Almost two years to the day of their surprise return to majority government status, the provincial Liberals, and Premier Kathleen Wynne, shuffled the cabinet this morning. Among the maneuvers, Guelph’s own cabinet member, MPP Liz Sandals, will no longer be serving as Minister of Education, but don’t call this a demotion. She’s still a member of the now two-fifths female Ontario cabinet. Continue reading “Liz Sandals Shuffled Off Education in Cabinet Shuffle”
You may have noticed a lot of talk in the media about something called “electoral reform.” That’s sarcasm, of course, Guelph has been fired up about reform ever since some scalawag named after our local poutinerie made robocall a dirty word back in 2011. If the various systems being proposed to replace First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) have you scratching your head though there’s good news! Fair Vote Guelph is holding an event at the end of the month that will hopefully make things clearer. Continue reading “Fair Vote to Put on an Alternative Voting Explainer”
Although, it was known last month that the appeal of the convention of Michael Sona was denied, the exact reasons for that decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal was not known… Until now. On Thursday, the court posted the rationale for their decision, and it seems that they’re satisfied with the judgement of the trial judge and his reasons despite the objection of both Crown and defense. Continue reading “Ontario Court of Appeal Releases Sona Decision”
City council will gather again to discuss planning issues on Monday. The docket will include a new rezoning matter, the return of a couple of past proposals, the request for an environmental assessment and a new discussion about District Energy. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the June 13 Meeting?”
In a surprise move that was almost as surprising as the announcement that Ann Pappert would not be renewing her contract as Chief Administrative Officer in the first place, Derrick Thomson will not be moving to the Town of Caledon to become General Manager of Community Services. Instead, he will stay in Guelph as the new CAO. Continue reading “Derrick Thomson to Replace Ann Pappert as CAO”
City Hall is always being criticized for wasting money, but what if there was a big pile of money out there that the City was entitled to and they weren’t chasing it down? As it turns out, the City has $14 million out there from uncollected fees and fines, and their stepping up their collection effort by bring in a third-party agency. Continue reading “City is Out to Collect $14 Million in Outstanding Fines”
For four times in four weeks, I’ve been on the #10 Imperial bus going downtown only to have the bus idle at the West End Rec Centre for apparently no reason. The most recent time happened Monday evening, where despite being two minutes late, the bus stood at the Rec Centre for three minutes, and not even in the place where the bus is supposed to stop. Why is this happening? Is it a silent protest? An admission of defeat? Why are the dedicated people that use Guelph Transit, and stand by it through all the short-sighted cuts and fare increases, have to constantly wonder if they’ll make it to their destinations on time? Continue reading “Transit’s Long Stop. Why Does This Keep Happening?”
The month of June brings summer, but it doesn’t bring any shortage of events, meetings, or gatherings. Where can you go in June and when? Here’s this month’s Politico Calendar. Continue reading “The Politico Calendar for June 2016”
Twice-monthly, Guelph Politico posts the latest inspection results from the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Unit inspection of local restaurants, hotels, cafes, grocery stores and other businesses that handle food. We call it “Mangez!”, and this column highlights the latest inspections done by WDGPH, and the results they’ve posted. Continue reading “MANGEZ! Dine Safe Guide for May 16-31, 2016”
It’s a special meeting of city council tonight as the horseshoe gathers to hear about what local projects might get federal infrastructure money, and about the possibility of high speed rail coming to town. You can click here for the amended agenda from City Hall, and you can click here to read Politico’s preview of tonight’s meeting. For the complete blow-by-blow of tonight’s council meeting, you can follow me on Twitter, or follow along below via Storify. Continue reading “LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for May 30, 2016”
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