Weekly Regional Business Intelligence | | | Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc. | | | PowerCo pushes St. Thomas opening to 2029
PowerCo’s St. Thomas battery plant won’t open until 2029, two years later than planned, the VW subsidiary said this week. The company slipped the news into the second-last paragraph of a press release announcing that it had hired Mississauga-based construction firm EllisDon as general contractor on the $7-billion plant. For most of this year, questions have swirled over the plant, and a sense had developed that it wasn’t whether the 2027 date would have to be reassessed, but when PowerCo would end up making alterations to the timeline. “St. Thomas is now expected to begin operations in 2029 to accommodate next-generation battery technology, while retaining the flexibility to scale over time as market conditions evolve,” the release said. No concrete reason was given for the delay, only a nod to “evolving market demand [and] technological advancements.” (As recently as July, the company was still insisting that a 2027 opening was going as planned.) PowerCo said construction will carry on in the meantime. “This is about getting the pacing right — not stepping back — to protect our long-term investment, support regional jobs and position Canada, Ontario and St. Thomas to benefit in a dynamic and evolving market,” said Joel Karlsberg, PowerCo Canada’s chief procurement officer. St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston is taking it in stride. “They’ve picked a great local Canadian general contractor and in doing so, they had to adjust the [opening] date,” he told CBC News London. And to The London Free Press he added: “I have a rough time trying to find a cloud on a sunny day.”
The upshot: Really no surprise here, but even in delaying the opening of the plant, PowerCo manages to be very vague. “For anybody to be surprised by that, they haven’t been watching what’s been happening to either Volkswagen or the electric vehicle market in North America,” Greig Mordue, engineering professor at McMaster University, told the Free Press. “The fact that St. Thomas is not on the chopping block is a positive thing. Frankly, it could’ve gone either way.” That may itself be a rosy way of looking at things, as Mordue concedes. “What we really need to understand is this: Is Volkswagen legitimately deferring actual production, or are they deferring a decision on the ultimate utility and necessity of that plant?” It might also be worth the public finding out what is in the $13-billion subsidy deal that Volkswagen made with upper levels of government and how delays might factor into that (especially delays that seem to call the entire future of the plant into question). The subsidies agreed upon for the plant were tied to the production of actual batteries and were set to expire by 2032, so it may end up being cheaper for the taxpayer in the long run — although it would then stand to reason that the overall business case for the plant then gets worse, not better, from VW’s perspective. In any case, the headwinds this plant faces are still blowing, and it feels unlikely that we’ve heard the last word on the gigafactory’s future.
Read more: CBC News London | London Free Press | | | Libro Credit Union plans merger with B.C’s Tru Cooperative Bank
London-based Libro Credit Union says it has signed an MOU to explore a merger with Tru Cooperative Bank (formerly First West Credit Union), a B.C.-based credit union. The new combined credit union would have around 470,000 members, more than 2,200 employees and nearly $33 billion in assets, the two credit unions said in a press release, billing it as “one of the largest mergers of its kind in Canadian history.” The merged entity would legally be Tru Cooperative Bank, but the two parties say that the Libro brand would remain the name in Ontario. “Our goal together is straightforward: bring cooperative banking to more Canadians,” said Libro CEO Shawn Good. “Members increasingly live, work, study, retire, invest and operate businesses across provincial boundaries. They expect sophisticated digital services, broader expertise, competitive products and the ability to maintain a trusted financial relationship wherever life takes them.” Tru’s CEO Launi Skinner said that “for far too long, Canadians have had limited choice when it comes to national banking options,” and added, “Canadians should not have to choose between the capabilities of a national bank and the trusted relationships of a local credit union. By bringing our complementary strengths together, we can offer both.” Nothing is final yet: Libro members will have to vote on both the merger and on becoming a federally regulated operation (as opposed to a provincially regulated one, as most credit unions are in Canada); those votes are expected to take place early next year. The upshot: The merger would be another major move for Libro (which merged with Kawartha Credit Union on January 1 of this year), and would make it the first Ontario credit union to make the jump from a provincially regulated credit union to a federal one, although it would be doing so via a merger into a B.C.-based institution. Tru, which made the jump to federal regulation earlier this year, would be the clear senior partner in this merger, with around 290,000 members to Libro’s 180,000. The merger would be significant when you’re looking at the whole Canadian banking industry as well. Analyst Doug MacDonald, writing in his blog Beyond the Big Six about Tru Cooperative Bank’s graduation to federal level in April, predicted it would go pursuing a merger like this. “TCB will be under pressure to grow and may look to merger partners — if there is interest,” he wrote. “Canada’s mid-market is sitting wide open for a credible challenger to the big banks.” All that said, what this means for Libro’s head office in London is a bit unclear. Given that Tru seems to want to continue to operate Libro as Libro in Ontario, it’s unlikely to mean any major restructuring of operations here, but it will be worth watching how it plays out if the merger is eventually approved.
