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 Public Library Board for October 30, 2023

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

It’s Devils Night, and this year the Devil’s business seems to involve the monthly board of directors meeting of the Guelph Public Library. Nothing particularly evil, or diabolical, is on the agenda though, just the usual business of running the local library system including budgets, the state of services and usage, plus the ongoing developments of the new library project. Plus, what issues are top of mind for library advocacy? Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Guelph Public Library Board for October 30, 2023” →

Remember Those Official Plan Changes? Calandra Says Never Mind

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

It was two months ago now when former Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark resigned from the Ontario cabinet in the wake of the Auditor General’s report about the changes to the Greenbelt. It was a little over a month ago that Premier Doug Ford announced that the government would be restoring that land back to the Greenbelt, and it was just last week that Paul Calandra, Clark’s replacement, finally introduced that legislation. So what’s new this Monday? Continue reading “Remember Those Official Plan Changes? Calandra Says Never Mind” →

This Week at Council: Housing, Heritage and Hesitancy in Double Header

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

It’s tough to summarize a nine-hour council meeting, but it kind of helps that this one came in two parts. In the first half, council tried its best to use the limited tool kit they have to generate some housing solutions amidst the crisis, and then, in the second half, it was the usual monthly planning meeting with some big new applications, big decisions, and some big heritage designations. Here’s the (lengthier than normal) recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Housing, Heritage and Hesitancy in Double Header” →

POLICE NOTES: Homicide Investigation, High Speed Getaway and Search for Cyclist

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

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: Homicide Investigation, High Speed Getaway and Search for Cyclist” →

MEETING PREVIEW: Grand River Conservation Membership Meeting for October 27, 2023

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Like a lot of local boards and committees this month, the focus is on money matters at October’s meeting of the Grand River Conservation Authority membership. The 2024 budget has come due for this board, and it may be the lowest increase of any board this year. Also of note, especially for those of us in Guelph, is a new piece of infrastructure at our eponymous lake in the north end. But that’s not all so check out the rest of the preview. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Grand River Conservation Membership Meeting for October 27, 2023” →

RECAP: Transit Advisory Committee Talks About Messaging

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

The agenda for this month’s Transit Advisory Committee meeting was deceptively simple, just three things on the docket, but sometimes these simple meetings lead to the most interesting conversations. On Thursday evening, TAC talked about the air filtration on buses, the need for more outreach about how transit works and where things stand on a couple of different ongoing projects (wasn’t there supposed to be new shelters at Guelph Central Station this summer?). Learn more in the recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Transit Advisory Committee Talks About Messaging” →

RECAP: Police Board Approves Budget With Added IMPACT

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

With today’s meeting, the Guelph Police Services Board officially sent the 2024-2027 police budget to city council for further examination starting in a few weeks. The only big change is additional funds for the IMPACT program that will cover the cost of a social worker in downtown Guelph along with an additional downtown police officer. So how did this come about? All is revealed in this recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Police Board Approves Budget With Added IMPACT” →

MEETING PREVIEW: Guelph Police Services Board for October 19, 2023

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Wait a minute! Didn’t we have a Guelph Police Services Board meeting once already this month?! Well, technically, that was the slightly delayed September meeting, so this is the “real” meeting for October, and it will be a relatively brief one at that. On this agenda, there’s a couple of the usual reports, and there’s also the final passage of the operating budget for the Guelph Police until 2027 before it goes on for final, final approval at city council. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Guelph Police Services Board for October 19, 2023” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #393 – You’ve Got Mailbag!

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

This week’s podcast is dedicated to you, the people, who sent in questions for this Guelph Politicast mailbag over the weekend. Guelph is filled with lots of curious people who are deeply concerned about issues and politics, and some of you came up with some very deep and probing questions for this first mailbag edition since well before the start of the pandemic. Get ready for 45 minutes of one annoying person talking! Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #393 – You’ve Got Mailbag!” →

LIVE BLOG: Planning City Council Meeting for October 17, 2023

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

It’s a packed planning meeting schedule! 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: Planning City Council Meeting for October 17, 2023” →