St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston has shared that he won’t run for re-election in the upcoming Ontario municipal election this fall and will retire after completing two terms.
Preston, who previously spent nine years (2004-2015) as a member of Parliament for Elgin-Middlesex-London, made his announcement during a mayoral update posted online.
“St. Thomas has incredible momentum,” Preston said. “I’m proud to have been part of this journey and excited for what comes next.”
During his time in office, St. Thomas has seen rapid growth and was selected as the location for the large Power Co battery plant. This plant, which is part of Volkswagen, is currently under construction and has already hired nearly 400 employees. Norway’s Vianode has also revealed plans to establish a battery materials facility in St. Thomas.
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St. Thomas, Ont., Mayor Joe Preston, left, with Premier Doug Ford announcing Vianode’s investment in St. Thomas. ( Robert Krbavac/ )
Preston told that while he’s thrilled about the economic investments in St. Thomas, he takes particular pride in the city’s efforts to assist unhoused individuals-a challenge many municipalities across Canada face.
“I hope that we’re ahead of the curve on most of the communities in Canada and southern Ontario in removing homelessness,” he said. “I hope that some time in the next year to 18 months, we get to zero on our by-name list and our homeless list. It’s a huge accomplishment.”
Preston, who also owns a Wendy’s franchise in St. Thomas, expressed pride in how well he’s collaborated with council to handle the city’s rapid expansion. He plans to keep running Wendy’s alongside his business partner.
According to Preston, his time as mayor benefited from having a cooperative relationship with council rather than an adversarial one-something he hopes continues after a new mayor is elected this fall.
“I had the best council that I’ve ever seen a mayor have,” said Preston. “We work well together; we don’t have long meetings and we get things done because we concentrate on the governance of our community and not the management of our community.”
In the meantime, Preston stated he will remain active as mayor until his term concludes.
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