St. Clair Township, Ontario

Township was given a SWIFT (Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology) grant to upgrade their internet. SWIFT is a non profit municipally-led broadband expansion project created to improve internet connectivity in underserved communities and rural areas across Southwestern Ontario. Rodey acknowledges, “There is some fiber in the community and others have access to towers, certainly in some of our rural areas it is still difficult to provide 100 percent coverage obviously because of trees.” In the last 10 years, the Township has expanded and upgraded their sewage treatment plant with a $35 million project, and another $1.2 million to upgrade those systems in the last few years. The council is currently working toward an asset management study with a report on the effects of climate change on the municipality’s infrastructure. There is an issue with flooding in the southern areas of the Township because the shoreline is lower, but this year a surprising thing happened. under the ice to cool it and so we are moving to a brine system which has less issues from a safety standpoint.” The project is underway and the first of two phases has begun. Completion is scheduled for this winter. Each of the smaller communities within the municipality are very walkable and bikeable places. The River Front Trail along the St. Clair River is one of the jewels of the Township. The trail was designed to follow the river, giving walkers, runner, cyclists, and families a great view of the river and it is paved. In the section where it runs along the roadway, the shoulder was extended to accommodate people, but most of the trail is off-road. Rodey boasts, “It’s one of the township’s well-loved recreational assets. It does get a lot of use and it’s tied into the provincial trail system.” Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic people were working from home exclusively, or more frequently, and it was a bonus when the