Category: Guelph Politicast

GUELPH POLITICAST #533 – The Young Ones (feat. Carly Klassen & Ken Yee Chew)

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Sometimes it seems like municipal politics is an older person’s game. Look around at the faces of Guelph City Council, or even Wellington County Council, and you see a lot of wrinkles and a lot of grey hairs. Now, we love our elders, and everyone should be welcome to serve in municipal governance, but as we approach the end of this term of Guelph city council, we will talk to its two youngest members about going where few people their age have gone before. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #533 – The Young Ones (feat. Carly Klassen & Ken Yee Chew)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #532 – The Local (feat. David Deacon and Michael K. Newton)

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

If you’re listening to this on Wednesday, then it’s Canada Day, and you might expect that we would dig into something of national importance but with a Guelph edge. Instead, we’re going to go ultra local. There’s a neighbourhood in the City’s south end that has concerns about traffic that will be created from over 200 new units that have been long in development. At the same time, one Guelphite is saying that print is not dead! Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #532 – The Local (feat. David Deacon and Michael K. Newton)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #531 – Slow Election? (feat. Scotty Hertz)

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Does this one feel a little slow? There’s no doubt that there’s a lot of passion in the community for a variety of issues from affordability to housing development in this election, and there are a lot of new faces eager to take the reins around the council horseshoe, but a little over halfway through the nomination process, do the races this fall feel exciting, especially the open mayor’s race? Is there change in the air? Are people paying attention? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #531 – Slow Election? (feat. Scotty Hertz)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #530 – What’s Next 2026? A City of Attractions (feat. Joanne O’Meara and P. Brian Skerrett)

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

One of the big initiatives in this term of council, especially as we emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, was the effort to promote Guelph as a tourist destination. There are two major projects now in the pipeline that would do a lot to brandish Guelph as regional, provincial and nation destination, but as we look to the next term of council, will there be the political capacity to help make these projects a reality? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #530 – What’s Next 2026? A City of Attractions (feat. Joanne O’Meara and P. Brian Skerrett)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #529 – The Trustee to Council Pipeline (feat. Linda Busuttil & Katherine Hauser)

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Half of city council is new in terms this being their first term in office, but that doesn’t mean that some of those people were politically inexperienced entering this office. For decades, the farm league for politicians has been the local school board, which is about as direct as democracy can get. Looking back at this term, and the rapid pace of change that councillors have had to deal with, have the councillors with that school board experience had a leg up? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #529 – The Trustee to Council Pipeline (feat. Linda Busuttil & Katherine Hauser)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #528 – The Breezys Vs Big Brother (feat. Steve Cornwell & Jonathan Webb )

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Just this week there were more warning from the federal government about the threats of out malleable information ecosystem, warnings that Russia is targeting Canada with misinformation to sew divisions and erode confidence in democratic institutions. In an era of partisan media and A.I. deep fakes, how do you know that what you’re reading or seeing is the truth? Let’s talk about it… Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #528 – The Breezys Vs Big Brother (feat. Steve Cornwell & Jonathan Webb )” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #527 – A Pratfall in Puslinch? (feat. Justin Wilson)

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Remember MZOs. Early on in the Ford government, Ministerial Zoning Orders were the hot thing to cut through red tape and get construction started faster by overriding public planning procedures, like the one being sought now for a one million square foot facility on zoned agricultural land in Puslinch. As upper levels of government accelerate pro-business policies and override environmental concerns and assessments, can one group of activists still win? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #527 – A Pratfall in Puslinch? (feat. Justin Wilson)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #526 – What’s Next 2026? The Transit Struggle (feat. Steve Petric)

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

This term has presented a lot of challenges to transit and transit users, not the least of which was ridership recovering following the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has, thankfully, not only returned but grown in the last four years. Logistically speaking though, there are other challenges to transit that have stacked up including financial pressures, but what else is coming for transit in the next four years? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #526 – What’s Next 2026? The Transit Struggle (feat. Steve Petric)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #525 – Election Skullduggery Already? (feat. Dylan McMahon)

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

On Friday, Guelph Politico received a video of someone accessing the website “michellebowman.ca”. Michelle Bowman is a candidate running in Ward 2 in this fall’s municipal election, so one would think that if you typed in her name with the domain extension “.ca” that it would lead to her website. It doesn’t. Barely three weeks into this election, do we already need to have a conservation about the rules and ethics of running for local office? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #525 – Election Skullduggery Already? (feat. Dylan McMahon)” →

WELLINGTON COUNTY POLITICAST #524 – Ich bein eine Fergusonian (feat. Diane Ballantyne)

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Centre Wellington is the largest municipality inside the county, and it includes Elora and Fergus. In the literal and figurative middle of Wellington, representing it around the council table, unsurprisingly, is a two-person job. From this vantage point, they must have a unique view of relations between the city and county, and one of those councillors has an even bigger vantage point then that? Continue reading “WELLINGTON COUNTY POLITICAST #524 – Ich bein eine Fergusonian (feat. Diane Ballantyne)” →