Guelph Politicast – Page 2

GUELPH POLITICAST #502 – What’s Next ’26: The South End Community Centre (feat. Danna Evans & Ian Scott)

Published on Dec 31, 2025Dec 30, 2025 by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

It’s the start of a new year, but more than that it’s the start of a big year for Guelph, and not just because there’s a municipal election in October. To end 2025, and to start 2026, this podcast will be airing back-to-back episodes that will mark the pending completion of two major construction projects by this time next year: Today we’re talking all about the South End Community Centre! Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #502 – What’s Next ’26: The South End Community Centre (feat. Danna Evans & Ian Scott)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #501 – Ed Video Lives! A Christmas Special (feat. Julie René de Cotret)

Published on Dec 24, 2025Dec 23, 2025 by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Christmas is a time to get together with old friends and for this podcast, there’s been no older friend in Guelph than the gang at Ed Video! Ed Video is one of the longest running arts centres in Canada, and has attracted a wide variety of artists over the years, but in the year 2025, we know that the arts are having trouble bouncing back from COVID. So why has this maybe been a good year for Ed Video despite it all? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #501 – Ed Video Lives! A Christmas Special (feat. Julie René de Cotret)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #500 – Unfinished Agendas (feat. Karen Farbridge)

Published on Dec 17, 2025Dec 15, 2025 by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

It’s been over 10 years since Karen Farbridge left office, technically defeated in the 2014 election by then one-term City Councillor Cam Guthrie. It ended up being an end to her days in elected office, but Farbridge isn’t gone, and she certainly isn’t forgotten, and in the last few weeks she’s been the one doing the remembering with a new series of Substack newsletters about lessons she learned from her career in politics. But what more can she tell us? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #500 – Unfinished Agendas (feat. Karen Farbridge)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #499 – Finally, a Good News Story in the Housing Crisis (feat. Kristen Cairney)

Published on Dec 14, 2025Jan 6, 2026 by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

For years now, we’ve seen the pressures of housing and affordability explode into a crisis, and the answers to that crisis never seem to make themselves known. Maybe things are changing. In November, the City of Guelph and Wyndham House announced that by this time next year, they will have effectively ended youth homelessness in Guelph. What makes them so confident? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #499 – Finally, a Good News Story in the Housing Crisis (feat. Kristen Cairney)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #497 – Park Stewards Never Say “Die” (feat. Margaret Middleton)

Published on Dec 3, 2025Dec 2, 2025 by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

We often hear how a budget tells us what a city values, and one of the things that residents clearly valued in the City of Guelph budget was funding for the park stewards program. We often talk about environmentalism and civic pride as big reasons to live in Guelph, so is the park steward program the ultimate expression of that, and if it is, why didn’t we talk about it before we almost lost it? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #497 – Park Stewards Never Say “Die” (feat. Margaret Middleton)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #496 – Still Taking, Just More Easily (feat. Theresa McClenaghan)

Published on Nov 26, 2025Nov 25, 2025 by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

There was a lot of celebrating this time last year when it was announced that Blue Triton was closing their water bottling operations across Ontario, including the one down the road in Puslinch. Current events have conspired to put water taking issues back on the frontburner but between concerns about the impact on renters in Bill 60 and the undermining of local oversight of school boards in Bill 33, is there any room on the agenda for protecting our water? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #496 – Still Taking, Just More Easily (feat. Theresa McClenaghan)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #495 – Civic Advocacy Still Works! (feat. Ken Thompson & Susan Watson)

Published on Nov 19, 2025Nov 18, 2025 by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

If there’s a reason that Guelph City Council opted to proceed with a vacant home tax a few weeks ago, at least some of that credits goes to Get Involved Guelph who have been raising concerns for years about the number of houses in the Royal City staying empty, especially in the midst of a housing crisis. Well, the City of Guelph finally agreed that it’s time to act, so what does Get Involved Guelph do for an encore? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #495 – Civic Advocacy Still Works! (feat. Ken Thompson & Susan Watson)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #494 – Electoral Reform? It Could Still Happen (feat. Kevin Bowman)

Published on Nov 12, 2025Nov 11, 2025 by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

It was about 10 years ago this time that Justin Trudeau strode up to Rideau Hall and made history being sworn in as Canada’s 23rd prime minister. There was a lot of hope about what the future of Trudeau’s premiership held, but perhaps no other constituency were hit harder by the political realities of the Trudeau-mania hangover than electoral reform activists. Can changing our voting system still possibly get a fair hearing? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #494 – Electoral Reform? It Could Still Happen (feat. Kevin Bowman)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #493 – They’re Coming for the Conservation Authorities… Again (feat. Phil Pothen)

Published on Nov 5, 2025Nov 4, 2025 by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Since they resumed sitting the week after Thanksgiving, the Government of Ontario has been throwing a lot at us, and then on Halloween they proposed sweeping changes to conservation authorities in Ontario. If it feels like we’ve been here before we kind of have, and while conservation authorities have weathered provincial meddling before, can they survive it again? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #493 – They’re Coming for the Conservation Authorities… Again (feat. Phil Pothen)” →