Oh god what am I doing….

• As always you can hear the latest episode of Council Conversations featuring Neil Anstett Councillor for North Perth Ontario.
  • A teaser for this week’s episode with Councillor Nathan Colquhoun from Sarnia.
• Looking ahead Wednesday is a big day for Windsor and Essex County. The provincial budget drops and we find out if the hospital is moving to the next stage or not….
  • Regardless of the outcome the implications are huge.
    • If the project moves forward it is a key next steps in the process and likely a sign that the province has (tacitly) approved moving forward with the selected site as tens of millions in planning dollars will be released.
    • If it doesn’t, the political jockeying between now and the June 2022 provincial election will intensify as a “Seat at the Table” mantra will likely become dominant.
      • Does this force a high profile candidate into the Windsor-West PC race or see a juggling of existing candidates locally.
  • Beyond the hospital, there is along list of schools waiting for funding, only about half of the expected 2021 deficit has been filled so far and of course the over budget state will be interesting.
• A great piece by Leigh Vachon with another amazing blog post on Stress!
• In another big news story is CP Rail is merging with Kansas City Southern as I like trains!

• This could be good for Windsor as the connection from Windsor-Detroit to Chicago via the rail tunnel is a missing piece of the East-West network. This could mean the long shelved rail tunnel expansion in Windsor could be back on the table.
  • Hopefully someone at Ec-Dev is giving CP a call!
• You can submit your proposal for Windsor’s Janes Walk weekend in May. I have 2 ideas, either a repeat of last year’s walk of my neighbourhood in West Windsor or one on Alleyways. Still trying work out the details and you should sign up too!
• This twitter thread by Dr. Mikal Skuterud looks at the impact of lockdowns on the labour market by gender.
• London could be following Windsor’s lead on rental licensing.

• We got below 30 cases 7-day average this week
• The other thing is the near flattening of the death curve. Roll out of vaccines into LTC and populations over 80 is likely suppressing that rate going forward.