‘We must reflect the city’s positive working relationship’ with the Doug Ford government and certainly not appear to be critical – The watering down of support for the region’s conservation authorities

It was clearly evident that half of the members of city council are loath to ruffle the feathers of upper-tier government officials.
This relates to a matter discussed during Monday’s (Dec. 15) council meeting, dealing with the province’s move to consolidate Ontario’s 37 conservation authorities into seven regional authorities.
Under the consolidation, much of southwestern Ontario would fall into the Lake Erie Regional Conservation Authority (see map below), which would cover southwestern Ontario watersheds draining into Lake Erie, including the Thames, Grand, and Sydenham systems, supporting agriculture, industry, and shoreline communities.

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‘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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