Sarnia news

• Sarnia considering negotiations for LAWSS restructuring

  23-04-2025 20:29 via theobserver.ca
  
  Sarnia should proceed with negotiations about restructuring the organization overseeing the water supply system for the city and five other Lambton municipalities, city staff say. Sarnia city council March 3 voted to wait for more information, after hearing the Lambton Area Water Supply System (LAWSS) hopes to restructure into a municipal service corporation so it’s eligible for government grants under the Municipal Act. There were concerns that restructuring could mean Sarnia would lose
  
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• Point Edward tax hike set at 3.81 per cent

  15-01-2026 21:45 via theobserver.ca
  Point Edward’s $6.2 million operating budget, up from $5.3 million in 2025, includes a 3.81 per cent tax hike, in part fueled by increased insurance, policing and borrowing costs, the village announced this week. “I was happy we were able to get it down as low as we could, knowing the amount of work we still have to do,” Mayor Bev Hand said. The tax increase works out to about $29.50 per $100,000 of residential assessment. Water rates are up 7.5 per cent and sewer rates 9.4 per
  
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• Man arrested after senior finds intruder in his Sarnia home

  15-01-2026 21:39 via theobserver.ca
  A 44-year-old man is charged with breaking and entering after a senior encountered an intruder in his home Tuesday. A 69-year-old man was walking back from his detached garage around 4 p.m. when he saw a man inside his Ross Avenue home walking down his stairs, Sarnia police say. The intruder fled and the man went to a neighbour’s house and called police. An officer was flagged down by a resident on the same street, who said the suspect was seen in a backyard before heading toward Russell S
  
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• Man arrested after senior finds intruder in his home

  15-01-2026 21:39 via theobserver.ca
  A 44-year-old man is charged with breaking and entering after a senior encountered an intruder in his home Tuesday. A 69-year-old man was walking back from his detached garage around 4 p.m. when he saw a man inside his Ross Avenue home, walking down his stairs, Sarnia police say. The intruder fled and the man went to a neighbour’s house and called police. An officer was flagged down by a resident on the same street, who said the suspect was seen in a backyard before heading toward Russell
  
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• Legion branch marking 100th anniversary in Sarnia

  15-01-2026 18:43 via theobserver.ca
  It’ll be 100 years Nov. 9 since the Royal Canadian Legion opened Branch 62 in Sarnia. The 650-member branch has been busy the last few years getting ready for the milestone anniversary, said president Les Jones. That includes building improvements to the Front Street Legion hall, he said. About $500,000 worth of upgrades are included in the “centennial project that we started a couple of years ago,” he said. Accessibility upgrades, like flashing lights that go off with fire ala
  
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• Lambton's warden continuing as Western Ontario Wardens' Caucus vice-chair

  14-01-2026 21:28 via theobserver.ca
  Lambton Warden Kevin Marriott is staying on as vice-chair of the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus. The Enniskillen Township mayor, who’s been Lambton’s warden since late 2020, also was deputy leader for the 15-county non-profit advocacy organization in 2025. Marriott said he spent much of the year as acting chair, filling in for chair Amy Martin, of Norfolk County, who was ill. “They wanted me to do it again (be chair) this year, but with a few things I’ve got going
  
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• City plans $2.2 million air-conditioning upgrade at Progressive Auto Sales Arena

  14-01-2026 19:00 via theobserver.ca
  After sellout crowds during a Sarnia Sting playoff run three years ago prompted additional temporary air conditioning units, the city plans an upgrade at Progressive Auto Sales Arena. That playoff run, that ended with a third-round Sting exit, is “kind of where this project originated from, when we realized that the units that were failing weren’t providing the adequate cooling that they needed to,” said Sarnia facility and park services manager Tom Burnard. Temporary air condi
  
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• Man jailed for role in $20K Lambton County break-in

  14-01-2026 18:11 via theobserver.ca
  A Southwestern Ontario man has been jailed two months for his part in a $20,000 Lambton County break-in involving a stolen truck. Four intruders with a sledgehammer smashed the front glass door of the Castle Building Centre on Florence Road in Dawn-Euphemia Township about 4:30 a.m. Oct. 7, 2024, and made off with several power tools, provincial police said at the time. Lambton OPP said the tools were worth $10,000 at that that time, but a Sarnia court heard recently they were worth $20,000. The
  
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• Sarnia addictions hub project moving to tender

  14-01-2026 01:14 via theobserver.ca
  In about two years, it’s estimated, Sarnia should have its long-sought addictions hub. Bluewater Health announced Tuesday it has Health Ministry approval to accept construction bids for the 24-bed project. “It’s just exciting to be here,” hospital group president and CEO Paula Reaume-Zimmer said, standing in the gutted ground floor of the 1959-built Russell Street building that’s part of Sarnia’s hospital. The building’s first three floors will house the
  
