This week Guelph city council is taking a holiday break, and perhaps understandably, because it has been a very busy year in the chambers so far. The first four months of the year brought a lot of change, a lot of drama, and some pretty big decisions that tested the fiscal and political capacity of a rapidly growing Ontario city. Now, we will pause and take stock of just how far we’ve come so far… Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #471 – The Year at Council So Far Part 1 (January-April)”
We have a weird situation: We’ve elected two new governments at both upper levels in the last four months and the hope is that they can turn things around, and yet, these are also, essentially, the old governments. How can we possibly expect better results from the new old people in charge, and are we even more alone than ever here on the local level? We’ll put this to one of the people whose job it is to advocate. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #470 – The Poverty Elimination Gut Check (feat. Dominica McPherson)”
The recent federal election was the formal turning of the page from the premiership of Justin Trudeau to the one led by Mark Carney. For long-time political observers, the difference between the two men in both style and substance is stark, but there’s no doubt that the change in leadership in March is at least half the reason the Liberals got a near majority last week. And yet, the question remains: What happened to Trudeau-mania? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #469 – Whatever Happened to “Sunny Ways”? (feat. Mustafa Zuberi)”
By the time you’re listening to this you know how it all turned out: Carney’s the PM, a plurality of voters went Conservative though not enough in Carleton to send the leader back to the House. The NDP are decimated, the Greens are down to one seat again, and the Bloc have called a truce in the name of “national unity”(?). What an election! Let’s live through it all again!! Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #468 – The Slow March to 169 (feat. The CFRU News Team)”
If you listen to this show promptly on Wednesday then it’s just five more sleeps till Election Day! About a quarter of us have been so excited that we just couldn’t wait to vote; 7.3 million Canadians made voting part of their Easter weekend festivities, a new record. What’s been driving all this excitement? What about the party platforms? The manoeuvres of the national party leaders? And what the hell happened at those post-debate scrums? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #467 – The Two Guelphs Election (feat. Scotty Hertz)”
We’re at the end of another school year, and while some students are looking forward to summer, they’re also looking forward to next fall. Or perhaps even stressing over it. Housing is a big issue in Guelph, and it’s somehow even bigger when it comes to student housing. Last summer, the largest first-year student enrolment ever weighed on students and the greater Guelph community, but relief may be coming if city council doesn’t get in the way(?). Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #466 – Remember The Alma? Oh.”
These are busy days at Politico HQ. There’s a federal election on right now, and Guelph has become so big that it’s spread over two ridings with so far a dozen candidates vying to be the next Members of Parliament. If one candidate in particular is successful then that means there will be a vacancy on Guelph city council. What happens then? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #465 – How Do You Fill a Council Vacancy?”
These are some heady political times. We’ve already made it through one election this year, and we’re now in the midst of another. As we’re going to air, the consumer carbon tax is gone, the major parties are duelling to see who can be the most moderate, and it appears that things like environmental stewardship and compassion are just not affordable. Maybe it’s time to re-calibrate. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #464 – Guelph Politi-Chat (feat. Morgan Dandie)”
In six days, the doors of Guelph’s Consumption and Treatment site will close for the last time. Unless a Charter challenge in an Ontario court succeeds, the Ontario government’s mandate to close a dozen different CTSes and replacement them with new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment, or HART, Hubs. Or at least that was the plan. Either way, what happens on April 1? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #463 – The End of the CTS, aka: Have a HART (feat. Melissa Kwiatkowski & Jean Hopkins)”
Maybe you don’t remember, or want to remember, but it was this time five years ago that the world closed down as COVID-19 became so virulent that it required us to be sequestered for months or else keep six feet apart while wearing a mask or other PPE. Many of us have memory-holed those events, some have re-written it as an overreaction or, even worse than that, a conspiracy, but perhaps the time has come to face our trauma about the pandemic. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #462 – Has It Really Been Five Years? (feat. Dr. Nicola Mercer)”
Guelph Politico 