Almost two years after both the City of Guelph and the County of Wellington initiated states of emergency in dealing with COVID-19, both governments are announcing their end next week. Coinciding with the previously announced end to proof of vaccination from the Government of Ontario, both the County and the City will end their emergency declaration and measures on March 1. Hopefully for real this time. Continue reading “For Real This Time, the State of Emergency is Over on March 1”
Members of Provincial Parliament and their staffs returned to Queen’s Park on Tuesday for the commencement of another legislative session, the last one before the Provincial Election, which is presently expected on June 2. For opposition parties and interest groups, it was a chance to talk about the challenges and issues still being caused by the pandemic, and for the Premier, it was a chance to just play politics. Continue reading “Busy First Morning Back at Queen’s Park Begins With More Sticker Drama”
Family Day is supposed to be a day of rest, and an occasion to spend time with the family, but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be a little time for politics. Some of Ontario’s political leaders were thinking the same thing. The Ontario’s Members of Provincial Parliament return to Queen’s Park on Tuesday for the last legislative session before the election, but before that, they want to talk about their agendas. Continue reading “Opposition Gets Ready for New Session (and the Election)”
Nearly two years after Minnesotan George Floyd was killed in police custody and causing an explosion in awareness of systemic racism, the City of Guelph has delivered an important addendum to the Community Plan. Called “We are Community”, the new section released Friday will work to guide the City’s goal of creating more equity, and eliminating systemic racism to make sure everyone feels like they belong. Continue reading ““We are Community” is the Rallying Cry to Fight Systemic Racism”
There are 137,000 stories in the Royal City, and this is some of them. Looking at a week’s worth of media releases from the Guelph Police Service, there’s a lot gong on in our little city crime-wise speaking, so let’s run down some of the charges, issues, and requests for information from the Guelph Police Service over the last seven days. Continue reading “POLICE NOTES: Double Theft and Passing of Deputy Chief”
After a week off for Family Day, council is going to come back strong for the last Monday of the month with back-to-back meetings. One meeting is dedicated solely to a rare matter of administration, but in the second meeting, look for council to potentially rip the lid off and tackle a couple of controversial issues, which might make good fodder for next year’s integrity commissioner’s report (hint). Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the February 28 Meetings?”
The Ontario Legislature returns to work after the Family Day weekend, and it returns for the final time before the spring election. Premier Doug Ford and his ministers will likely have some ideas about what they want to do during last few months of the session, but Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner has some ideas of his own. If you’ve been carefully following provincial politics, the three goals should not be terribly surprising. Continue reading “Schreiner Has Three Goals for Last Legislative Session Before the Election”
There’s a provincial election coming this spring. You may be aware of that, but the Guelph-Wellington Coalition for Social Justice is definitely aware of it, and on Wednesday night they launched a series of events meant to prep the electorate by talking about what are likely to be some of the biggest issues of the 2022 Provincial Election. Topic number one was homelessness and poverty, and the all-star panel is eager to end them for good. Continue reading “Guelph’s Housing Advocates Lay Out the Pre-Election Stakes in Town Hall”
Freedom to Read Week is a chance to talk about issues of censorship and free expression, especially in the context of what we can read and access at our local and school libraries. There’s been a lot of back and forth in the news lately about what young people should be allowed to read, or not, in their school library, so for this podcast, we got the biggest librarian we could find. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #311 – Now More Than Ever, Freedom to Read Week”
Hypothetically speaking, no city government wants to win an award for “Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy”, but this year the dubious distinction goes to our nearby neighbour, Stratford. Although the City of Stratford’s efforts to secure a Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO) to build a controversial glass plant came to a swift end last year, the effect on trust in the local government seem to remain. Continue reading “Stratford Wins (Not So) Coveted Code of Silence Award”
Guelph Politico 