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• Sarnia eyeing industrial development incentives: economic developer

  13-01-2026 16:05 via theobserver.ca
  Lambton lacks incentives for industrial development, but its largest municipality is taking steps to change that, says the head of the county’s economic development agency. Sarnia, whose 2025 economic development master plan urged better marketing for potential investment, is devising an economic development community improvement plan, said Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership chief executive Matthew Slotwinski. Monteith Brown Planning Consultants is heading the $63,000 project. It includes
  
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• Incentives for industrial development lacking in Sarnia-Lambton: SLEP

  13-01-2026 16:05 via theobserver.ca
  When it comes to incentives for industrial development, Lambton has been lacking, says the head of the county’s economic development agency. Now, said Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership CEO Matthew Slotwinski, the county’s largest municipality is taking steps to change that. Sarnia, on the heels of its 2025 economic development master plan, that urged better marketing for potential investment, is in the midst of devising an economic development community improvement plan. A recently
  
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• Bus route changes start Sunday in Sarnia

  12-01-2026 23:03 via theobserver.ca
  Passengers using Sarnia’s bus system will notice some changes starting Sunday. About a dozen routes are getting updates, according to an interactive map at sarnia.ca. Many are minor tweaks, approved by council in July, said city engineering and operations general manager David Jackson. There’s also a pair of new routes. One, Route 19 – also approved in July – connects retail areas in the city’s east and is expected to help reduce delays, a city report says. The othe
  
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• Two charged after ankle monitor tampering, flight from police, Sarnia service says

  12-01-2026 19:17 via theobserver.ca
  A Sarnia man is in police custody and charged with assault after a person cut off their ankle monitor, Sarnia police say. Another person also faces charges after a person driving a pickup truck attempted to flee police. A tamper alarm for an ankle monitor, required under bail conditions, was sent to police on Sunday at 2:10 a.m. , the service said in a news release. Police found a man had been involved in a dispute at his residence involving an assault and theft, police said. At 8:10 a.m., polic
  
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• Sarnia eyes codifying tax relief approach

  12-01-2026 19:02 via theobserver.ca
  Sarnia is looking to make official how it offers tax relief for properties damaged, destroyed, or undergoing prolonged renovations. City staff are asking council to approve a bylaw Jan. 19 that would give: • a 25-per-cent tax adjustment for buildings that suffer fire or other damage once they become unusable, followed by the full adjustment once demolition is complete; • a 15 per-cent-tax adjustment for repairs or renovations that go on for at least three months, and that prevent norma
  
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• Sarnia motorist charged with attempted murder: police

  11-01-2026 20:43 via theobserver.ca
  A 21-year-old Sarnia man has been charged with attempted murder and dangerous driving after a motorist intentionally and repeatedly ran over a person on Saturday during a dispute, Sarnia police say. Officers were first called to a disturbance at a home in the 1200 block of Afton Drive shortly after midnight involving a young man and a 40-year-old man. The younger man drove a red Mitsubishi SUV onto the older man’s front lawn and intentionally struck and damaged his e-bike, police said. Off
  
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• Attempt murder charge laid after man repeatedly run over: Sarnia police

  11-01-2026 20:43 via theobserver.ca
  A Sarnia man is charged with attempted murder after a motorist repeatedly ran over a person during a Saturday dispute, Sarnia police say. Officers were first called to a disturbance at an Afton Drive home just after midnight, police said. A young man drove a red Mitsubishi SUV onto a 40-year-old man’s front lawn, striking and damaging an e-bike. Officers obtained video footage of the clash and laid charges of dangerous driving, mischief and breaching bail, but initially couldn’t find
  
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• Sarnia-Lambton man gets 3 years in prison for sex assault

  11-01-2026 17:22 via theobserver.ca
  A Sarnia-Lambton man has been sentenced to three years in prison for sexual assault. The court heard the incident took place about three years ago in his former partner’s bedroom. As the woman was having trouble breathing due to a medical issue, the man comforted her by rubbing her back. He continued to do this as she leaned face down on her bed to try and breathe. Then he pulled down his pants and inserted his penis into her vagina without her consent, the court heard. “When he did
  
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• Charges laid linked to concealed knife, indecent act, home invasion: Sarnia police

  10-01-2026 22:35 via theobserver.ca
  A London man was arrested in Sarnia and charged with carrying a concealed weapon after police found a knife on a suspicious-acting person in a parking lot, Sarnia police say. Officers on patrol saw a man and a woman loitering in the parking lot of a closed business in the 300 block of Wellington Street at 9:45 a.m. Thursday. The man quickly headed north on Stuart Street as the police cruiser came into the parking lot, but officers caught up with him to talk to him about the suspicious activity.
  
