CANADA DAY PAGE
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STONETOWN TRIATHLON St. Marys Independent
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PAGE Thursday, July 9, 2026
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St. Marys Independent 36 Water St. S., St. Marys ON | 519.284.0041 | info@stmarysindependent.com | www.granthaven.com
Issue #1321
Thursday, July 9, 2026
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Canada Day storm downs trees, causes power outages across St. Marys and beyond FRIDAY 9 & DINE
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CEMETERY TREE DAMAGED BY STORM
A large century tree in the St. Marys Cemetery was severely damaged by the Canada Day storm. St. Marys town staff say the town had an arborist in last week to assess whether the tree would need to be taken down entirely or if it could be saved. See more on page 8.
Council rejects integrity commissioner’s recommended sanctions for Ehgoetz GALEN SIMMONS Regional Editor
Perth County council has declined to formally reprimand Coun. Rhonda Ehgoetz or suspend her pay after the county’s integrity commissioner found she breached multiple provisions of council’s code of conduct stemming from a contentious forestry-bylaw debate earlier this year. Instead, following a presentation by integrity commissioner John Mascarin and lead
investigator Meghan Cowan of Aird & Berlis LLP at its July 2 meeting, council voted only to require Ehgoetz to remove the Facebook posts that formed part of the investigation. Council voted against recommendations to formally reprimand Ehgoetz and suspend her remuneration for 20 days. The investigation arose from three formal code-of-conduct complaints related to Ehgoetz’s actions before and after a special county council meeting on Feb. 12, when council
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St.Marys & Thorndale
(WENDY LAMOND PHOTO)
A powerful storm that swept across southwestern Ontario on Canada Day left behind downed trees, power outages and scattered property damage in St. Marys and across the region, though the community’s Canada Day celebrations escaped unscathed. The severe thunderstorms rolled through the region late in the afternoon on July 1, bringing high winds, torrential rain and frequent lightning. Across Ontario, Hydro One reported roughly 170,000 customers without power Wednesday evening as the storm toppled trees and hydro lines throughout much of the province. In St. Marys, the storm arrived after the town’s Canada Day festivities had wrapped up. “(Director of culture, tourism and engagement) Amy (Cubberley) has informed me zero impact,” St. Marys director of public works Jed Kelly said. “The event ended at 3 p.m. Cleanup was done around 4 p.m., storm hit at 4:45 p.m.” The storm brought down between six and eight large trees across the community, along with numerous large branches. “Looks to be about six to eight trees with various limbs additionally throughout town,” Kelly said. “Some trees came down on power lines, creating various outages throughout town. Town staff were in yesterday and in contact with Festival Hydro who responded extremely promptly. Traffic lights were affected for a period because of the power outages.” Town staff quickly shifted their focus from Canada Day cleanup to storm response. “We had the parks staff sweep town parks and trails for smaller branches; larger cleanups have been queued,” Kelly said. “Public works staff focused on the large, downed tree cleanups near road allowances, sidewalks and near our triath-
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