What goes on inside the head of Guelph’s mayor? When did he start to becoming interested in politics? What influenced him along the way? What considerations does he take into account as he makes decisions? If you’ve ever wondered about these, or similar questions, then this is going to be a podcast you’re going to want to press play on!

This week on the podcast, we’re joined by Mayor Cam Guthrie, but not for not a discussion about specific issues, or things that are presently in front of city council awaiting a decision. This is a talk about how the mayor thinks, and how his thinking might have changed in the last five years since he became mayor.

It’s an auspicious time to get a glimpse at the mayor’s thinking. Last Friday, Guthrie announced in the State of the City speech that he wanted to forward two initiatives; one for free transit for Guelph’s youth, and another for a car-free downtown. Is this same Cam Guthrie that was first elected in 2014? Thinking back to that contentious election, the announcement of a car-free downtown might have seemed a little “hippie-dippy” for Guthrie, so has politics changed, or has Guthrie?

That’s one of the many questions we’ll try to get to the bottom of on this week’s podcast, as Guthrie sits down for a wide-ranging discussion about how he got political, how he would describe his own politics, and whether or not he thinks those politics might have changed in the years he’s been mayor. He will talk about his engagement on social media, and how he handles criticism, legitimate or otherwise. And finally, he discusses why he always strives for council consensus, what he thinks the future may hold in terms of his own ambitions, and how he thinks he will be remembered as Guelph’s mayor.

So let’s get into the mind of Mayor Cam Guthrie on this week’s edition of the Guelph Politicast!

Mayor Guthrie will be delivering his State of the City address for the Breakfast Club at Breezy Corners this Thursday at 8 am. For full coverage of the State of the City as it was delivered to the Chamber of Commerce last week, you can find that here on Guelph Politico.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify.

Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.