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• Green bins poised to start in Sarnia next year

  09-01-2026 21:04 via theobserver.ca
  Major changes to Sarnia’s waste collection system are scheduled to happen next year. City council Jan. 19 considers three contracts laying the groundwork and expense plan for those changes. Here’s a breakdown of what council adopting staff recommendations would mean.
  WHAT’S NEWSarnia is getting green bins. It’s a long time coming after planning started in 2017, based on provincial requirements to make producers responsible for collecting recyclables, and requiring green b
  
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• Lambton man jailed a year for pouring gas on woman

  09-01-2026 18:39 via theobserver.ca
  A Lambton County man was sentenced to a year in jail after pouring gas on a woman and threatening to kill her. “He picked up a gasoline can that was filled with gas. Poured it on (her), telling her, ‘You’re going to burn until I get my money,’” assistant Crown attorney Amir Hage said, reading a statement of agreed facts in a Sarnia courtroom. About a month later, the woman was threatened by one of the man’s friends. “Being told that he would attend the a
  
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• 'Boring' 2025 sign of stabilized Sarnia-area home market: official

  09-01-2026 18:19 via theobserver.ca
  Sarnia-area homes sales dipped in December, capping a “boring year” for local real estate, says the head of the area realtors group. “It was a lot like the year before, essentially,” Sarnia Lambton Association of Realtors president Jeremy Guerette said of the latest monthly and year-end Sarnia Lambton Association of Realtors statistics. He takes it as a sign the market has stabilized and “we’re probably going to start to see a trend upwards at some point&rdquo
  
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• Family literacy festival lineup features new attractions

  09-01-2026 17:42 via theobserver.ca
  Dufflebag Theatre’s live performance of Robin Hood is one of the new attractions at this year’s Family Literacy Day Festival in Sarnia. The third annual festival in Sarnia aimed at helping families build literacy and other skills by doing things together, like playing games, cooking meals and reading, features the Toronto-based group’s comedic retelling, complete with sword fights, silly jokes, a few surprises, and lots of audience participation, said Vanitia Campbell, with the
  
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• Sydney Redick joins Lambton Lions softball coaching staff - The Sarnia Observer

  09-01-2026 09:44
  Sydney Redick joins Lambton Lions softball coaching staff  The Sarnia Observer
  
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• Sarnia man gets prison for upskirt voyeurism, late night break-in - The Sarnia Observer

  09-01-2026 00:16
  Sarnia man gets prison for upskirt voyeurism, late night break-in  The Sarnia Observer
  
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• Lambton Library issues new community reading challenges - The Sarnia Observer

  08-01-2026 23:41
  Lambton Library issues new community reading challenges  The Sarnia Observer
  
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• Lambton Library issues new community reading challenges

  08-01-2026 23:13 via theobserver.ca
  Lambton’s library system has a few new reading challenges for the community. Among them is reading 150,000 books in 2026, or a little bit more than one book per person. The library system has held annual summer and reading winter challenges for years, encouraging family literacy activities like reading and playing games together, and keeping youngsters’ skills from sliding during the summer break. “Now, we’ve set a goal for the community for the entire year,” said t
  
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• Bluewater Health ready to select contractor for Petrolia hospital renovations - The Sarnia Observer

  08-01-2026 22:08
  Bluewater Health ready to select contractor for Petrolia hospital renovations  The Sarnia Observer
  
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• Bluewater Health ready to select contractor for Petrolia hospital renovations

  08-01-2026 22:04 via theobserver.ca
  A multimillion-dollar renovation of the emergency and X-ray departments at Petrolia’s hospital is expected to go out for tender in the coming weeks, a decade after planning for the project began. “We’re talking about an initiative that really began in 2016,” Paula Reaume-Zimmer, president and CEO of Bluewater Health, said Thursday at the Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital of Bluewater Health while announcing the Ministry of Health has approved moving ahead with selectin
  
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• Sarnia man gets prison for upskirt voyeurism, late night break-in

  08-01-2026 20:55 via theobserver.ca
  A young Sarnia man has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for pointing his cellphone camera up a teenager’s skirt in a store, the second time he’s done this, and for breaking into a woman’s house late at night and going into her bedroom. The woman, who woke up to Caleb White standing over her, pulling her covers off and exposing her body, recalled in court what that moment felt like. “I was terrified,” she said. “It really is a thing that nightmares are m
  
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• Sarnia names new community services boss, chief building official - The Sarnia Observer

  08-01-2026 20:48
  Sarnia names new community services boss, chief building official  The Sarnia Observer
  
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