There was a lot of good news this week about the rollout of vaccines, but on Friday it was clear that there’s still some work that needs to be done to get us to the end of the pandemic. On Friday, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health announced that they are updating mask requirements to address the growing concerns of variants, while also trying to assuage doubts about the efficacy the latest vaccine. Continue reading “Public Health Changing Mask Orders, Still Promoting AstraZeneca”
Last week, the Government of Ontario announced further financial aid for cities for the 2021 fiscal year. The funds are desperately needed as we enter the second year of the pandemic, and the Provincial government wants to be seen as proactive as they get ready to deliver their next budget. So where is the money going to go, and who else just gave the City of Guelph a big cheque? Continue reading “Guelph Announces New Money from the Province and Alectra, Plus Budget News”
Thursday will mark the one-year anniversary of the declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organization, a declaration that will remain in place until the majority of people are vaccinated for COVID-19. That effort is proceeding carefully, but there is cause for a bit more optimism today as Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health is now taking names for the next phase of the vaccine rollout, and getting their lines jammed in the process.
Continue reading “Public Health Opens Vaccine Pre-Registration for Phase 2 Groups”
Exactly one week from today, it’s the one-year anniversary of the declaration of a state of emergency in Ontario. The days leading up to March 17, 2020 were the first test of our collective mental health, watching the number of COVID cases steadily increase until things started locking down. But the struggles didn’t end last March, and they show no signs of abating this current month even though the end of the pandemic may be near. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #264 – Step Up and Do Better”
It’s another busy planning meeting schedule! 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 March 8, 2021”
In the midst of dealing with all things COVID, the Federal government is also in the process of working on new gun control legislation that they hope will have an impact on the various crimes involving firearms. There has been some criticism of Bill C-21 and whether it can actually have an effect on crimes where guns are used, but Public Safety Minister Bill Blair took part in meetings with area groups Thursday to try and make the point. Continue reading “Bill Blair Talks to Local Leaders About Gun Law Impact”
Municipal governments, including the City of Guelph, have been keeping up the pressure against the upper levels of government, and have been demanding more fiscal assistance to combat the negative effects of COVID-19 on the local bottom line. On Thursday, the Government of Ontario opened their own pockets to offer assistance, and they challenged the Federal government to be equally generous. Continue reading “Ontario Government Announces More Money for Municipalities”
On Wednesday, a couple of U.S. states cancelled all COVID-19 restrictions to allow businesses to re-open to 100 per cent capacity and to no longer require mask mandates. That was speaking the language of one delegate at Wednesday’s Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Board of Health meeting who said that mandatory masking at area schools was “abuse” and “violates our basic rights.” Continue reading “Masking Skeptics Take Part in Board of Health Meeting”
You may remember Xinyi, a Chinese glass manufacturer that wanted to try and build a plant just next door in Guelph/Eramosa Township. All but one of the township’s councillors rejected the proposal in the wake of wide-spread public outcry about the effect on the local environment, especially the water supply, and that seemed to be the end of that. It wasn’t. The story then moved to Stratford. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #263 – They Had Concerns”
The City of Guelph had a solid 18 months there without a high-profile shuffle at the executive level of City of Guelph staff, but the streak came to end Tuesday with the announcement that the current Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Infrastructure, Development and Enterprise Services is moving on at the end of March. The search is now on for Kealy Dedman’s replacement. Continue reading “Dedman Moving to Peel, Leaves New Vacancy With City Exec Staff”
