June’s planning meeting has two relatively small items, and one pretty big item. Heritage is the theme, more specifically protecting heritage and in this case the location is the old Reformatory lands on York Road. In a move that’s been years in the making, city council will be considering formal heritage designations for the property, but not for every building that currently sits on that land. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the June 14 Meeting?”
One week ago, news broke that a mass grave was discovered on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. The grave contained the remains of 215 young people, some of them as young as 3 years old, and it prompted a new wave of shock and outrage, along with a call for our political leaders to take immediate steps to address systemic racism against Indigenous people. Are Guelph politicians hearing the call? Continue reading “Longfield and Schreiner Offer Statements on Residential Schools”
It’s not going to be a lazy summer at Guelph City Council as the next several weeks they, along with the Township of Guelph/Eramosa and the County of Wellington, will determine the fate of an issue that ties all three governments together. Guelph is ready to absorb the site of the Dolime Quarry and make it a part of the city proper, but there’s an obstacle course of meetings they have to run through to make it happen. Continue reading “City Moves to Absorb Quarry Site, and Ask for MZO to Do It”
Exactly one year from today, the first Thursday of June, it will be Election Day for Ontario. A lot can happen in 365 days, and it probably will, but one-year out all the opposition parties agree that Ontario can’t afford another term under the Progressive Conservatives and Doug Ford, and they’re all getting ready to make their case as the obvious replacement. Continue reading “Opposition Leaders Start Countdown to 2022 Election”
It was the news everyone was expecting, and dreading, but on Wednesday afternoon, Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Education Stephen Lecce announced that Ontario’s school children will not be returning to classrooms until September. According to Ford, the growing number of variants and not enough vaccinated teachers and students makes the risks too high even though many in public health have said the opposite. Continue reading “In Anti-Climactic Presser, Ford Announces No In-Person School Till September”
The news that an unmarked mass grave with 215 young Indigenous children had been uncovered on the grounds of the former Kamloops Residential School has become a national scandal, and a source of national grief and sorrow. Those emotions were expressed by hundreds of people from Guelph who showed up for a vigil in front of the Basilica of Our Lady on Tuesday evening. Continue reading “Indigenous Leaders Offer Sorrow, Anger and Healing at Basilica Vigil”
We’ve kind of forgotten about paramedics, haven’t we? We’ve venerated the doctors and nurses in our hospitals, hailed the overworked and underpaid staff at long-term care homes, and made celebrities out of medical officers of health. In those terms, our paramedics have been the forgotten spoke in the wheel of healthcare this pandemic, so it’s a good thing that they have a whole week dedicated to their work. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #276 – Paramedics and the Pandemic”
When the Government of Ontario announced changes to the stay-at-home order a few weeks to allow for the re-opening of outdoor recreation facilities, there was a question mark locally about splash pads. On Tuesday, the City of Guelph cleared the question mark and announced dates for the opening of water-based amenities, plus summer recreation programs, while the Province formally announced the extension of the order. Continue reading “City Preps COVID-Safe Rec Programs, While Province Extends Stay-at-Home Order”
In the second part of the monthly recap of events at city council, things are much more streamlined. Two special meetings covered the ins and outs of multi-year budgeting, and the draft Transportation Master Plan, while the regular council meeting of the month was all about the ratification of the Committee of the Whole agenda, but with a couple of addendums. Continue reading “This Month at Council Part 2: Multi-Year Budgets, Transportation Master Plan, and CoW Issues”
Let’s recap the stuff from Committee of the Whole! You can click here for the amended agenda from City Hall, and you can click here for the Politico preview. For the complete blow-by-blow of today’s council meeting, you can follow along on Twitter, or follow the tweets below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for May 31, 2021”
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