GUELPH POLITICAST #465 – How Do You Fill a Council Vacancy?

These are busy days at Politico HQ. There’s a federal election on right now, and Guelph has become so big that it’s spread over two ridings with so far a dozen candidates vying to be the next Members of Parliament. If one candidate in particular is successful then that means there will be a vacancy on Guelph city council. What happens then? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #465 – How Do You Fill a Council Vacancy?”

RECAP: City Council Meeting for April 8, 2025

April showers with new planning concerns this week! 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 “RECAP: City Council Meeting for April 8, 2025”

This Week at Council: More Drill Hall Drama, and Seeing Trees

Sparing you the April Fool’s joke (at least in the intro), we arrive at the first meeting of April. Naturally, here at the end of the first quarter, we get into some financial matters as financial staff reviewed debt and debentures. And speaking of drains on the spreadsheets, council once again dug into the question of what to do about the Drill Hall, plus there were also some questions about how many trees that council can save. Get all the details in the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: More Drill Hall Drama, and Seeing Trees”

GUELPH POLITICAST #464 – Guelph Politi-Chat (feat. Morgan Dandie)

These are some heady political times. We’ve already made it through one election this year, and we’re now in the midst of another. As we’re going to air, the consumer carbon tax is gone, the major parties are duelling to see who can be the most moderate, and it appears that things like environmental stewardship and compassion are just not affordable. Maybe it’s time to re-calibrate. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #464 – Guelph Politi-Chat (feat. Morgan Dandie)”

RECAP: Committee of the Whole Meeting for April 1, 2025

April Fools! It’s time for this month’s Committee of the Whole meeting. 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 “RECAP: Committee of the Whole Meeting for April 1, 2025”

This Week at Council: More Debate on Public Space, Plus Road Safety

There was a lot going on at this meeting, and some of it had nothing to do with what was on the agenda. For instance, one city councillor was absent because they’re now busy chasing a new gig at a different level of government.  In terms of stuff at the meeting, there was a new development around the Public Space Use Bylaw, which caused some controversy despite how little about it was available in the agenda. Hopefully this recap has more detail! Continue reading “This Week at Council: More Debate on Public Space, Plus Road Safety”

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the April 8, 2025 Meeting?

Welcome to the agenda for the April planning meeting, and for the first time in a couple of months we have a genuine planning proposal for new units. That’s later in the agenda, first, council has approve another whole batch of heritage designations, and then approve two major pieces of policy in the form of getting higher downtown (building-wise speaking) and charging density and development in the area around Stone Road Mall. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the April 8, 2025 Meeting?”

RECAP: City Council Meeting for March 25, 2025

Council has the last word for March, but will it go out like a lamb or a line? Tune in and see! 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 “RECAP: City Council Meeting for March 25, 2025”

This Week at Council: It Was a Planning and Trading Meeting

Delayed a week because city council gets March Break too, we finally come to the March planning meeting+. Why “plus”? Because this month’s meeting wasn’t just about planning matters, but about trades wars, or rather it was about how Guelph is ready to fight one. As for the actual planning part of the planning meeting, housing was the focus as council got an update about those efforts. To learn more, consult this recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: It Was a Planning and Trading Meeting”

Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the April 1, 2025 Meeting?

April showers brings Committee of the Whole. No fooling, this meeting will have some pretty big financial implications, and some pretty small ones as well when the horseshoe tackles development debt, new development arrangements, and the final update to a tree bylaw, plus the future of the Drill Hall will be determined. Again. For the last time(?). Let’s dig into what to expect at your first council meeting on the first day of the month! Continue reading “Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the April 1, 2025 Meeting?”