Read more: Libro Credit Union | | | Dude, where’s my illegal weed shop?
For the first time in almost a decade, there are believed to be no unlicensed cannabis stores operating in the city, according to a report by Dale Carruthers of The London Free Press. Police have hit more than half a dozen of these pot shops in the past year, including three of them in the last two weeks alone. Unlicensed shops have been a persistent nuisance for both the cops and the legal weed business, with many of the stores claiming a sovereign right to sell cannabis based on indigenous identity, a claim that has remained largely untested by Canadian courts. Police say one difference in how they’re approaching the issue recently is that they have been closing the stores with interim seizure orders: after a raid, police lock down the property, and anyone who wants back in, landlord included, must apply to do so. “These measures can be effective because they target the infrastructure that enables illegal operations to continue,” detective superintendent Andy Bradford of the OPP said in a statement. Cannabis industry experts say that price moderation in the legal market has helped roll back the popularity of the unlicensed shops. “The pricing has got a lot more competitive,” said Brock University professor Michael Armstrong. Availability is another factor: there are now around 1,900 licensed weed stores in the province, which is making it crowded for unlicensed shops. “Most communities, you don’t have to look very far to find one,” Armstrong said. The upshot: It’s hard to pin down exactly why these stores have declined over the past year or so, but we could offer a few theories. Armstrong is correct that price and availability in the legal market have improved from the consumer’s perspective, so it’s possible that there’s less demand for the cheaper unlicensed shops. It’s also plausible that increased police funding and attention to drug use in downtown cores has given the cops more resources and bandwidth to deal with shops that they previously viewed as a tolerable nuisance (leaving aside arguments over whether it’s a good use of those resources). It’s also worth considering what’s changed on the operator side. Notable here is not just that more of the stores are being closed, but that new stores aren’t opening in their place as quickly, suggesting there might not be as much appetite to flout the laws anymore. That could be because the risks of legal consequences has grown too high, or in the case of the Indigenous-run shops, there are enough cases in the pipeline to bring a legal challenge up through the court system. An Ontario court rejected a sovereignty claim earlier this year, but many in the Indigenous cannabis industry are still hoping to see a case make it up to the Supreme Court to sort out the jurisdictional and treaty questions once and for all.
Read more: London Free Press | | | Area farmers bullish on crop yields, struggling with “astronomical” diesel costs
Area farmers are reporting crop yields in Southwestern Ontario are looking pretty good this year, despite a year of dry spells, summer storms and rising costs. Wheat, for example, has produced “incredible yields” in the region, according to Marcel Meyer, president of the Middlesex Federation of Agriculture, who spoke to CBC News London. “Every year is different and every year we complain about the weather,” he said. “But this year is one of those years where we shouldn’t be, because we’ve been blessed compared to many other parts of Ontario.” The bigger problem that farmers in the region are facing is cost — Meyer called diesel prices “astronomical,” and since farmers don’t set the prices for their crops, most of them are forced to eat the increase. “Unfortunately, we have no choice but to go to the pump and grab fuel, because it’s still better than trying to harvest the crop by hand,” he said. Port Stanley-area farmer Kevin Cron told The London Free Press he was paying about $1.50 a litre for diesel a year ago, compared to a provincial average of $2.61 as of the start of this week. “Now that we’re coming into cropping season, a combine alone will use 300 to 400 litres a day, so when you see diesel prices at $2.60 a litre, it makes you shudder,” he said. The upshot: While yields are good, the cost of diesel fuel is still weighing heavily on the minds of farmers. At the annual International Plowing Match this week (held in Walkerton this year), farmers told the Canadian Press that current prices for fuel were “pretty devastating,” and many spoke about potential cutbacks to absorb the cost. “We either need more for our food, or you’re going to have a real problem now with the economy,” said Bruce County farmer Gerard Grubb, explaining that the daily fuel cost for a combine is now around $1,000 more than it was in the past. Politicians at the federal and provincial level have been touting relief that mainly amounts to cuts to federal and provincial gas taxes, even though, as the Ontario Federation of Agriculture pointed out, the diesel used in combines is already tax-exempt. “The daily costs are just killing us,” Port Stanley-area grower told the Free Press. “Everything’s gone up, but the price of the crops and commodities is trending lower, so I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of profitable farms this year, to be honest.”
