SIDEWALK REMOVAL
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WITZEL'S MISSION
STRATFORD VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 32
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MARCH 27, 2026
A Passion for People SHERRIE ROULSTON
Real Estate Broker email: sherrieroulston@royallepage.ca Direct: 519-272-3578
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City council to support trustees in letter to Premier Ford
CONNOR LUCZKA
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
In a unanimous decision, Stratford city council has agreed to compose and send a letter supporting “provincial consultation and transparency regarding potential changes to English public school board governance.” At the March 23 meeting, the Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB)’s board of trustees made a public petition for support when chair Michael Bannerman and fellow Stratford trustee Deepika Mishra delegated that evening. “Trustees serve as a vital bridge to the function of governance,” Bannerman said. “We advocate for the voices and priorities of families in our local communities at the board level. At the same time, we help bridge the gap between our communities and decision makers at the provincial level, often helping to shape how policies, protocols and curriculum decisions developed in places like urban Toronto are understood in and applied to communities like ours …” “I would like to highlight the particular impact these changes may have on immigrant and newcomer families or in our community,” Mishra added. “For many of these families, our education system is far more complex and unfamiliar with very different expectations, processes and points of access than what they may have CONTINUED TO PAGE 2
(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
Various partners gather at the front entrance of Schaeffler Group’s main Stratford plant on Ontario Street. Through a partnership with the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN), the manufacturer will be opening its doors for innovators soon.
Schaeffler welcoming innovators through its doors CONNOR LUCZKA Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Local manufacturer Schaeffler Group has become the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN)’s newest incubator. As Raed Kadri, head of OVIN, told the Times, the partnership is an exercise in future-proofing Ontario’s position as a global leader in the automotive industry. “This is about building a supply chain of the future,” Kadri said. “As we build our companies, our homegrown companies, they will hopefully grow Ontario. They will employ Ontarians and that’s really our objective in OVIN
– is how do we ensure that we’re creating opportunities and good-paying jobs for Ontarians.” OVIN is an initiative of the provincial government that aims to advance automotive technology by supplying support for research and development, talent and skills development, technology acceleration, business and technical supports and demonstration grounds. The partnership between it and Schaeffler, according to the company’s leadership, will accelerate efforts to convene industry, researchers, start-ups and scale-ups to CONTINUED TO PAGE 3