Jean Thibault
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Do you know how to jump-start downtown Sault Ste. Marie?
SooToday
62Help the people (including many seniors) who live downtown with all the abandoned houses and crime in their midst. Start enforcing the rules about houses that have not had anyone living in them in years, or in one case, where there is unrepaired fire damage. Downtown residents are taxpayers like any other Saulite and their property rights matter too. When do you see revitalization on Albert, Wellington, Gore, or any of the other residential neighbourhoods? The tourists coming through town see the neglect and that reflects on every person who lives in the Soo, no matter what happens on Queen. It is time we acted like one community.
- Jean Thibault
Bridge traffic continues sharp decline despite holiday season
SooToday 33I am sure this trend will continue as Canadians see events like this taking place in a northern border state: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/us/politics/border-patrol-minnesota-trump.htmlMany of us in the Soo have American friends and family and great memories over there, but the risks involved in a visit are different now even for law-abiding Canadians. Hope things can go back to normal eventually.
10- Jean Thibault
Algoma U committed to help workers after Algoma Steel layoffs
SooToday 33Nice public relations statement. Let's see who benefits in practice. Tuition is expensive for a laid-off worker with a family to support and other expenses. Better Jobs Ontario (Second Careers) does not cover university degrees. Unless the university is planning scholarships, bursaries, or otherwise covering the cost of tuition for needy people in the community, please don't take this as a sign of support. It is a business opportunity for the university. Where does someone who earned a Grade 12 OSSD 30 years ago without the academic math and science prerequisites for one of the more in-demand programs at Algoma U (i.e. Computer Science) even start, even if they could cover the cost of tuition? Please - no good words and intentions. People need real help right now.
5- Jean Thibault
Remote work about to end for thousands of employees
SooToday 13Work from home meant civil servants could live and buy local in Sault Ste. Marie and other small Ontario cities to make ends meet instead of expensive Ottawa and Toronto, supporting local businesses and the livelihood of our many, many retired senior-boomers. Raising kids is socially beneficial labour that has long-term benefits, and it is not cheap. Not everyone has a close-knit extended family for unpaid childcare, especially all the immigrants far from their homes that are needed in a country with a 1.25 TFR (total fertility rate). I miss the Greatest Generation that fought in the Second World War and the homefront, living modestly and humbly raising the boomers who often spurned them and their values. Everyone can make their choices but don't look down on parents and what they have to do in today's world, which is very different from your youth (and your parents' experiences). Everyone has their own struggles. Love and try to understand one another. Solidarity.
3- Jean Thibault
Terrified of AI? This local info session might ease your mind
SooToday 8Simple "fear" is not the issue. Regulators in the European Union are far ahead of us, and here are some of their concerns (link to the EU AI Act with an explanation): https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20230601STO93804/eu-ai-act-first-regulation-on-artificial-intelligenceI hope the session will address the environmental costs of AI (data centres, energy use), the labour market impact of AI technologies, plagiarism, using copyrighted works for training data without permission, leading to lawsuits (like NYT vs. OpenAI) and the privacy implications of AI technologies.
2- Jean Thibault
College offers support to workers affected by Algoma Steel layoffs
SooToday 5Sault College should have been focused on the community all this time instead of relying on international student tuition. Now those foreign students are working at all the security, fast food, and retail jobs laid-off Algoma Canadian-born workers would have been hired for, 10 years ago. Good luck getting a job to support your family through these tough times, Canadian-born workers need not apply. Thank your MP's political party and your local college and university for prioritizing training for everyone but long-time Sault residents. Thank businesses that say "not hiring" when they see a long-time resident come in the door with a résumé.
3- Jean Thibault
Remote work about to end for thousands of employees
SooToday 5With all due respect for all your past hard work, number one son, sir (probably younger than me), your pacing up and down the aisles "monitoring the work performance of the people you are paying" (with some government support for your business, no doubt) is getting in the way of the actual work of your productive employees. Maybe try pitching in and helping. Maybe try learning from your younger employees who have different skillsets than you. Or take the golden watch and get out of the way. But don't expect that AI and the billionaires that manage businesses today - who are much harder taskmasters than you will ever be - will be going to pay for your retirement forever. AI sees you as a drain on our collective resources and will gladly downsize you and throw you on the street regardless of what you did or did not do forty years ago on the factory floor, the picket line, the breakroom, and the bar while your wife was raising your kids. We are in 2026, not 1986.
2- Jean Thibault
Ford’s 'short-sighted' return-to-office order 'fiscally irresponsible': CUPE
SooToday 3Here is another angle that has not been mentioned yet. Some people with disabilities (who can do socially valuable work and have the skills and education they need to contribute to society) need a remote job. The alternative for them under a 100 percent in-person order is unemployment and social assistance (supported by your tax dollars). I would rather see someone in this situation working - remotely - with dignity than having to collect pogey. Is there a provision for special needs in the back to work order? If so, please provide a link.
2- Jean Thibault
Ontario is the weakest link in the Trans-Canada Highway, group says
SooToday 5I have to drive from the Soo to Ottawa from time to time. The TransCanada route from a major border crossing to our nation's capital has a lot of traffic, accidents on it all the time. I find it ironic that Mark Carney wants to lower trade barriers between the provinces but is not making plans to strengthen transport links between the provinces to facilitate trade and travel. If the government does not want to widen the highway, at least provide VIA rail service (which could use existing tracks) so people can access their seat of government who do not have a car or who don't want to drive that 789 km mostly 2-lane stretch. There are no direct flights to Ottawa, the bus service takes a day, and the drive is perilous at best in the winter. Everytime I try to write a cabinet minister about this issue they blame it on the provincial government, but this is a shared responsibility. Thank you Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities for drawing attention to this issue!
