The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) annual conference begins tomorrow (Sunday) and runs through Aug. 21 in Ottawa.
At the beginning of June, we spoke with St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston regarding which provincial ministers were a priority for the city’s delegation.
At that time, the key meetings would be with the Minister of Transportation, Prabmeet Sarkaria to discuss regional transportation; Attorney General Doug Downey to address concerns facing the St. Thomas Police Service; and the new Minister of Education, Jill Dunlop.
The latter was appointed yesterday (Friday) afternoon after the resignation of Todd Smith, in the portfolio for less than three months after a June cabinet shuffle.
Tag Archives: Centre Street
Rapid development and expansion prove Element 5 is not out of its element after locating in St. Thomas
With little in the way of fanfare, Element 5 has become a significant regional success story less than four years after constructing its $50 million plant on 40 acres of land on Dennis Road in the city’s north end.
Even more impressive is the fact the company itself has been in existence for less than a decade.
It was founded in 2015 when it purchased a small cross-laminated timber (CLT)manufacturing company in Ripon, Quebec and began production.
Its St. Thomas facility, completed in 2020, is the most highly automated, state-of-the-art mass timber plant in North America.
It can annually produce 45,000 cubic metres of CLT and 5,000 cubic metres of glulam (glued-laminated timber).
A second shift was added in 2021 and last year, expansion of the existing plant began.
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VW considers the St. Thomas EV battery gigafactory ‘a high-security plant.’ However, Mayor Joe Preston says, ‘I don’t believe so.’
We learned this week that policing services at the Volkswagen EV battery plant scheduled to begin production in 2027 will be provided by an OPP tactical unit.
The decision was made at a meeting in Toronto attended by St. Thomas Mayor and police board vice-chairman Joe Preston, former St. Thomas Police Chief Chris Herridge and current Police Chief Marc Roskamp.
We can assume Preston was representing the city in his capacity as mayor as the police board was not formally invited to the meeting.
Why would they have been?
This policing directive was a foregone conclusion administered at the provincial level.
Although initially hesitant to confirm, Preston stressed the OPP policing request came from the German auto manufacturer.
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Land-locked STEGH at the crossroads: Rebuild or relocate?
In a deputation to city council this past Monday, members were updated on capacity issues at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital. President and CEO Karen Davies stressed that ahead of the pandemic, hospital staff and administration were already struggling as they dealt with capacity issues.
She adds it was not abnormal for the hospital to be at 100 per cent occupancy or beyond.
As noted during the presentation, there were close to 7,800 admissions last year. The hospital has 179 beds, with 30 to 40 of those beds occupied by patients who, the belief is, should have outside care.
Davies points out, with the announcement of the EV gigaplant coming to the city – and with it significant population growth – that will only exacerbate matters.
“We’ve got a great story to tell,” reminds Davies. “We were at capacity ahead of the pandemic.
“We did well throughout the pandemic but again, as we talked about the other night (at the council meeting), we’re maximized in our space here and that’s with our current population base.
“And we know it’s growing and we know we’ve got some significant investments coming to Elgin county that are going to put more pressure on that.”
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Municipal politics is ‘liberating’ says St. Thomas mayor-elect Joe Preston, the city’s unabashed official cheerleader
In announcing his entry into the St. Thomas mayor’s race back in July, Joe Preston stressed municipal politics is “where rubber hits the road.”
Three months later as mayor-elect, after a 550-vote win over incumbent Heather Jackson, Preston isn’t waiting until the Dec. 3 swearing-in ceremony to get the gears in motion.
In a lengthy conversation with Preston yesterday (Oct. 26), he chuckled, “They’ve already started.”
Noting the increased demands on his schedule this week, Preston continued, “The election is over, now let’s get going. I’ve got a fantastic elected council, so I’m already talking to most of them. I already had a great meeting with (city manager) Wendell Graves about where we are and what I need to know. And with a lot of different community groups who want my ear at the moment.”
