Author: Adam A. Donaldson

When he’s not the main/only contributor to Guelph Politico, Adam A. Donaldson also contributes to GuelphToday.com as their city hall columnist and co-hosts a political and current affairs show on CFRU 93.3 fm called “Open Sources Guelph" as well as the movie review show "End Credits."

MEETING PREVIEW: Board of Health Meeting for June 4, 2025

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It’s one last ride for the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Board of Health before they take their usual summer break, but despite the pending time off this is going to be an unusually laidback agenda. There are some pretty important updates though about the loss of harm reduction services downtown, and the annual community report about the overall work of the unit, but to learn more about the agenda, scroll through the preview below. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Board of Health Meeting for June 4, 2025” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #472 – The Burnout is Real, and Now There’s Data (feat. Anouk Bertner)

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Last week, Future of Good released their first ever Changemaker Wellbeing Index, which highlights the pressures facing the workers in the non-profit sector and the results paint an increasingly bleak picture. They also paint a coherent picture, putting together the various pieces that we’ve been hearing about these last few years: Organizations are struggling for money, staff and volunteers, and now we have the data!
Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #472 – The Burnout is Real, and Now There’s Data (feat. Anouk Bertner)” →

RECAP: City Council Meeting for May 27, 2025

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Let’s dig into the last council meeting for the month of May! You can click here for the amended agenda 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 during the meeting on Blue Sky or recap the complete thread after the meeting below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “RECAP: City Council Meeting for May 27, 2025” →

This Week at Council: Water Info and Objection Heard

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Okay, so technically this is not “This Week at Council”, it’s “Last Week at Council”. In addition to the planning meeting there were two other meetings on the calendar, one was an orientation meeting and the other was the rescheduled meeting for council to sit as tribunal. So what did you miss? Well, we learned that water is good and that sometimes you have to wait for the results. Here are the recaps from (technically) “Last Week at Council”! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Water Info and Objection Heard” →

POLICE NOTES: Cold Cases Closed, Road Rage, and Urination Mischief.

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There are 145,000 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 going 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: Cold Cases Closed, Road Rage, and Urination Mischief.” →

Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the June 3, 2025 Meeting?

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June’s Committee of the Whole meeting will be kind of a laid back affair, not as busy as some month’s but there’s still some pretty big files that need council input and review. Employee engagement, the review of Community Benefit Agreements, and more on Corporate Asset Management kicks off the month of June at council, plus many items in closed session and a list of staff recognitions. Continue reading “Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the June 3, 2025 Meeting?” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #471 – The Year at Council So Far Part 1 (January-April)

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This week Guelph city council is taking a holiday break, and perhaps understandably, because it has been a very busy year in the chambers so far. The first four months of the year brought a lot of change, a lot of drama, and some pretty big decisions that tested the fiscal and political capacity of a rapidly growing Ontario city. Now, we will pause and take stock of just how far we’ve come so far… Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #471 – The Year at Council So Far Part 1 (January-April)” →

This Week at Council: Signs and Apartments, and Two Tied Votes

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This month’s planning meeting of city council had three phases. First was the one new development application, which came with some very old arguments against it. Then there was a vote about re-approving a heritage designation, which was swiftly followed by a vote to un-designate. And then third, a discussion about administrative changes to the Sign Bylaw that went way too deep. Check out the details in the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Signs and Apartments, and Two Tied Votes” →

POLICE NOTES: Officer Investigated, New Tundra Thefts, and Seeking Firestarters

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There are 145,000 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 going 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: Officer Investigated, New Tundra Thefts, and Seeking Firestarters” →

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the May 27, 2025 Meeting?

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After a busy week at council, and then a week off following the May long weekend, council will get back to work with some fairly unusual circumstances. First, council must fill a whole new slate of committees with a whole new slate of members, and then they will have to look to their own membership because right now council is one person down! On top of that, there may be some additional commentary about this month’s Committee of the Whole agenda! Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the May 27, 2025 Meeting?” →