Hello, subscribers to London Ontario Online News. As we continue to seek cosmic awareness in the consensus reality we call Canada’s London, a great deal of information tries to seep into our minds. Now, right here - yes - is where we meditate upon municipal issues and filter out the deadly space rays to make everything easier to understand1. Here’s a COUNCIL CATCHUP and a bit more, on a wavelength that suits human brains.
And this is London, Ontario, the city which is quite nice, actually, whatever people might say, despite the constant, never-ending arguments we have about, well, everything, really.
Hey, let’s have a nice moment and vote to name London’s street sweeper. I voted for Sweep Caroline but I’d also be happy with Obi-wan Cleanobi. Nice comms work from the City there.
London is a place filled with great stories, such this pizza robot factory, although I hope they have safeguards in case the robots turn evil and throw pineapple at people. And, as the pineapple flies2, vital local issues run through City Hall constantly and we need to pay attention. So, let’s.
As you know, this Scottish person is at your service to curate the issues and present accurate information from verifiable sources. This is Strategic Communications put to work as Public Interest Journalism, and this is your leader briefing. It’s informational, scrollable, balanced and calm.
Maybe a wee bit sarcastic, too. Hey, it’s still free.
This week, next week, oh I feel weak
Today’s earworm, presented as an embed so you can let it run while you read, if you like. I realized that doing it this way means it can be background music.
I’ll work through updates that are already out there, leading with the issues. That’s dominated by the Full Council meeting that took place on Tuesday afternoon, evening, and much of the ensuing year in some kind of pocket dimension, apparently. I watched what I could online and have been in touch in targeted ways because full engagement with the process at City Hall can melt the brain faster than a deadly space ray3. And, next week’s committee agendas have again shown up early, and are already being converted into stories by local media. The link is here but nooooooo etc4.
Here are the highlights, lowlights and mud fights for your scrolling pleasure. As always, you can skim the headings and look for issues that interest you, or read it all and wonder if the deadly space ray5 got you.
Zap!
Homelessness
I want to open with this one, to spotlight it well. Somehow, as the weather has become warmer, conversation in the council chamber has changed. Where once everyone was demanding better services for the homeless, it was now an argument about paying for those services.
Here’s the CTV London report, from Daryl Newcombe, of course: London shelter village cuts encampments, but operating costs spark debate
Please read that. We’ll hang out while you do.
And, we’re back with some context. This wasn’t buyer’s remorse. This is democracy by social media. Councillor Susan Stevenson6 actually said “I posted this on Facebook and..” as her opener in justifying why she was being critical of costs. This implies that one goal of local government is to satisfy Councillor Stevenson’s social media followers, whoever, wherever or whatever they may be.
Opinion alert: This chills my blood. If you’re using social media to complain that a homeless person can watch TV, you are, in my opinion, a special kind of weasel and I’m sorry your cold-hearted mummy didn’t love you enough. And, even worse, it’s a problematic channel that has no place in the democratic process. It’s toxic to our society and must not be encouraged. Social media trolls should not have a voice in the council chamber. It’s just wrong.
Surviving these Dickinsian times
I liked this comment from Kevin Dickins, Deputy City Manager heading up these services. (Lifted from CTV.)
“The cost is the cost,” Dickins said. “We hear it too, that everybody can build these things cheaper-- but nobody was. And that services can be found that are better or different-- but they weren’t available. So we’re in the reality we’re in.”
Well said. Nobody was complaining about the Cheese Factory Road sheds being too nice when it was -20 with the windchill. As Mr. Dickins so boldly and correctly said, City staff followed direction and kept people alive. And these folks were already using services, which also have a cost. And the TVs were donated7. And there’s the community cost from encampments and the like. And so on. Sigh.
Drug issues
Also in this general area, here’s a quick hit about agency funding, which we’ve touched on a few times lately.
Council approves bridge funding while frontline homelessness agencies await new federal program
And Craig Needles was on related issues for his podcast. You can hear discussion here.
Moving on.
Housing
I don’t have a story link here. More of an observation.
Here’s a rare time when I’ll ask you to visit london.ca for info. Not the Full Council agenda, which is very long and doesn’t offer the meeting resources too readily. Instead, have a look at the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee from last week, and specifically item 2.2. There’s an attachment that shows this is indeed a reference to Mayoral Direction 2026-001: Creation of an Affordable Home Ownership Incentive Program.
