NEWS

Local news in and around Aylmer and Elgin County

Doctor calls for more provincial funding for staff

May 5, 2023 | 0 Comments

Family physicians need more support from other health-care and office professionals to cope with a growing shortage of doctors in Ontario, Dr. Kellie Scott of St. Thomas says, as well as modernized electronic systems for referring patients to specialists and other health care services. She’s been practising in St. Thomas for 17 years, explaining she…

Size matters in electric vehicle supply chain

April 26, 2023 | 0 Comments

The dimensions of the Volkswagen electric vehicle (EV) battery cell “gigafactory” to be completed in St. Thomas by 2027 were measured in proud grins, remarkable facts and patriotic rhetoric at the official project launch on Friday, April 21. “What a day. What a month. What a place to be,” said St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston,…

Ground broken for new school

April 26, 2023 | 0 Comments

Mount Salem Christian School, after 35 years of renting space for classes from Mount Salem Community Church, broke ground for a new $9.1-million building of its own on Saturday, April 22. “It’s time for this 35-year-old to move out of its parents’ basement,” former Principal Lena Wiebe told about 200 spectators who attended the groundbreaking…

Missing man found

April 21, 2023 | 0 Comments

Elgin Ontario Provincial Police reported Monday night, April 24, that a missing Malahide man, 18, had been found.  

Two injured in home invasion

April 20, 2023 | 0 Comments

Elgin Ontario Provincial Police are investigating a “home invasion” that left two residents injured at a house on Nova Scotia Line in Malahide on Tuesday, April 18, at about 6:25 p.m. Four unknown persons forced their way into the home and stole cash and other items. Two residents were home at the time., and both…

Dogs get a spring cleaning

April 15, 2023 | 0 Comments

Nikola Vaessen, left, and Aniela Becerla Caceres of Port Stanley and District Leos gave a reluctant dog a wash during a fundraiser at the Pet Valu store in St. Thomas on Saturday, April 15. The Leos were raising money to train dog guides for the blind, and also plan a fundraising walk for the same…

Bayham okays reduced scope for community centre improvements

April 12, 2023 | 0 Comments

Bayham councillors, in a split 3-2 vote on Thursday, April 6, approved proceeding with improvements to the Straffordville Community Centre at a cost of $2.3-million, but that doesn’t include a $200,000 contingency fund included in the original estimates for the work. The original expected cost of the improvements, both inside and outside the community centre,…

Rezoning rejected to convert store to apartments

April 12, 2023 | 0 Comments

Aylmer councillors voted 4-3 on Wednesday, April 5, to reject an application to rezone 230 John St. N., formerly a Home Hardware store, into an eight-unit apartment building. The store is now owned by Mike Hutchinson Properties Inc. No neighbours objected to the proposed rezoning, but a narrow majority of councillors did. Their concerns included the…

House fire started with gasoline

April 5, 2023 | 1 Comment

A fire that destroyed a new house that had just been built on Aspen Parkway in Aylmer on March 24 at about 2:30 a.m. was deliberately started with “a large amount of gasoline that exploded,” Aylmer Police have revealed. Smoldering clothing was found near the house as police arrived, leading to the belief that one…

Police seek hit-and-run driver

April 5, 2023 | 0 Comments

Elgin Ontario Provincial Police are looking for the driver, believed to be in his mid-50s, of a dark-coloured Ford sports-utility vehicle with a missing rear window who fled the scene of a collision that injured a motorcyclist, 24. Const. Brett Phair said the crash took place at the intersection of John Wise Line and Quaker…

Planned Belmont school just got bigger

March 31, 2023 | 0 Comments

A much-delayed new public elementary school to be built in Belmont will see its expected capacity grow to 507 pupils from the previously approved 354, Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack announced on Friday, March 31. He said the provincial government had approved an expansion of the previous plan, as well as additional funding of $3.4-million, bringing…

Malahide woman found safe

March 31, 2023 | 0 Comments

Elgin Ontario Provincial Police reported Saturday, April 1, that a missing woman, 33, from Malahide tahat they had been seeking had been found safe.