It was one year ago today that the news broke that the Guelph Mercury was shutting down. Under different circumstances, this year would be a cause for celebration for the Merc, it’s 150th birthday, but instead, despite the honest efforts of several people in the community, the hole left behind by the paper’s closure still hasn’t been filled. So is there a better time to look back? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #65 – Phil Andrews, Former Editor of the Guelph Mercury”
It’s arguably the most important meeting of the year for any city councillor, the night when council votes on the city budget for the coming year. What could possibly more important that the immediate financial future of the city for one of the politicians that oversees it? Well, Phil Allt couldn’t make the budget night vote last month, and he had a very excellent excuse: he was saving his brother’s life. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #64 – The Allt Brothers”
It was a little over six months ago that I sat down with Steve Dyck and Ken MacKay of Fair Vote Canada’s Guelph branch to talk about electoral reform, it’s various options, and what form it might take when the Trudeau government came back with its options this past December. Those were the days. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #63 – Electoral Reform Redux”
In my time using my Twitter account to cover local political events and council meetings live, I have been the one posting words next to the Twitter handle with my name and my picture. By necessity, that all changed this past November when the 2017 budget process unfolded on consecutive Wednesdays. I needed someone to step in and fill the void, and a desperate call out out to Guelph Redditors delivered me the man who kept Politico in the game. His name is Bradley Breedon, and he is the guest on this week’s Guelph Politicast. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #62 – Bradley Breedon, Substitute Politico”
A couple of years ago, I dedicated a December episode of the Guelph Politicast to the Guelph Food Bank. It seemed wise, and it still does, to dedicate some time at this point in the year to remembering that no matter how lucky we are, there’s always someone less lucky. The thought occurred to me again this Christmas season, and that’s where we get this episode of the Guelph Politicast, remembering Guelphites in need. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #61 – Randalin Ellery, Guelph and Wellington Task Force for the Elimination of Poverty”
One-hour holiday service, no peak service in the summer, the cancellation of Free Ride Fridays with the Storm without notice, no service expansion for 2017, the firing of manager Phil Meagher, no restoration of 2015 service… This was not a good year for transit in Guelph, and probably not the plate you want set for you when you sit down at the desk as Guelph Transit’s new General Manager. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #60 – Mike Spicer, Guelph Transit General Manager”
Hard to believe, but it’s been almost a year since the Guelph Mercury went out of business, and it’s a void that has still yet to be completely filled, even in spite of the best efforts of some people. But forget breaking news, and forget about the play-by-play at city council meetings just for a minute. News doesn’t happen in a void, and not every story – even most stories – is self-contained with a beginning, middle and end. Context. News is useless without it, but where can we now get it? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #59 – Bill Hulet, Guelph Back-Grounder”
It’s been big news in Canada the last couple of years, the record high housing prices in Vancouver and Toronto that have people concerned that home ownership is becoming increasingly out of reach for more and more Canadians. Those trends seem to be coming our way now, and people are literally lining up for whatever deal they can find, so it seems the time is right to take a closer look at the state or our real estate. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #58 – Real Estate in Guelph”
Condo living is a growing market in Guelph, and that wasn’t just a high-rise joke. With Places to Grow breathing down our neck, the demand on the Royal City is to get higher and tighter, so the issues of condos should be of particular concern, and Ted Pritchard tries to make that case every year at budget time as he reminds council that not all homeowners in Guelph, it seems, are created equal. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #57 – Ted Pritchard, Fair Tax Campaign”
Every November 11, wreaths are laid and poppies are left at the Cenotaph at the corner of Woolwich and Eramosa. On this corner, in the centre of town, there’s a wall of names memorializing those Guelphites that fought and died in the two World Wars and the Korean War, but how often does the average Guelphite in 2016 read those names? How often do we think about those lives lost, or who those people even were when they died in the killing fields of Europe and Asia? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #56 – Ed Butts, Local Historian and Author”
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