Category: Guelph Politicast

GUELPH POLITICAST #59 – Bill Hulet, Guelph Back-Grounder

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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” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #58 – Real Estate in Guelph

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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” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #57 – Ted Pritchard, Fair Tax Campaign

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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” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #56 – Ed Butts, Local Historian and Author

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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” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #55 – Guelph Black Heritage Society

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It wasn’t too long after Upper Canada was established at the turn of the 19th century that the white settlers loyal to England started being joined by the Black slaves from the newly minted United States looking for somewhere they can be free. After Guelph was founded in 1827, the British Methodist Episcopal Church became a beacon, a safe space, for those people on the road to freedom along the Underground Railroad, and the Guelph Black Heritage Society want to reclaim that history.  Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #55 – Guelph Black Heritage Society” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #54 – Memories of Protesting Walmart

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It was a battle that unfolded for over a decade! An epic conflagration between small town Davids and corporate Goliaths. The Royal City has left its mark many times on history, and one of the most recent was during a decade long battle between a dedicated group of community activists and the world’s largest retail. Having said that, can you believe that its been 10 years since Walmart opened in Guelph, and now we have two of them? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #54 – Memories of Protesting Walmart” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #53 – Friends of the Guelph Public Library

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Ten years ago, council was talking about building a new main public library, and 10 years later… they’re still talking about it. But back in the heady, care-free days of the aughts, the goal seemed a lot closer, and a group of citizens thought they’d put their money where their mouth is by showing council what an appetite there was for a new, modern, state-of-the-art library and cultural centre. One decade, and a half a million dollars later, those people – and many, many more – still come out every year to show their love of books. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #53 – Friends of the Guelph Public Library” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #52 – Jeremy Luke Hill, Vocamus Press

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Once, there was an idea that the proliferation of computers and the internet would mean the end of the printed word. The prophecy is slowly coming true for newspapers and magazines, but it seems as though books have a resistance to the printing press killing powers of digital that those other things do not. In fact, like in other things, digital has made making books easier. Ask Jeremy Luke Hill. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #52 – Jeremy Luke Hill, Vocamus Press” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #51 – Fred Dahms, Author of ‘Conflict and Compromise’

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Political books are nothing new, but a book about Guelph politics? That has the Guelph Polticast written all over it! Conflict and Compromise: Politics and Planning in Guelph 2000-2015 is the new book from Dr. Fred Dahms, and if you’re looking for a good primer on how the City got from there to here on a wide variety of different issues, then you can’t do much better. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #51 – Fred Dahms, Author of ‘Conflict and Compromise’” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #50 – Susan Ratcliffe, Eden Mills Writers Festival

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Way back in 1989, Governor General Award winner, and Eden Mills, ON resident, Leon Rooke was releasing a new book. The proprietors of the Eden Mills General Store suggested that Leon hold his book launch on their lovely front steps, but for such an ostentatious venue, Rooke felt his own literary  presence wasn’t enough. So he invited other literary icons Rohinton Mistry, Michael Ondaatje, Jane Urquhart, and Linda Spalding to join him. It was, in effect, the first Eden Mills Writers Festival, and it’s still going strong. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #50 – Susan Ratcliffe, Eden Mills Writers Festival” →