This is the first city council meeting of 2021, and it will feature a look into the future, a look into the present, and a look into the past. On the agenda is the work plan from council’s one employee, a handful of sign variances, and a delayed look at a plan for Guelph’s heritage. Plus, there’s a new group that council wants Guelph to be a member of. Continue reading “Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the January 11 Meeting?”
In what is perhaps the best bit of good news we might receive in these waning days of 2020, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has announced that they will be getting their first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer next week. The vaccine will arrive on Monday January 4, and be ready for distribution the same day with a full rollout scheduled for Tuesday. Continue reading “Pfizer Vaccine Arrives in Guelph Next Week”
When we look back at 2020, we will remember the pandemic. Full stop. We will remember locking down, making masks a regular part of our wardrobe, and the economic tumult created by so many people losing their job, or working from home, or having to radically reorient their business models in order to stay afloat. But what about the rest of the year’s news? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #254 – Guelph Stuff (2020 Year in Review)”
On the same day that Ontario officially enters a new 28-day period of lockdown, the Provincial government announced that the mutated strain of COVID-19 that has been ravaging the United Kingdom was detected here in our fair province. Two cases of the new COVID have been detected, and there’s no immediate indication how this new strain has appeared in Canada. Continue reading “First Cases of New COVID Variant Found in Ontario on First Day of Lockdown”
It’s the holiday season, and along with the usual need to give presents, food, and other festive delights is the life-or-death need to give blood. The hospital is still in business treating more than just COVID-19, and there are a myriad of medical emergencies that require blood from millions of generous donors from across Canada, including Guelph. ‘Tis the season for giving after all, so why not give blood? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #253 – Give Blood.”
When you woke up this morning, it was two days till Christmas and three days till the start of a province-wide lockdown, and on this morning there was some good news and some concerning news. While the Government of Canada has approved the second vaccine for widespread distribution, there’s still no news about when our region might start getting the vaccine, but Public Health says they’re prepared when it happens. Continue reading “Countdown to Lockdown: The State of COVID in Guelph on December 23”
Looking back at 2020, one recalls the loft aspirations for the year that Mayor Cam Guthrie articulated at his annual State of the City speech. That was the first week of February. Less than six weeks later, the world was closed and Guthrie had to lead the city through what might be the most complicated and multifaceted crisis that Guelph has ever faced in its 193-year history. So how did it go? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #252 – Christmas With Cam”
January 31 is the end of the calendar year, and the end of the City of Guelph fiscal year, but it will also mark the end of more thing, the end of the memorandum of understanding between the City and other parties for 200 Beverly Street, aka: the former IMICo Site. This big empty brownfield in the middle of the Ward has been the subject of much concern and interest for over 20 years, but there will be progress in 2021. Continue reading “The Next Phase of Reclaiming IMICo Site Coming in 2021”
After weeks of speculation, the Government of Ontario formally announced on Monday that the province will be going back into lockdown on Boxing Day this Saturday. The province-wide increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases has prompted the Provincial government to give the gift of staying at home the day after Christmas even as new areas in the GTA entered grey-level lockdowns on Monday. Continue reading “Ontario Locking Down on Boxing Day, City of Guelph Responding with New Measures”
Before we literally and figuratively blow up 2020 (as depicted above), let us take a minute to remember some of the major news stories in Guelph over the last 12 months. Leaving behind the pandemic and the renewed call for social equality (both of which will be covered separately in their own pieces), let us consider the news that made this year one for the eternal annals of the City of Guelph. Continue reading “Top 10 (Non-COVID, Non-Social Justice) Guelph News Stories of 2020”
Guelph Politico 