The City of Guelph had been looking to reopen its facilities and get back to some sense of normalcy at the beginning of May, but as we itch closer to the end of April that plan was starting to seem less likely to come to fruition. On Tuesday, the City confirmed that facilities will remain closed until the state of emergency is lifted, and they will only open on the best advice of public health and the Province. Continue reading “City Will Stay Closed till the End of the State of Emergency”
Nearly eight months after their contract expired, and after who knows how many lost hours in the classroom due to rotating strikes, the Ontario government has closed its fourth and final deal with the teachers’ unions. With a month’s time, a year of labour strife at Ontario’s schools has come to an end with a tentative deal with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF). Continue reading “A Year of Labour Strife Concludes with a Deal for OSSTF”
Over 200 more City of Guelph employees are out of a job because of COVID-19. In an announcement made Friday afternoon, the City is temporarily putting 127 full-time employees on declared emergency leave temporarily. On top of that, most of the library’s staff is also being put on temporary leave, which all told means that about half to the City’s staff is now out of work because of the pandemic. Continue reading “City of Guelph Puts Some Full-Time Staff on Emergency Leave”
It was just a few months ago that Mayor Cam Guthrie was telling everyone in his State of the City address about getting the Task Force on Homelessness together again to discuss supportive housing. Circumstances have changed rather quickly though, and now Mayor Guthrie is looking to explore another type of support for Guelph in the form of economic action post-COVID-19 with a whole new task force. Continue reading “Mayor Guthrie’s Economic Task Force Officially Announced”
On Thursday night, city council will meeting its second special session in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and a big portion of the conversation is going to be about the City of Guelph’s financial picture in the near and long term. According to the City’s Treasurer and General Manager of Finance, she’s confident that Guelph’s balance books are in good shape to ride out the storm. Continue reading ““We’re Okay.” Treasurer Confident that Guelph Can Weather the COVID Challenge”
For the first time since March 11, the Upper Grand District School Board met Tuesday night, and they did it virtually through a publicly available Vimeo link. Some of it was regular business like approval of the calendar for the 2020-2021 school year, but there were at least two controversial motions on the agenda that prompted some debate in the 40-minute meeting. Continue reading “Upper Grand School Board Meets Virtually Like Everyone Else”
This past Monday would have been the monthly Committee of the Whole meeting at the council chambers of City Hall, and this past Wednesday there was a special meeting of council on the schedule. Four previously scheduled council meetings have been cancelled as we’ve been locked down thanks to COVID-19, but a second emergency meeting has now been scheduled for next Thursday. Continue reading “Second Emergency Council Meeting is Called for Next Thursday”
Last week, the Globe and Mail noted that the Guelph General Hospital had been hit the hardest among all of Ontario’s hospitals in terms of staff infected by COVID-19. The week before that, Guelph General announced that there was an outbreak in one of their wards that precipitated the announcement of State of Emergency in Guelph. This Thursday, according to the Hospital, the outbreak is over. Continue reading “Hospital Says the Outbreak is Over; Public Health Warns No Easter Parties”
One of the biggest issues with a stay-at-home order is that you have to have a home to stay at. For that reason, the Government of Canada announced last month that they were offering $157.5 million in funding to address the needs of the homeless during the COVID-19 crisis, and the County of Wellington will be getting $720,000 of that money to look after the short-term needs of our area’s most vulnerable. Continue reading “Wellington County Gets $750,000 to Help the Most Vulnerable Through Pandemic”
It’s been open for weeks, and seen hundreds of people in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the time has unfortunately come for the COVID-19 Assessment Clinic to expand. Starting on Monday, the clinic will open in its new home at the Victoria Road Recreation Centre in order to increase capacity, and increase accessibility. Continue reading “The COVID-19 Assessment Centre is Moving to Serve You Better”
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