Videos

We have seen a lot of change in the past year economically in Chatham-Kent and Director Stuart McFadden give us his insight on how we have been doing in our neck of the woods.

A lot has happened since our last update with our dynamic duo Mayor Darrin Canniff and CAO Don Shropshire including new investors in a 10 year old empty Navistar property, Vaccinations rolling steady and Ontario is set to move into Step One of the “Roadmap To Reopen” starting June 11th. We asked Darrin and Don their opinions on some of these topics.

The pandemic has certainly brought hard economic times for small businesses. But there are some out there who continue the dream of starting their own entrepreneurship. The Chatham-Kent Small Business Centre provides you with face-to-face business expert who can help you with your specific concerns. We had a great discussion with Matt Reaume and Doug Robbins who have all the resources to help you get started. For more information visit investck.ca

As we approach the 2021 summer we take a look back at 2020 where there were no summer programs. With restrictions slowly lifting our provincial governments are allowing summer programs to return. Our CK Rec program has some great summer programs lined up starting July 5th-Aug 27th. We chatted with Mitch Andersen, Coordinator of Rec services about everything they are offering. For more information visit facebook.com/ckrecreation

A lot of planning goes on behind the scenes for a building to be complete in a Municipality. David French & Tom Storey have over 60 years in the business and have worked on countless projects within Chatham-Kent. We had a great discussion on how covid has actually accelerated the creation of these projects.

Whether it's a pothole, road reconfiguration or a bridge upgrade our Municipal engineering team is always working on projects to ensure infrastructure is up to date. We chat with Chris Thibert, Director of Engineering for the Municipality about the type of work that goes into these projects. For more information on projects in the municipality visit chatham-kent.ca/constructionprojects

On our path to an economic recovery during Covid so many questions run through people's minds on when things return... one is live music. We have some great advocates to our local artist. We brought back Michael Shatte and on air personality Jay Smith for a chat to discuss what they have seen from an artist and a story teller point of view.

Chatham-Kent council made a bold move at their meeting last night, putting in place a temporary bylaw preventing clear-cutting effective immediately and expiring in 120 days. The purpose of the temporary bylaw is to pause clear-cutting and open up communication with the community about woodlot preservation. Wallaceburg councillor Aaron Hall, who brought forward the motion, said one of the priorities of the current council is environmental sustainability. Chatham-Kent’s tree cover is one of the lowest in the province. We had a chat with him about his thoughts about the discussion at the April 26th meeting.

We caught up with MPP Monte McNaughton to chat about grants and some general updates in Chatham-Kent.

Take a stroll and explore your municipality. Did you know that Chatham-Kent is home to 58 trails? Under the Chatham-Kent Trails Council and the Municipalities jurisdiction, there are another 10+ trails throughout the Municipality that are managed by the Conservation Authority and Provincial Parks. We spoke with Genevieve Champagne Coordinator, Active Transportation & Special Events with the Municipality about the work that goes into maintaining all of our beautiful trails. For more information visit /chathamkenttrails.ca/

Regular Agenda Meeting

Visit https://www.chatham-kent.ca/localgovernment/council/meetings/Pages/Council-Meeting---April-26,-2021.aspx for full agenda

Marlee Robinson chats with Mike Blazek about his portion of the exhibit, Landscape in Flux at the Thames Art Gallery. Mike Blazek was born in Czechoslovakia and travelled extensively before making Chatham-Kent his home. Blazek's practice engages time through his investigations of the in-between. Using an in-camera technique to layer and abstract his subject, Blazek physically moves the camera during exposure.