- Jean Thibault
‘Canada is not for sale’: How a patriotic hat became so much more
3Many people in the Soo agree with Trump, unlike Windsor. Read their comments on SooToday. See who they vote for (Ford's PC's even kicked him out of caucus). The Sault has a lot of thuggy right-wing conservatives in smoke-belching pickups who agree with Trump's values and policy, they just don't like the tariffs and the economic pain. They don't think that their trip over to Bay Mills will land them in an immigration jail 1000 miles away because they think they are "law-abiding white people with good jobs." Windsor is more diverse and their unions still believe in social justice. Come to the Soo. Prostitution (with many, many affluent johns) and drugs everywhere downtown. Nothing in the way of harm reduction. Minimal efforts at addressing the homelessness issue. Well-paid government workers and business owners allied against the poor (including their clients, case load, students, and patients). It is almost like living in Trump's USA.
1- Jean Thibault
Do we need a national strategy on the health of men and boys?
SooToday 2Thanks for running this story. When it comes to mental health, you are on your own up here. I received excellent treatment elsewhere from doctors who are also active researchers. When I moved here, it was like going back in time to the 1950s, dealing with gut feelings and prejudice informing "diagnoses" by MDs who are supposed to be trained professionals. One local MD won't even accept records from outside her jurisdiction. The young man who responded in this thread about his experience as a veteran being told to "man up" instead of receiving evidence-based care and appropriate medication is not an isolated incident. Self-medication and suffering in silence is common but it is not a solution. Many social issues in this city could be mitigated with a modern, scientific approach to mental health care and the budget and willingness to accurately diagnose and treat complex cases.It's not about individual character and the doctor shortage doesn't justify poor treatment.
- Jean Thibault
Introducing the Sault’s first baby of 2026 — and the second!
SooToday 2Félicitations, chers parents. Je vous souhaite tellement de bonheur avec vos nouveaux bébés!I wish you happiness! Life is an adventure and babies make it all the more wonderful! :)
- Jean Thibault
Five signs your child is suffering from back-to-school anxiety
SooTodayWe are talking about children. Children who may be your grandkids. They are not a political football or a chance to talk about what is wrong with the world. They are inheriting a world you may not live to see that is radically different than yours. Why not volunteer in the community and put your collective wisdom to help and understand a new generation instead of criticizing kids? You can still make a difference.
1- Jean Thibault
School board holds rare summer meeting, hires more special education help
SooTodayThere is a lot going on in this post. a) Yes, we all care about the kids, and it is good they have a new special education teacher. b) Quebec merged the Protestant and Catholic school boards in 1997 without any Charter Challenges (Bill 109). This can be done in Ontario as well. In a diverse province it is strange that one religion would have their own schools (why not Islamic or Pentecostal schools?)c) Having one religious school board does create duplication in administrative positions, and unfortunately they often hire people they know well (including their own kids). Publicly-funded schools should not operate like this. You can hire your relatives and close associates if you have your own, non-government funded board (like other religious schools). d) Yes, not having 70+ educational assistants in the schools will cause issues that no single employee (and I am sure this person is very well qualified) can solve. I wish the kids well anyway.
- Jean Thibault
Ontario college students 'reeling' in face of program cuts, layoffs
SooTodayIf you'll remember, Algoma faculty through their union did complain that the rate of growth was unsustainable. But as for JimSSM: in rural and suburban Québec where they can manage their own immigration numbers and targets have been lower, local teenagers are working at stores (which in SSM often hire temporary foreign workers first). There is a simple matter of supply and demand. If you have many temporary workers and students who could work 40 hrs a week during vacations (until recently), that will drive down wages. Immigrants also work scared - they know they can be deported or their work permit revoked so they do not complain. Just like in the US. Less expensive, exploitable labour may be attractive in the short-run. But in the long-run you have young people without work experience (who can't get a job that requires experience). And then you all come here to complain about your community's youth and their work ethic. Instead, fix the problem by hiring local workers.
- Jean Thibault
Petition demands school board trustees remain as elected officials
SooTodayThe only thing that matters in education is helping students. Office politics and power struggles among adults don't help children to succeed. With that in mind, this is a good story (behind a paywall, but you can use reader view on your browser) about what appears to be a successful example of empowering teachers in an Ontario school board: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-eqao-niagara-school-boards-math-scores-education-calandria/Thank you to teachers for everything you do.
- Jean Thibault
Petition demands school board trustees remain as elected officials
SooTodayFRoman, I have the experience to know that there is truth in what you are saying, empirically, as the sad fact of the matter. I don't disagree. I also don't accept that it has to be this way as a normative matter (the way things should be). The stand-out teachers that have had the most impact on me and others are people who push back hard against education as public relations spin (business) to do good for people who can't possibly pay them back (nor could their parents), just because it is the right thing to do. That is spiritually powerful - their students might have been born on first base socioeconomically but can reach for a home run (to know about a wider world of opportunities and to do great things for others).
- Jean Thibault
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