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PAGENovember 27, 2025 SILVERSTICK GOLD Thursday,
St. Marys Independent
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St. Marys Independent 36 Water St. S., St. Marys ON | 519.284.0041 | info@stmarysindependent.com | www.stmarysindy.com
Issue #1290
Thursday, November 27, 2025
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Local boys to host eighth and final year of their annual toy drive BLACK FRIDAY SALE NOV. 28TH Golf & Winter Tube Slide passes will be on sale! Black Friday passes also available onsite Friday, Nov. 28th from 10am - 4pm at the Ticket Kiosk
GALEN SIMMONS Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
er schedule and bigger shoes, is stepping into the final season of Porter & Colton’s Toy Drive, and he’s determined to finish as strongly as they began, with kindness, gratitude and the joy of helping others. What started as two kids and a handful of Canadian Tire bills quickly became a powerful local movement. Each year, the toy drive grew – more donations, more community partners, more toys stacked high in shopping carts and more people helped by the boys’ enthusiasm.
Though, under the newly expanded Strong Mayor Powers granted to St. Marys by the province earlier this year, there was no passing of an official budget bylaw as there has been in years past, the Town of St. Marys has officially adopted its 2026 budget with 3.88 per-cent levy increase, inclusive of growth. During a special meeting of council Nov. 18, councillors had the opportunity to review and recommend amendments to the budget tabled by Mayor Al Strathdee on Nov. 11 – a budget that largely resembled the draft budget presented by staff at council’s first budget meeting Oct. 21. “In the press recently, in Stratford, there was a suggestion that I’d been burning the midnight oil and making some amendments to reduce the tax rate, and I want to make it very clear for council and the public that we made a very strong statement that we would work collectively and cooperatively on this budget,” Strathdee said, referring to an article on the mayor’s 2026 budget published by the Stratford Beacon Herald Nov. 14. “Council has met several times to talk about strategic initiatives as well as targets for fiscal responsibility, and that’s what we laid out for staff. Staff has made the budget in total, and we have asked them to meet
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SHARING CHRISTMAS JOY
(NANCY BICKELL PHOTO)
Porter Huffman and Colton Lawrence show many of the toys that will go to homes in need. This is the eighth and final year for the toy drive. To date, they have raised over $40,000 for gifts, food and gift cards.
JENN NOBLE Contributed Article
THORNDALE
Town of St. Marys officially adopts 2026 budget with 3.88 per-cent levy increase, inclusive of growth St. Marys budget adopted just nine days after mayor tabled his budget on Nov. 11
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When Porter Huffman and Colton Lawrence first gathered loose Canadian Tire money from around their homes at age six, they never imagined a simple idea, “Let’s help other kids have a great Christmas,” would grow into a community tradition that would touch hundreds of families. Eight years later, Porter, now a teenager with a slightly deeper voice, a full-
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