Read more: CBC News London | London Free Press | | | Schulich expands family medicine residency program to new sites in Sarnia and Oxford County
Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry announced it is opening two new family medicine residency sites — one in Sarnia-Lambton and one in Oxford County. The school says that starting in 2027, each jurisdiction will get two new residents, adding four new residency positions in the region total. In Sarnia, residents will train at Bluewater Health and the Rapids Family Health Team, while in Oxford County they’ll work out of Woodstock Hospital, Alexandra Hospital and Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital. “As a medical school, we recognize our responsibility to help ensure the communities we serve have the physicians and healthcare workforce they need, both today and for generations to come,” said Schulich dean Dr. John Yoo. “These communities provide exceptional environments for medical education.” Dr. Michel Haddad, chief of staff at Bluewater Health, praised the announcement, saying, “expanding family medicine training in Sarnia-Lambton is an important investment in the future of primary care locally and will help strengthen access to care for patients and families.” In total, Schulich’s distributed medical education network (for all training disciplines) spans more than 60 communities across Southwestern Ontario. The upshot: There’s been a considerable push in the medical industry to try to get young doctors-to-be to explore family medicine, especially family medicine in communities like Sarnia or Oxford County where the shortage of family physicians has been more acutely felt over the last few years. The hope for programs like this is that some of those residents stick around to practice once they’re done their training. “By giving future physicians the opportunity to train and work in our community, we are helping build a stronger pipeline of doctors who can serve our communities for years to come,” said Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman. Four new residents isn’t a huge number when weighed against the doctor shortage, but it is something, and creating a new “pipeline” as Hardeman put it, increases the likelihood that those docs will stick around once they’re done training.
Read more: Western News | Bluewater Health | | | Sarnia Road apartment stays at six storeys
City council has voted down a plan to add two storeys to an already-approved apartment building on Sarnia Road, siding with neighbours despite a staff recommendation to approve the additional two storeys. The vote on the 204-unit project at 299-307 Sarnia Road was 13-2, with only councillors Shawn Lewis and Skylar Franke voting in favour of allowing the developer, Kimko Inc., to add two floors to the building. Last year, council had approved a six-storey, 150-unit version of this building, but developer came back for more height after council and Queen’s Park raised height limits (eight storeys is now permitted on Sarnia Road). Ward councillor Sam Trosow wasn’t pleased that this whole debate shook out the way it did. “For the developer to come in now, at the end, and say, ‘Well, never mind that, we want to go to eight storeys because we technically can,’ I think that if we approve that, we’re sending a very bad signal to every neighbourhood group,” he told The London Free Press. Three planning committee members who had endorsed the project flipped at council, including Councillor Peter Cuddy, who said, “We’re not talking about homes, we’re talking about student residences, and quite frankly I find it troubling that we’re doing this to this area.”
The upshot: Something is getting built here either way, so there’s that. Both sides’ arguments would seem to have some merit: on the one hand, city zoning and provincial regulations permit eight storeys, and the developer was within its rights to go back to council and ask for more; on the other hand, residents who felt they had made a compromise with the builder that capped the building at six storeys are probably justified in feeling a little peeved when the developer goes back on that, just because they are technically allowed to. If you’re council looking at that kind of dynamic, you’re in a tough situation — you either get accused of NIMBYism and kowtowing to organized neighbourhood groups when you reject the request, or you are accused of not listening to community members in favour of developers if you approve it. No winning there, even if it wasn’t an election year!
Read more: London Free Press | | | Dispatch: September 25, 2026
A summary of recent business appointments and announcements, plus event listings for the upcoming week.
View listings here | | | | |