This coming Monday was supposed to be back to school day for all but post-secondary school students in southern Ontario, but the rising case numbers have been making both parents and educators thinking twice about going back to in-person classes so soon. On Thursday, Premier Doug Ford publicly agreed that it might be too much of a risk to send thousands of students back to school right now. Continue reading “Schools Closed Till January 25 By New Provincial Order”
At a media even on Wednesday morning, Sarah Ricci of the Shelburne Long-Term Care home became the first person in Wellington, Dufferin or Guelph to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Ricci said “Today represents hope!” and in more than one way it does after a couple of days of confusion about exactly how many does of the Pfizer vaccine our public health authority would receive, and when they would get here. Continue reading “Vaccine Distribution Finally Begins in Guelph, Wellington, Dufferin”
The last council meeting of 2020 dealt heavily with the protection of heritage, including one particular case of the Old Crawley farmhouse. Perhaps the fall of the Preston Springs Hotel in Cambridge over the holidays portends a similar fate for valuable heritage buildings in Guelph, but one thing is certain: If we care about our heritage buildings and features, time is running out to save them. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #255 – An End to Demolition By Neglect”
Back in November, Guelph City Council reached the conclusion that they need to get more feedback about the future of council composition. Fortunately, there was a second phase of input for the project, and it’s finally here: the ward boundary review. City of Guelph staff are now looking for feedback on where the new wards should be, and they’re also hoping that there might now be consensus on how many councillors that those wards should have. Continue reading “City Staff Starting Ward Boundary Review (Plus Feedback for Procedural Bylaw)”
We talk a lot about the dangers faced by frontine workers during the pandemic, and Monday we saw that first hand with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health declaring an outbreak at the Guelph Police Service. And since it doesn’t rain but it pours, public health itself announced Monday that they will not be rolling out vaccines today as originally planned. Continue reading “COVID Outbreak Declared for Guelph Police as Local Vaccine Distribution Delayed”
We’ve finished one week of the new lockdown measures here in Ontario, but we have not yet detected any benefit in terms of decreased daily new cases or the rapid rollout of the two approved COVID-19 vaccines. Official Opposition leader Andra Horwath is demanding answers, and she’s demanding to get them in-person from Premier Doug Ford and his ministers, and our own local MPP agrees. Continue reading “Schreiner Joins Horwath Call to Re-open Legislature”
This is the first city council meeting of 2021, and it will feature a look into the future, a look into the present, and a look into the past. On the agenda is the work plan from council’s one employee, a handful of sign variances, and a delayed look at a plan for Guelph’s heritage. Plus, there’s a new group that council wants Guelph to be a member of. Continue reading “Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the January 11 Meeting?”
In what is perhaps the best bit of good news we might receive in these waning days of 2020, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has announced that they will be getting their first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer next week. The vaccine will arrive on Monday January 4, and be ready for distribution the same day with a full rollout scheduled for Tuesday. Continue reading “Pfizer Vaccine Arrives in Guelph Next Week”
When we look back at 2020, we will remember the pandemic. Full stop. We will remember locking down, making masks a regular part of our wardrobe, and the economic tumult created by so many people losing their job, or working from home, or having to radically reorient their business models in order to stay afloat. But what about the rest of the year’s news? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #254 – Guelph Stuff (2020 Year in Review)”
On the same day that Ontario officially enters a new 28-day period of lockdown, the Provincial government announced that the mutated strain of COVID-19 that has been ravaging the United Kingdom was detected here in our fair province. Two cases of the new COVID have been detected, and there’s no immediate indication how this new strain has appeared in Canada. Continue reading “First Cases of New COVID Variant Found in Ontario on First Day of Lockdown”
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