Mat Siscoe
City of St. Catharines
Mayor of St. Catharines.
Connected Scandals
Storms from July 21 to Aug. 2, 2026 dropped more than 300 mm of rain on St. Catharines and Lincoln, and the mayor of St. Catharines estimates 10,000 homes were damaged. Local MPP Jennie Stevens and the Town of Lincoln asked the province to activate Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians (DRAO). As of Sept. 5, CBC and the Town of Lincoln said it had not been activated for Lincoln, and as of Sept. 21, 2026 no activation for either community appears on ontario.ca or in the Ontario Newsroom. The province says it is still assessing eligibility, and DRAO generally does not cover sewer backups.
The Mayor of St. Catharines estimated that 10,000 of the city's 45,000 homes were damaged in the flooding and that the city's costs would be $35–45 million. He said he had hoped to get commitments on disaster relief at the AMO conference, and "That didn't happen."