If re-elected, Maggie Laidlaw will be the longest serving member of city council, a political career that she started 20 years go when she was first elected school trustee. She was then elected to council for the first time in 2000, the start of an auspicious and occasionally controversial tenure around the horseshoe that has, regardless, seen her re-elected three time by now. Continue reading “Maggie Laidlaw (Ward 3) – Candidate Questionnaire”
Dimitrios “Jim” Galatianos is running for city council in Ward 5, and to say that he has an axe to grind is something of an understatement. He’s been fighting a legal battle the last four years with the City of Guelph over by-law enforcement on his property, which Galatianos feels was excessive in its reach and reaction. Continue reading “Dimitrios “Jim” Galatianos (Ward 5) – Candidate Questionnaire”
Karolyne Pickett ran for Ward 1 in 2010, and she’s back again for 2014. Continue reading “Karolyne Pickett (Ward 1) – Candidate Questionnaire”
GrassRoots Guelph came into 2014 looking to shake up election race by creating more civic engagement, which is no mean feat when the voter turnout in the 2010 Municipal Election was at an all-time low garnering a slim one-third. But will GRG been able to live up to those ambitions, especially when being chased by rumors and accusations that they’re Tea Party Light and concerned merely with taxes and supporting politicians who put the word “low” in front of it? Which GRG was hosting the barbeque they put together on September 18? Good question. Continue reading “VIDEO – Highlights from the GrassRoots Guelph Barbeque”
The discussion about election matters in the last couple of weeks has turned nasty. Well, the conversation is about nastiness, not necessarily that people talking about it are being nasty to each other (although from what I’ve heard there’s some of that too). Since I’m a lover of all things cultural, one recent trend in particular caught my eye, and that was a pair of cartoons by noted Guelph cartoonists that have headed waist deep into the campaign, and they seem to have a common target in mind. Continue reading “Cartoon Wars”
Leanne Piper has been a city coucillor for Ward 5 since 2006, and is the only incumbent from that ward running for re-election. Continue reading “Leanne Piper (Ward 5) – Candidate Questionnaire”
Cathy Downer was first elected to city council by Ward 5 in 1994, and served for four terms working on committees and boards like including Planning, Works and Environment, Heritage Guelph, Family and Children’s Services, Loretto Convent Task Force and Guelph Non-Profit Housing. She was also chair of the City Hall/Courthouse Redevelopment Committee. Since leaving council in 2006 she’s been on the Boards of the Guelph Community Health Centre and the Guelph Youth Music Centre, and was Elections Ontario Returning Officer for Guelph from January 2011 till December 2013. Downer has also served as a volunteer mediator with Community Justice Initiatives and the John Howard Society, and has received her Advanced Mediation and Conflict Management Certification from the University of Waterloo-Conrad Grebel Peace and Conflict Studies. She also holds a Chartered Mediator designation from the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario/Canada and currently works in private practice as a mediator. Finally, Downer was awarded with a Guelph YM-YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Public Service in 2007. And now she’s back! Ready to rejoin council and answering the questions in the candidate questionnaire. Continue reading “Cathy Downer (Ward 5) – Candidate Questionnaire”
June Hofland is hoping that the voters of Ward 3 like her past eight years of work on city council so much, that they’re ready to give her four more. Continue reading “June Hofland (Ward 3) – Candidate Questionnaire”
Although they came to the Royal City via Stoney Creek, Lindsay, Ottawa and Kingston, Bob Moore and his wife, Jane, have called Guelph home for 10 years now, living near the intersection of London and Edinburgh in the middle of Ward 3. Moore recently retired after more than 25 years of experience as an administrator in both secondary and elementary schools. He has also served on the Boards and Committees of a wide range of community and educational organizations, such as Hope House, and the Julien Project. When he’s not serving on committees, or building furniture, Bob researches and writes articles of historic interest, and has published articles on pioneer immigration, genealogical searches, colonial government, and Quaker history. He recently published an article on the University of Guelph’s Professor Zavitz for the Guelph Historical Society. Now he’s making a run for a seat on city council, and he took some time to answer the Guelph Politico Candidate Quesitonnaire. Continue reading “Bob Moore (Ward 3) – Candidate Questionnaire”
Craig Chamberlain aims to fight an uphill battle, trying to unseat one of two incumbents in Ward 3. This isn’t the first time that the husband, father, and property manager has run in his ward, but Chamberlain’s running hard on the idea that his two councillors haven’t been as representative as they should have to him and his fellow Ward 3-ians. Continue reading “Craig Chamberlain (Ward 3) – Candidate Questionnaire”
Guelph Politico 