*You might be forgiven to think this whole COVID-19 pandemic is in the bag. It’s been a week-and-a-half since the mask mandates were repealed in Ontario and in the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health region, and like clockwork the number of COVID cases in the public, and in the hospital, are going up. You might be fed up, you might be fully vaccinated and boosted, but that doesn’t mean the pandemic is over. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #317 – Is This the End of the Pandemic*?”
There’s a lot of interest in the excavation of Baker Street. Maybe it’s the ghoulish quality of uncovering remains from an old graveyard, or maybe it’s because this is all literally happening on the main street, but a lot of eyes are on this big hole being dug in the old Baker Street lot. This week, we go inside that hole with the two men holding the shovels. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #316 – Can You Archeologically Dig It?”
We have come to know what it’s like to live with COVID-19, even if we don’t like, but almost exactly two years ago today, we were freaking out. Remember wiping down your groceries with anti-bacterial wipes? Remember the run on toilet paper? Remember when we thought we could stamp this out in two weeks? Times sure have changed, but are we really at the end of COVID considering how it began? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #315 – COVID Begins”
Just in time for this podcast, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released another report last week, which was described by UN Secretary-General as “an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership.” So what’s the current provincial government’s record on fighting climate change, and with an election that’s now less than three months away? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #314 – The Environment, an Election, a Premier, and His Politics”
As you click play on this episode, we’re officially in a new phase of the pandemic. More restrictions were lifted on March 1, and Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health is assuring us that it’s only a matter of time now till our masking days are behind us. So it’s good news, right? Maybe. Let’s ask *the* local expect if the reason for optimism is real! Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #313 – Still COVID with Dr. Mercer (Winter Edition)”
The University of Guelph has been one of the leaders in COVID-19 research, and in the wake of Omicron, one specific area research took on new importance as the regular channels of COVID testing were overwhelmed. The future of monitoring COVID-19’s prevalence and resilience may be in wastewater testing, and we have the man that could write book on it if he weren’t so busy. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #312 – It’s in the Wastewater!”
Freedom to Read Week is a chance to talk about issues of censorship and free expression, especially in the context of what we can read and access at our local and school libraries. There’s been a lot of back and forth in the news lately about what young people should be allowed to read, or not, in their school library, so for this podcast, we got the biggest librarian we could find. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #311 – Now More Than Ever, Freedom to Read Week”
Canadaland once said of Kurt Phillips that he was hunting Nazis online before it was cool. Experts in online hate like Phillips have been very busy lately following the developments of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa, which has now launched several branch convoy protests, including the most recent one on the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor. How did it get this far? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #310 – It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”
This month, there are Winter Pride events in Guelph, and Pride events are all about promoting visibility and acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community. But while the Pride movement’s come a long way, there’s still a long way to go for complete equality. Consider healthcare. We like to think our healthcare system in Canada is barrier-free here, but the barriers for trans people can be immense. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #309 – Healthcare for Trans People Doesn’t Just Happen”
Think about this for a second: Where can you go in Guelph if you want to use your French language skills? Seriously. This is a bilingual country, and unless you have friends or family that speak French or live in an area with a lot of French speakers, where do you go, and who do you talk to, if you want to speak French? That maybe about to change. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #308 – Une maison de la francophonie à Guelph”
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