Council wasn’t supposed to meet until December, and then the Provincial government announced the More Homes Built Faster Act, aka: Bill 23, and the rapid pace of change to municipal planning rules demanded an immediate response. So council met this past week to talk about what that response should be, and you will probably agree that it’s pretty definitive. Let’s recap this week’s meeting. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Bill 23? No Thanks!”
Essentially, this is the fourth meeting in two days, and the second workshop for council in the same time period. This specific knowledge dump is all about the Guelph budget process. How does money work at City Hall? How do you make a budget? What considerations do you have to make? All these questions and more will be answered by a slate of representatives from the financial staff! Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the December 7 Meeting?”
Council gets back to its regularly scheduled program with a pair of special meetings that will precede the first official planing meeting of the new term. Or should we say “meetings.” So before that first planning meeting, council’s going to learn the bits and pieces of planning policy, and then they’re going to fill up the ranks of Guelph’s very important public boards and committees for the new term. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the Special Meetings on December 6?”
While the 13 members of the new city council will have the next four years to refine their ideas about the issues facing Guelph, it feels like we just forget the people who also ran for office just as soon as the results are called. In 2022, nearly 40 people felt like they had the right stuff to be one of Guelph’s civic leaders, so we’re dedicating this episode to the people that didn’t win. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #349 – What’s Next? Part 3: The Candidates”
The new council will tackle Bill 23. 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 November 22, 2022”
In the midst of much fanfare and celebration, the new Guelph City Council took their seats this week in a special inaugural ceremony. But it wasn’t all smiles and sunshine as Mayor Cam Guthrie warned about trouble ahead along with some difficult decisions need to be made. Let us know recap what was said at this first meeting of the term, and and the special public rehearsal for that first meeting that took place hours beforehand. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Rehearsal and Showtime!”
The first real city council of the term is one that not many people are looking forward to. You might have heard about Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, and City staff have heard of it too. They also have some considerable concerns about the legislation, which is why we’re having a whole meeting about it on Tuesday. Here’s the late breaking preview of the meeting per the amended agenda. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the November 22 Meeting?”
Last night, the new Guelph city council gathered around the horseshoe and took their oath of offices, pledging to King Charles III that they will be the best council possible and make smart decisions. Newly re-minted Mayor Cam Guthrie then outlined some of the challenges that this new council will be facing including, but not limited to, division and surprises. Here’s the full text of the Mayor’s opening address… Continue reading “Opening Words: The Complete Text of Mayor Guthrie’s Inaugural Speech”
Last week, we covered the transition from the previous council to the new, and this week, we look far-ish into the future to the next election, the one in October 2026. You will hear in this podcast that planning for the next election begins almost immediately after the one that’s just completed, because there are a lot of complicated questions that need to be answered before the time comes to vote again. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #348 – What’s Next? Part 2: The Next Election”
See where it all (officially) begins! You can click here for the 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 November 15, 2022”
Guelph Politico 