Starting Wednesday, getting a rapid test in Ontario will be (theoretically) as easy as visiting your local grocery store or pharmacy. At a Kitchener Walmart this morning, Health Minister Christine Elliott announced that the Province will be making five million free rapid tests available each week for the next eight weeks at over 2,300 participating outlets including 30 right here in Guelph. Continue reading “Elliott: Rapid Tests Coming Soon to a Grocery Store Near You”
Housing has been a hot topic of conversation in Guelph and the surrounding area, so any housing announcement from any level of government has got obvious news value. On Wednesday, the value is nearly $6.4 million from the Federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative, plus $25,000 through the SEED, and $460,000 from the Ontario Priority Housing Initiative. The recipient, in this case, is Grace Gardens. Continue reading “Federal Government Announces Big Investment in Grace Gardens”
Canadaland once said of Kurt Phillips that he was hunting Nazis online before it was cool. Experts in online hate like Phillips have been very busy lately following the developments of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa, which has now launched several branch convoy protests, including the most recent one on the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor. How did it get this far? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #310 – It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”
While the Government of Ontario is easing restrictions for long-term care residents as the Omicron wave seemingly abates, Ontario’s Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra announced that a couple of Guelph’s LTC homes are going to have to make room for a few more people. In all, nearly 200 new beds have been approved for three Guelph long-term care homes, in an announcement the mayor calls, “beyond exciting!” Continue reading “ONgov Announces Nearly 200 More Long-Term Care Beds for Guelph”
Moving people around the region is still an issue. Greyhound shut down their Canadian operations last May, but it had been effectively closed sine the start of the pandemic now almost two years ago, and there has been no big carrier coming in to take its place. Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner noticed that too, and this morning he made an announcement in Cambridge to declare the Green Party’s commitment to regional transit. Continue reading “Schreiner Pushes for Regional Transit, While May Pushes for VIA Support”
Money matters and the Smart Cities office are on the agenda this month. You can click here for the amended agendas from City Hall, and you can click here for the Politico preview. For the complete blow-by-blow of today’s council meeting, you can follow along on Twitter, or follow the tweets below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “LIVE BLOG: Committee of the Whole Meeting for February 7, 2022”
Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield [usually works a ways from the Royal City, but he’s still working for the people in his riding. So what has he been up to lately? This is “This Week in Lloyd.” Continue reading “This Week in Lloyd: Black Heritage, Climate Action, and Research Funding”
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: Camera Mapping, Car Theft Alert, and Another Drug Bust”
On Thursday, members of the Ontario Nurses Association met with Premier Doug Ford in-person to discuss the help that their 60,000 members need right now to hire, retain, and assist nurses through to the end of the pandemic and beyond. “We just need someone to respect us,” ONA First Vice-President Angela Preocanin said in an interview with Guelph Politico after their meeting with Premier, which she says was actually hopeful. Continue reading ““We Just Need Someone to Respect Us.” Nurses Hopeful After Meet with Premier”
This month’s planning meeting at city council contains a lot of good news if you’re a developer or property owner that’s been waiting a while to get going on a project. There are three decision reports in February planning matters, plus one statutory meetings for, of all things, a new car wash in the west end. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the February 14 Meeting?”
Guelph Politico 