Tag Archives: MP Joe Preston

05.29.10
by

No Garden of Eden over there on Isabel Street

city_scope_logo-cmyk
What a sad commentary that the crop getting the most attention in the St. Thomas Community Garden is the abundant supply of hot potatoes.

Let’s be honest here, the joy of horticulture at 26 Isabel Street has now been supplanted by the nastiest of political posturing — in the process choking out rational thought as if under siege by the most pervasive of weeds.

And, there are no winners. In fact, the city’s reputation has been the target of thousands of insults from internet eejits who couldn’t point out St. Thomas on a map, let alone Canada.

To be fair, both sides in the garden hoe-down must share responsibility for ratcheting up the rhetoric.

Organizer Brigitte Cosens emphatically told the T-J on Wednesday she had concerns about the inflammatory comments posted on YouTube over the past week.

She assured reporter Kyle Rea she would talk to the city resident who uploaded a video that has garnered thousands of views and pages of comments ranging from inane to downright insulting.

So, what does she do? Turn around and agree to appear on a second YouTube video that already has attracted a bushel load of rants.
Continue reading →

05.08.10
by

When the going gets tough, head out on a road trip

city_scope_logo-cmyk
Last week in this very space we outlined a sweetheart lease deal offered to Elgin St. Thomas Public Health by their landlord at 99 Edward St.

That would be the County of Elgin, which is willing to cut the lease rate in half.

So how did CEO Cynthia St. John respond to this generous incentive?

On Tuesday, 11 managers trundled on up to Owen Sound to check out the spanking new building that houses Grey-Bruce Health Unit. The building has been described as, “extravagant” and OPSEU notes, “At least $20 million has been budgeted for this building, dubbed the ‘copper elephant’ by local media.”

As we understand it, that organization took on the financing of the building and we can only speculate St. John relishes the opportunity to pursue a similar financial route.
Continue reading →

04.24.10
by

Fate of the $40,000 city grant nothing but a kerfuffle

city_scope_logo-cmyk

In what surely has to be one of the oddest television interview segments in some time, Dan Reith, host of Politically Speaking, sat opposite Mark Cosens earlier this month and deftly forced the mayoral wannabe into damage control mode.

The bombshell question from Reith that had Cosens backpedaling furiously came right out of left field, as follows.

“Yourself, or a company controlled by you, received a $40,000 community improvement loan from the city which, subsequent to the bankruptcy filing, still remains outstanding and owing to the city. Is that true?”

What followed is nothing short of a Gray Line Mystery Tour, starting with this opening rebuttal from Cosens.

“That is something I’m really not able to talk to in a sense it wasn’t a decision I made. It was a decision made by the city, without my involvement in that decision and I don’t think that’s something that can be held against me for running for mayor because of that.

“It’s something that hasn’t been fully disclosed at this point in time either. So, that may get cleared up as well. At this point in time, it’s hard to say what that might do to my bid.”
Continue reading →

11.21.09
by

Both sides shoot from the hip in gun registry debate

city_scope_logo-cmyk
Don’t scrap the national gun registry, instead fix it, advised St. Thomas Police Chief Bill Lynch on the front page of last Saturday’s Times-Journal.
Lynch told the T-J he supports the position of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police that the current registry, even with its flaws, should be maintained.
He added police see the registry as a valuable tool front line officers use often when answering calls, especially ones like domestic disturbances.
“Historically, there has been a lot of controversy about it,” Lynch admitted. “It could be more efficient, probably.”
But the answer is not to tear it down or get it rid of it, he believes.
“Let’s try to fix what we have,” he suggested.
Continue reading →

11.21.09
by

A dozen affordable rental housing units announced for St. Thomas

ST. THOMAS, ON, Nov. 20 /CNW/ – The Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, and the City of St.Thomas celebrated the start of construction of 12 affordable rental units in two housing developments. The developments are supported by over $924,000 in funding through the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program.

Joe Preston, Member of Parliament for Elgin-Middlesex-London, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and Steve Peters, Member of Provincial Parliament for Elgin-Middlesex-London on behalf of the Government of Ontario; along with Cliff Barwick, Mayor of St.Thomas, made the announcement.
Continue reading →

11.11.09
by

Closed Sterling plant could be going green

sterling-sign

Former Sterling Truck plant in St. Thomas


A deal is in the works to turn the closed-down Sterling Truck plant in St. Thomas into a green energy manufacturer, the area’s MP says.

A national Canadian manufacturer has signed a memorandum of agreement to share technology with another industry that develops green energy platforms, including solar energy, with the intention to manufacture at the St. Thomas plant, MP Joe Preston (PC — Elgin-Middlesex-London) said yesterday.

“We are not at the point where we can say it will happen,” Preston cautioned. “But memorandums of agreements have been signed. There is interest out there. It feels good. We have to start sharing any good news, anything that is positive.”

The new manufacturer has “elements of many different types of green energy,” but solar panel production is a big part of it, he said.

04.11.09
by

City Scope update: You owe us an explanation, Joe and Steve

city_scope_logo-cmyk
In February, two levels of government doled out millions of dollars in Building Canada infrastructure funding and St. Thomas was shut out.
There was no shortage of cash to lavish on the rest of Elgin. In fact, Aylmer, Bayham, Dutton/Dunwich, Malahide, Southwold and the county itself hit paydirt on projects ranging from road and sewer maintenance to facility upgrades.
The exclusion of St. Thomas from the funding beneficiaries had council, city staff, Police Chief Bill Lynch and the rest of the St. Thomas Police Service scratching their heads.
You see the provincial and federal dollars were pegged for construction of a badly-needed police headquarters which, when completed, would have eased the burden somewhat on the strained courts that share the Colin McGregor Justice Building.
Continue reading →

04.06.09
by

You owe us an explanation, Joe and Steve

Posted by Ian:
In February, two levels of government doled out millions of dollars in Build Canada infrastructure funding and St. Thomas was shut out.
There was no shortage of cash to lavish on the rest of Elgin. In fact, Aylmer, Bayham, Dutton/Dunwich, Malahide, Southwold and the county itself hit paydirt on projects ranging from road and sewer maintenance to facility upgrades.
The exclusion of St. Thomas from the funding beneficiaries had council, city staff, Police Chief Bill Lynch and the rest of the St. Thomas Police Service scratching their heads.
Continue reading →

02.14.09
by

St. Thomas shut out of infrastructure funds

Posted by Ian:
Two levels of government dole out millions in infrastructure funding on Friday and St. Thomas is shut out. So is Central Elgin which was looking for an investment in Port Stanley harbour. Plenty of money to lavish on the rest of Elgin. What happened in St. Thomas? Is it our elected leadership or lack of a CAO to properly administer the corporation or perhaps no concrete business plan for the future? Any money coming to St. Thomas was slated for a new police HQ.
Details of the announcement follow.
Infrastructure funding