You may recall this program from when it was heavily, heavily announced at the State of the City in January. And of course I’ve followed it since, writing pieces such as this about the incentive’s painful birth.
Further points I wish to make:
I see no mention of the London Homebuilders Association there, despite its involvement at the time of the announcement.
This is federal money, we might note, and nobody from that tier of government has had any public prominence related to it.
And the conversation on this has evolved from on-stage razzle-dazzle8 into a neutrally-worded update staff report that went through council on Tuesday without a word. In fact, it was included in an omnibus motion with routine matters and no councillor took up the mayor’s invitation to have anything ‘pulled’ from that for discussion. That was it.
Opinion alert: At one point, we wondered aloud if this program was dead. It’s so dead that I think it visited Ebeneezer Scrooge in the middle of the night. But its death was very quiet indeed.
Public services - a new sports centre
Here’s a story to celebrate, if you like getting sweaty and out of breath, which I do not. City partners with Western Fair on $7.2M multi-use gym project: CTV and LFP.
This one’s going to show up on flyers. What good timing, in an election year!
Planning and environment
And the most remarkable planning issue of the week: swapping land with developers so they can build houses.
It’s really controversial and I see lots of online anger about it.
Want to hear more about this issue (in general)? Matt Brown, podcaster and former mayor, tells me this relevant episode is among his most popular. It’s a discussion with prominent local citizen Jay Menard, who was part of an advisory committee on accessibility issues.
EDIT FOR CLARITY: different project, similar issues around land use.
Roads and construction
Highbury delays will be worth it, we are told.
And businesses are concerned about disruption from BRT work in south London. That’s the Freeps, but this story is doing the rounds, with some kind of background work fuelling it.
And, more about streets than roads, we have e-scooters coming up in next week’s agendas. This is a staff report on options, which will remain paper talk while everyone goes to the polls, of course. It’s another one of those vote-friendly, city-wide stories involving Councillor Corrine Rahman9.
And no more cuts across campus
This is a huge issue for London, where the relationship between town and gown has long been strained by who uses which road and who looks after it. In this new plan, it looks like Western will stop folks like me (a local resident) from cutting through. That’s going to be impactful change, especially for other nearby routes.
Western University maps out decades-long vision for campus growth
Education
Not City Hall but important, because education is vital.
NEW: Who’s running
The nominations open on May 1 - that’s tomorrow! I hear a few folks will show up with papers and I’ll try to keep a list and we’ll make this a regular feature, I think. I’ll be kicking around downtown10, so please say hi if you’re passing.
Jack Moulton of the Freeps has served up this guide to the process: link. And former councillor Cheryl Miller spoke to Mike Stubbs about what it’s like to run. (Lmk if that link is bad. It’s defaulting to Spotify for me.)
Roger Caranci is running in Ward 1
And we have our first big announcement! Roger Caranci, former councillor and 2014 mayoral candidate, is running in Ward 1 against Hadleigh McAlister. This link should take you to Devon Peacock’s radio show, where Roger did his big reveal.
Remember when Craig Needles and I talked about the race to come? I’ll keep saying this: every incumbent is vulnerable with the right challenger. With a challenger that strong - just look at those local biz connections - it immediately appears we’ll say goodbye to Hadleigh. But of course anything can happen.
Ward 1 is now a race.
We are done now
I was taking an afternoon off but life keeps happening faster than I’d like. I’ll be back with a ROUNDUP tomorrow and I do still have BONUS content to come, honest.
And tomorrow we will lurk downtown and look out for political hopefuls clutching papers. What larks!
Please tell your friends about all this. Thanks for reading!
- Mike
As usual I’m regretting the metaphor but round here we commit to the bit. I’d like to confirm there are no “deadly space rays” at City Hall.
Nobody threw any pineapple.
Which does not exist.
No.
Will she run for mayor? Lots of city-wide issues on her docket.
There are some miserable bastards in the world and I have no patience for them.
You can Google Richard Gere on your own.
Will SHE run for mayor?
My main goal for the day is to deliver a 12-inch statue of the Golden Age Green Lantern, which I am swapping for nine hardback books. I may be distracted.
Final council meeting before the nomination period opens for the 2026 municipal election tomorrow morning. A LOT on the agenda. Save yourself from watch hours of video and give this a read. A nice combo of facts sprinkled with humour and some editorial comments on the side.