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: Guelph Police Services Board for March 21, 2024

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Get ready for an info dump at this month’s Guelph Police Services Board meeting. In the aftermath of what turned out to be a not-very busy St. Patrick’s Day weekend despite all the pre-planning, Royal City’s finest will talk to their civilian oversight board about all the records accessed and uploaded in the last year, some reporting to other agencies, and the Chief’s monthly verbal report. Let’s dive into the agenda! Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Guelph Police Services Board for March 21, 2024” →

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for March 20, 2024

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Finally, after March Break, some planning! 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 March 20, 2024” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #411 – Raw Audio News

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The last few weeks have been busy news weeks, so on this edition of the podcast we’re going to lift the veil of news gathering and take you behind the scenes to see how the sausage the media gets made. To do that, we’re going to talk to an Ontario cabinet minister about promises, hear from local fire officials about safety, and discuss how best to not get scammed. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #411 – Raw Audio News” →

MEETING PREVIEW: Grand River Conservation Membership Meeting for March 22, 2024

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We welcome the first week of spring with an appropriate meeting, the monthly Grand River Conservation Authority membership board meeting! With spring practically here, it seems fitting that much of this month’s meeting agenda is dedicated to the awarding of construction tenders, including one locally for the new nature centre at Guelph Lake. Strap in though, because this is a packed agenda with a lot of business to tackle! Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Grand River Conservation Membership Meeting for March 22, 2024” →

POLICE NOTES: $5 Million Drug Bust, Big Dollar Break-Ins and Fraud Warning

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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: $5 Million Drug Bust, Big Dollar Break-Ins and Fraud Warning” →

MEETING PREVIEW: Transit Advisory Committee Meeting for March 21, 2024

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This month transit is coming around again for March’s meeting of the Transit Advisory Committee. And what advice will be sought from the committee this month? There will be the usual items about electrification, general transit news, and insights from the board and other users, plus there will be an item about chimes and messages that is still mysterious, but at least it’s something different. Let’s check out the agenda… Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Transit Advisory Committee Meeting for March 21, 2024” →

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the March 26 Meeting?

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We come again to the end of the month and the regular council meeting. It’s been a pretty laid back month compared to last, and this meeting’s agenda fits that theme as council will revisit the very uncontroversial Committee of the Whole agenda, and then add another matter about whether not council should support the idea of subsidizing new pipelines. So let’s get into a very issues-oriented, nerds only kind of agenda. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the March 26 Meeting?” →

Guelph Fire Chief Really, Really Wants You to Have a Working Smoke Detector

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It’s been a busy week for the Guelph Fire Department with four fires in as many days, and three of them in a nearly 24-hour period at the beginning of the week. With the community concerned, Guelph Fire Chief Brian Arnold was joined by Ontario Fire Marshal Jon Pegg at the site of a fatal fire on Edinburgh Road South with a simple message: For your personal safety, and the safety of the people you live with, have a working smoke detector. Continue reading “Guelph Fire Chief Really, Really Wants You to Have a Working Smoke Detector” →

Calandra Touts Guelph Housing Success with Novelty Cheque (But Real Money)

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Pomp was in the air of the courtyard at Guelph City Hall Thursday morning. The special guest was Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra, and the order to the day was celebrating Guelph’s success on housing starts in 2023. The what was a giant novelty cheque, a symbol of the very real award for Guelph starting construction on 1,287 new housing units last year, nearly $4.7 million in “reward” money! Continue reading “Calandra Touts Guelph Housing Success with Novelty Cheque (But Real Money)” →

RECAP: Social Services Committee Feels Good About Direction Post-Symposium

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This month’s Social Services Committee meeting was a special occasion, not only was there a change in venue to a Wellington County building on Wyndham Street, but this was the last committee meeting in its present iteration. But before a new committee takes over, there was a lot for this group to tackle on the March agenda from ongoing construction projects to the aftermath of the Health and Housing Symposium. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Social Services Committee Feels Good About Direction Post-Symposium” →