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: Transit Advisory Committee Meeting for April 18, 2024

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Time to catch the bus, or rather the committee that advises about the buses. The April agenda for the Transit Advisory Committee looks suspiciously like the March agenda, but with one additional item. Once again, TAC will look at chimes, and ridership concerns, and general updates, but they will also hear about a proverbial meeting of local transit minds. So let’s dig into the details as we look forward to next week’s meeting. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Transit Advisory Committee Meeting for April 18, 2024” →

RECAP: First Meeting of New Combined Social Services Committee Painted Bleak Future

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It was an historical day at the Administrative Centre on Wednesday as members from Wellington County and Guelph councils sat down for the first Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee. Most of the meeting was in the realm of reviews, reviews of how all the key services work and reviews of projects in progress, but there were some flashing warning signs about the impact from using Strong Mayor Powers in the Royal City. Let’s recap… Continue reading “RECAP: First Meeting of New Combined Social Services Committee Painted Bleak Future” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #414 – Tiny Homes, Big Impacts

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We’ve heard a lot about tiny homes lately as the housing crisis has gotten worse, but they’ve been a thing for a while. Somehow, it’s both a niche real estate trend, and a new innovation in accommodating Canada’s unhoused population, but it’s the latter that we’re interested in today because we’re going to talk about one of Guelph’s two tiny home projects meant to tackle homelessness. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #414 – Tiny Homes, Big Impacts” →

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for April 9, 2024

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Gentle density is the name of the game at this month’s planning meeting. 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: City Council Meeting for April 9, 2024” →

RECAP: Heritage Guelph Gets Ready for Designation Dump on Council

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There were April showers at this month’s Heritage Guelph meeting, and it was showering perspective designations to city council in the near future. Staff laid out their future plans in this meeting, some key deadlines for ongoing projects, and then looked at some more perspective designations, which will be among the ones that will come to city council in the next couple of months. For now, let’s talk about the April meeting in the recap below… Continue reading “RECAP: Heritage Guelph Gets Ready for Designation Dump on Council” →

This Week at Council: MAT Update and Registering Lobbyists

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Delayed a day because of the Easter long weekend, Committee of the Whole sat on Wednesday and discussed progress on the development of key policy. On the one hand, there was the Municipal Accommodation Tax and the creation of a cohesive tourism strategy, and on the other there was a question of transparency and knowing who’s lobbying who at city hall and about what. Here’s the recap. Continue reading “This Week at Council: MAT Update and Registering Lobbyists” →

POLICE NOTES: Gas and Go, Fake Quick Stop, and Baseball Bruiser Busted

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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: Gas and Go, Fake Quick Stop, and Baseball Bruiser Busted” →

MEETING PREVIEW: Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee Meeting for April 10, 2024

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Wait! What’s this?! It’s not everyday that there’s the start of a new committee, or perhaps we should call this a committee reboot, because it’s taking something that already existed, but getting a new twist. In this case, it’s the old Wellington County Social Services Committee, but with the City of Guelph now bringing the regular paramedic updates and new members. So what’s on the agenda for this first meeting of the rebooted committee? Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee Meeting for April 10, 2024” →

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the April 16 Meeting?

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We’re wrapping up the month at council pretty early all things considered. Our first meeting post-Ramadan brings council back to a later start time around the dinner hour, and it also brings back all the items discussed last week at Committee of the Whole. Plus, there’s a new topic in the form of a report from the Integrity Commissioner, and this one’s a little more spicy than the last one. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the April 16 Meeting?” →

Abortion Bus Ads Going Back to City Committee for Hearing

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Just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in… Just over two years after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice said that the City of Guelph didn’t offer a good enough justification for removing three anti-abortion bus ads from Guelph Transit vehicles, the same group is back with a complaint about the City’s refusal to post a new ad. A meeting of the Advertising Review Panel next Friday will determine what happens next.
Continue reading “Abortion Bus Ads Going Back to City Committee for Hearing” →