Tag Archives: David Goodwin

04.04.26
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The updated model of care at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital results in the loss of 26 PSWs

St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital is updating its model of care, which will result in the elimination of 26 full-time Personal Support Worker positions.

The announcement came on the same day that London Health Sciences Centre indicated more than 200 nursing positions will be eliminated through voluntary resignations or retirements over the next three to five years.

According to a hospital spokesperson, there will be no media release outlining the rationale behind the model of care changes or additional details on what these changes might look like.

The method of care update at STEGH is designed to better meet the needs of patients whose medical conditions have become increasingly complex.

The spokesperson advised in a text message that more patients now require frequent nursing assessments, complex medication management, and timely clinical interventions

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01.17.26
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Bill C-9: Does it represent an attack on religious freedom, or is the reaction in some corners an example of Maple MAGA?

It appears that issues related to housing, food prices, energy nationalism, and tariffs have been supplanted – if only temporarily – by a group of Conservative MPs, including Elgin-St. Thomas-London South MP, Andrew Lawton.
The hot-button issue of late appears to be religious freedom, and Lawton has been busy appearing at and hosting town hall meetings across the country, including an event this week in Saskatoon.
Some MPs, particularly in Ontario and BC, are pushing back against Bill C-9, an Act to amend the Criminal Code (hate propaganda, hate crime and access to religious or cultural places.)
Some religious leaders believe the bill could remove a key legal protection for people of faith. Bill C-9 has been amended to remove religious defence under the Criminal Code. See the item below from David Goodwin.

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01.03.26
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Numerous attempts to bury the problem now leave the St. Thomas Cemetery Company staring down a financial crisis

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.

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06.07.25
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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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05.03.25
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The key to his success in Elgin-St. Thomas-London South? ‘The people saw through a lot of the noise’ – Andrew Lawton

Following his victory speech Monday night at the Columbus Club, MP-elect Andrew Lawton faced his first media scrum.
An opportunity for David Menzies, the chapeau-festooned reporter with Rebel News, to trot out the victim card in characterizing Lawton’s successful campaign.
“Look at some of the mainstream media coverage, which was perhaps unfair at best, vicious at worst,” suggested Menzies.
” You had demonstrators picketing outside your campaign office. So in other words, it wasn’t just you going up against the Liberal, NDP and PPC candidates, it was the media, special vested interest groups, and yet you still won.
“What do you say, reflecting back on that?”

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04.26.25
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The four federal candidates in Elgin-St. Thomas-London South faced off for the first – and only – time in 2025 election campaign

The final all-candidate debate was held this past Wednesday at the Keystone Complex in Shedden, with all four candidates participating, fielding pre-selected, ag-related questions.
The Elgin Federation of Agriculture hosted the event, and moderated by President Greg Fentie in front of a gathering of approximately 100 attendees.
The four candidates are Stephen R. Campbell, People’s Party of Canada; David Goodwin, Liberal Party of Canada; Andrew Lawton, Conservative Party of Canada; and Paul Pighin, New Democratic Party.
The only occasion where all four were together was the meet and greet hosted by the St. Thomas and District Chamber of Commerce at the CASO station in St. Thomas.

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04.19.25
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Strong Mayor Powers not required for St. Thomas: ‘We have a council that gets stuff done because it agrees with the direction of the city’ – Mayor Joe Preston

The province proposes expanding strong mayor powers to the heads of councils in another 169 municipalities.
This would include St. Thomas, Aylmer, the Municipality of Central Elgin and the Township of Malahide.
The intent is to streamline local governance and help ensure municipalities have the necessary tools to reduce obstacles hindering new housing and infrastructure development.
In a media release, Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, stressed, “Heads of Council are key partners in our efforts to build homes and infrastructure across the province.

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03.29.25
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Indwell’s adaptive reuse of Balaclava Street Public School is ‘a metaphor for life as well’ – Indwell CEO John Neven

“Nobody is better than the City of St. Thomas at being able to make a vision, make it clear, get behind it with an initial investment and then go after and bring along the province and the federal government.”
High praise indeed, and from an individual at home partnering with the city.
Jeff Neven is the CEO of Indwell, a Christian charity dedicated to providing affordable housing and community support, which now owns or operates two housing projects in St. Thomas. Railway City Lofts on Talbot Street above the transit centre and The Station, located on Queen Street.
And on Monday of this week, it was announced that a new supportive housing project is coming to St. Thomas, thanks to that partnership.
The former Balaclava Street Public School will be transformed into 78 units of supportive housing, equipped with essential supports to assist residents.

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03.22.25
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‘You put the constituents first’ – David Goodwin, Liberal Party nominee in Elgin-St. Thomas-London South

By tomorrow (Sunday), we will know when Ontario residents will again cast a ballot, accompanied by the rest of Canada.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to favour an election on April 28.
This will be the first federal vote locally in the new riding of Elgin-St. Thomas-London South.
As a refresher, thanks to the efforts of MP Karen Vecchio, her grassroots campaigning paid off when in February of 2023, the report by the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario was tabled in the House of Commons and the boundary adjustment in Elgin-Middlesex-London riding turned out to be far less drastic – and disruptive – than first proposed.

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