Like so many events and festivals since the middle of March, the annual Guelph Sports Hall of Fame ceremony was postponed because of the pandemic. One of the inductees this year is Rob Massey, who has made a career out of covering local sports in Guelph, and that definitely deserves to be honoured. So as Massey waits to get his lovely Kiwanis Club dinner, we will tide him over by celebrating his achievement on this edition of the podcast. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #226 – SPORTS!”
Saturday’s Guelph Solidarity Protest to Support Black Lives Matter drew 5,000 people to downtown Guelph to demonstrate against systemic racism and police brutality. For Guelph’s predominately white citizenry, it was a time to listen, and to show support, and in that spirit, this week’s episode of the podcast will feature very little commentary from the host, and will be almost entirely dedicated to those voices that were raised last weekend. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #225 – Black Lives Matter!”
Last September at the Labour Day Picnic in Riverside Park, there were already signs that it was going to be a long year at the province’s schools. The contract with all four teachers’ unions in Ontario had expired, and the Ontario government was in no mood to approve new spending or pay raises for teachers and other school workers employed at our Catholic and separate public schools. That was only the beginning. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #224 – It’s Been a Long School Year…”
The library is the ideal paradox for the present pandemic: we’re all stuck at home looking for new stuff to read and watch, which is a situation ideally suited for the library, but because of the public health emergency, it is wildly irresponsible to have people visit the library and handle various books, and other things. But good news, we will soon be able to borrow from the library again. How will they do it? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #223 – The Coming of the Curbside Library”
We normally do a quarterly discussion of transit matters with a couple of our friends from the Transit Action Alliance of Guelph, or TAAG, but there’s been a lot going on lately, and it’s been really hard for friends to get together like we usually do. Getting people to take the bus in the best of times is hard, but during a pandemic? It’s time for another edition of the Transit Pass, even though these days you don’t need one. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #222 – The [No] Transit Pass [Needed]”
The detailed Clair-Maltby Secondary Plan was going to be one of the biggest issues before city council this year, and it still might be, but in the almost literal centre of the debate is the Marcolongo Farm property. With council returning to some kind of regular order in the next few weeks, look for the planning of Clair-Maltby to pick-up again, and there is almost no one that has as much invested in that plan both personally and professionally than Mike Marcolongo. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #221 – Old Marcolongo’s Farm”
There are 130,000 Personal Support Workers (PSWs) in Ontario alone. They are a vital link in the healthcare chain for people that need assistance at home, or in long-term care. They assist people who are seriously ill, and the elderly, and they perform a variety of functions including help with healthcare needs, personal assistance, palliative care, supportive care, and work around the house like cooking and housekeeping. So why do we know so little about them? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #220 – Supporting Our PSWs”
As we’re entering this third calendar month under a state of quarantine, we’re starting to feel that it still might be a long time until we get back to what we consider normalcy. It might be a long time before we can sit comfortably again in a room filled with a few hundred people to hear the city’s mayor talk about a grand ambition for Guelph that has nothing to do with responding to a global pandemic. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #219 – Better Days”
From time to time, the Guelph Politicast likes to do a sit down with a member of City of Guelph staff to talk about their job in detail with all its day-to-day demands, challenges and rewards. This podcast is in the mode of one of those past explainers, but with a COVID-19 twist because what is possibly affecting City business more these days than the global pandemic? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #218 – COVID Administrative Officer”
It would be unfair to say that independent art house movie theatres like the Bookshelf Cinema are feeling the biggest impact from the COVID-19 lockdown, but things weren’t exactly easy for them before the outbreak. From the fewer number of films being released theatrically, to big monopolies at the studios and national theatre chains, to the growing number of streaming options, indie cinemas had a lot to deal with before a global pandemic. But is it a lost cause? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #217 – Missing the Movies”
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