws are still needed to cover the gaps in places like parks and beaches.
Many municipalities have smoke-free park bylaws, but beaches in the Southwestern Public Health region remain unregulated.
All of that could change by as early as next summer.

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06.14.25
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Industrial growth in the city? ‘The majority of it is reinvestment by companies that have shown that they care about St. Thomas’ – EDC CEO Sean Dyke

All factors considered, “2024 was a pretty good year for St. Thomas.”
That was the assessment of Sean Dyke at the city council meeting this past Monday (June 9).
As CEO of the St. Thomas Economic Development Corp., Dyke is a front-line worker when it comes to the city’s overall fiscal health.
He presented an economic scorecard to council members on Monday, highlighting the EDC’s relatively new vision statement.
“It is to cultivate a community that people fall in love with, where businesses thrive and prosperity blooms.
“It sounds flowery on purpose,” conceded Dylke. “We’re trying to suggest that we’re doing a lot of work behind the scenes to really help people enjoy being here in St. Thomas, whether it’s from a business or residential perspective. Tourism, of course, also.”

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05.31.25
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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.

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05.17.25
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Hospice of Elgin will provide ‘Exceptional heartfelt care for individuals and their families at end of life’

With a projected opening later this year, Hospice of Elgin will be a 17,000 sq. ft. one-floor facility at 8 South Edgeware Road in St. Thomas.
It will provide wrap-around care to individuals (and their families) at end-of-life in a welcoming ‘cottage-like’ setting. Hospice is about comfort, quality of life and care. This includes addressing pain and symptoms, while also supporting the psycho-social, spiritual, and practical needs of the individual.
Executive Director Brenda Fleming appeared before city council this past Monday (May 12) to present an update on what is affectionately known as ‘The Cottage.’
She was accompanied by Robert Furneaux, board chair.

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12.07.24
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‘The development of Yarmouth Yards will require St. Thomas to take on significant debt in the next five years.’ – Finance Director Dan Sheridan

City council gets its first opportunity to review the proposed 2025 operating and capital budgets at Monday’s (Dec. 9) meeting.
Unless there are some major concessions or creative pencil sharpening, we will not be blessed next year with a budget sporting an increase of less than three per cent over this year.
Next year’s proposed levy is almost $74.5 million, up from shy of $69 million this year, an 8.13 per cent increase.
Factor in the estimated additional growth-related tax of 3.2 per cent and ratepayers are looking at a 4.93 per cent hike to the municipal tax levy next year.
City treasurer Dan Sheridan advises, “The 2025 operating budget has been a challenge, the high rate of inflation along with the need for additional resources due to growth and development have resulted in a proposed levy increase that is higher than in previous years.”

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11.02.24
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So what will Conservative values look like in Elgin-St. Thomas-London South moving forward?

At the beginning of October, we observed it had been relatively quiet on the federal political front in St. Thomas and Elgin since the end of July when MP Karen Vecchio announced in the myFM studio she would not seek re-election in the next federal vote.
If you remember, the next day former London radio broadcaster Andrew Lawton quickly took advantage and announced his intention to seek the Conservative Party of Canada nomination in Elgin-St. Thomas-London South as the re-jigged riding will be known.
By the end of October, the political temperature here had risen significantly.
Normally in this riding over the past few decades, the federal and provincial election campaigns have been relatively sedate affairs conducted in an orderly fashion.

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08.24.24
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‘I’m not sure that it could have gone better, I smiled a lot’ – St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston following this week’s AMO conference

It appears the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference at the beginning of this week in Ottawa proved productive for many communities in attendance.
In the case of the St. Thomas delegation, the gathering had Mayor Joe Preston smiling on more than one occasion.
At the beginning of June, we outlined some of the key meetings Preston and company had lined up with provincial ministers and the link to that item is below.
We caught up with Preston yesterday (Friday) to get an executive summary of what transpired, from a St. Thomas perspective.
“I took a very powerful delegation with me,” praised Preston.
Along with Preston were city manager Michael Bradley and councillors Lori Baldwin-Sands and Steve Peters.

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07.20.24
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The creative process often starts with a clean sheet of paper, for Andrew and Maddie it begins with an open green space.

Plans are in the works to create a new identity for one vacant downtown lot and rejuvenate a rather forlorn Talbot Street parkette.
The former is the site of the Sutherland Press Building at 606 Talbot Street while the latter is Hepburn Parkette at 446 Talbot Street.
Masterminding the transformation is the team of Andrew Gunn and Maddie King of young & free press in conjunction with city staff and through the assistance of Arthur Lierman Landscape Architecture.
A similar process was undertaken in 2020 which resulted in the formation of Westlake Evans Civic Park adjacent to St. Thomas Public Library.
Gunn points out, “Both sites have incredible potential to be active spots complete with things to see and do, room for special events, and beautiful landscaping, too.

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01.13.24
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The City of St. Thomas ‘is at the forefront of this exciting new chapter for southern Ontario’s automotive sector’ – Liberal MP Filomena Tassi

city_scope_logo-cmykSt. Thomas was the recipient of another economic shot in the arm Thursday (Jan. 11) morning as announced by Filomena Tassi, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
“I am pleased to announce that the Government of Canada is investing $2 million in Amino North America to expand its facility here by over 40,000 square feet and add a new manufacturing line to meet the demands for its automotive products across North America.”
The expansion at the Highbury Avenue plant will create and maintain 45 jobs, with construction already underway.
It’s another indicator of the re-industrialization of southwestern Ontario.
That was the observation from London North Centre MP Peter Fragiskatos.

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