This is where the hard work of changing the system, and combating systemic racism, begins. For almost two months there have been marches, demonstrations and meetings all designed to promote the cause, but if we’re going to tear down the system, and build something more equitable, it’s going to be a more long term fight. So how do we begin? Why don’t we begin with this podcast? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #229 – Black Votes Matter!”
Our area has been under Stage 2 of the re-opening for nearly a month now, and people are eagerly looking for signs that we might soon enter the final stage. Still, our position is precarious. We see what is happening in the United States, and if there’s one thing that we can all agree on, it’s that we do not want to re-enter lockdown. So shall we get a doctor’s advice on how to avoid all that? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #228 – Still COVID with Doctor Mercer”
This week, in honour of Canada Day, we have a repeat of the podcast. That doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it is a holiday, and we could all use a nice break from the routine and skullduggery of the pandemic news cycle. So let’s revisit happier times from the recent and distant pasts. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST REPLAY – A History of Guelph’s Birthdays”
There’s been a lot of news in Guelph lately, maybe too much news, so we’re all going to take a minute, or 60, on this week’s podcast to bring some analysis and a recap of all the happenings in this sorted little ‘burb called the Royal City. It’s time for another entry in the great Guelph Stuff punditry franchise. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #227 – Guelph Stuff (BLM, COVID-19, and Tabbara)”
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”
