It’s been over 10 years since Karen Farbridge left office, technically defeated in the 2014 election by then one-term City Councillor Cam Guthrie. It ended up being an end to her days in elected office, but Farbridge isn’t gone, and she certainly isn’t forgotten, and in the last few weeks she’s been the one doing the remembering with a new series of Substack newsletters about lessons she learned from her career in politics. But what more can she tell us?

Karen Farbridge’s tenure as Guelph’s mayor was marked by a number of changes, some of which were successful like the preservation of the Loretto Convent which became home to the Guelph Civic Museum, and some of them were unsuccessful like the Community Energy Project that’s since been dismantled. Like many politicians, time got away from her and there was an appetite for change, and her last re-election bid ended in defeat in October 2014.

Since she left office, some remember Farbridge fondly for thinking and acting boldly for Guelph’s future while others have labelled her as a tax-and-spend liberal whose legacy is sullied in once tidy word, “Urbacon”, the firm that was hired, and fired, from building the new city hall at 1 Carden Street. For her part, Farbridge has been willing to stay out of the local political games but then she started a Substack newsletter that chronicled some of the lessons she learned from 20 years as a woman in politics.

So for this, the 500th episode of the Politicast, it seemed right to talk to former Mayor Farbridge about her legacy, and all those lessons learned. She will talk about how she got into politics back in the 90s, the unexpected ways that sexism got in the way, and why political memories in Guelph are so long. Also, we will discuss her thoughts on her own political legacy, whether she’s ever thought about getting back into electoral politics, and whether her newsletter is the beginning of something, or the end

So let’s catch up with a former mayor on this 500th edition of the Guelph Politicast!

You can follow and subscribe to Karen Farbridge’s Substack newsletter “Unfinished Agendas” here. You can also follow her on social media @karenfarbridge on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. If you would like to check her work as a consultant you can go to the website for Karen Farbridge and Associates here.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn 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.