Today’s three thoughts begin with a program to support newcomers to the Clean Energy Frontier region, moves to celebrating World EV Day with a presentation to Grey County Council, and concludes with the wild weather from the Lake Huron coast earlier this week.
1) Grey Bruce Local Immigration Partnership is launching Welcoming Week, on September 10. Grey and Bruce counties have come together in support of better immigration outcomes with the Local Immigration Partnership program designed to improve the integration of newcomers in Grey Bruce.
The Local Immigration Partnership was launched in June 2020, and continues to work at a local level to ensure our communities are welcoming, inclusive and supportive while newcomers engage in social, economic, political and culture life of Grey and Bruce counties. This is critical work.
In addition to doing the right thing, this program recognizes that immigration will continue to play a key role in our economic future.
Welcoming Week is a time to celebrate newcomers, to leverage conversation and learnings. Grey Bruce Local Immigration Partnership has a number of events lined up for the week, including newcomer women’s group discussions, employer success stories, celebrations of local art and cultural exchange events. For the full listing of events and resources, check out their website: https://greybrucelip.ca/news-events.
2) This week we celebrate World EV Day, and there is no better day to share EV data. On Thursday we made a delegation to Grey County Council, marking the third of three scheduled council delegations.
My colleague Chad and I have now shared the Plugging In report with Bruce, Grey and Huron County Councils, making elected officials aware of the survey data we’ve collected and the recommendations we’ve compiled.
This report has been produced and shared to act as a tool in the climate change toolbox. We’re hopeful local municipal governments will consider the data when making public charging infrastructure decisions, and that we continue to see a collaborative approach as we welcome EV drivers to the tri-county region.
In the spirit of EV day, you should read the Plugging In report one more time—it never disappoints.
3) What a week of weather! The tri-county region of Bruce, Grey and Huron counties are no strangers to inclement weather; give us snow or sleet and we’ll power through. However, the wind and sideways rain that came in on Tuesday was a step above beyond our comfort zone.
The Town of Saugeen Shores (the communities of Port Elgin and Southampton) was hit hard with wind and rain on Tuesday afternoon (tornado pending), with power lines down, trees across roadways, even a few new home builds destroyed.
I drove through Port Elgin immediately following the storm, and the damage was extensive.
In a statement issued by Luke Charbonneau, Mayor for the Town of Saugeen Shores, he said “While there has been some significant property damage, there have been no reported injuries at this time. We are all deeply thankful for that.” Thank goodness. What a storm.
I wanted to express my gratitude to the first responders in the community, including the Public Works staff from the Town of Saugeen Shores, and local utility crews with Westario and Hydro One. Your hard work does not go unnoticed. Thank you.
Jessica Linthorne is the Director of the Clean Energy Frontier.