If it’s December, then it’s time for end of the year lists, and what a year it was in the Royal City! We had a not-surprising surprise election, and we had to get ready for two more. Housing was a major issue, but so was the environment, and the year saw a lot of people get back into the habit of protesting. Transit made some news, so did downtown disgruntlement, and the Dolime Quarry, but what ended up number one? Let’s find out. Continue reading “Top 10 Guelph News Stories of 2021”
There are 137,000 stories in the Royal City, and this is some of them. Looking at a week’s worth of media releases from the Guelph Police Service, there’s a lot gong on in our little city crime-wise speaking, so let’s run down some of the charges, issues, and requests for information from the Guelph Police Service over the last seven days. Continue reading “POLICE NOTES: Vaccination Update, School Threat, and RIDE Start”
With Omicron nipping at our heels, the Government of Ontario announced on Thursday that eligibility for third shots, the booster dose, of the COVID-19 vaccine for people age 50 and over will be starting on Monday December 13. While the full effects of the new variant, both in terms of severity and contagiousness, are not yet known, the Chief Medical Officer of Health is recommending boosters to help build immunity just in case. Continue reading “Ontario Authorizes Booster Shots for People Age 50-Plus”
Around a dozen protestors stood in front of the Edinburgh Road entrance to the St. Joseph’s Health Centre on Saturday over a labour issue. The issue? The long-term care home’s vaccine mandate. Several members of the protest identified themselves as personal support workers now let go from St. Joe’s because they refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Continue reading “St. Joe’s Protestors Say They’re Out of Work Because They Won’t Get Jabbed”
It’s the moment many people have been waiting for, the arrival of the child-sized doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. In a quick media statement Tuesday evening, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health announced that they’ve received their first doses of the vaccine meant for kids, and they will start giving them out on Thursday. That’s a good thing because there are a lot of eager people waiting to get their kids a shot. Continue reading “Kid Doses of COVID Vaccine Have Landed at Public Health”
It was a grey and chilly Saturday afternoon, the downtown streets had the usual kinds of people milling about grabbing a bit or doing a bit of shopping, but the real action was political this weekend. At noon, it was the supporters of the First Nations land defenders in the Wet’suwet’en territory, and then later it was time for the Guelph Freedom Rally, one of the largest local gatherings yet for the COVID-19 skeptical. Continue reading “A Tale of Two Protests: Saturday Marches for Indigenous Rights and Freedom (!)”
The scuttlebutt is that Health Canada will be approving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for kids between the ages of 5 and 11 on Friday. According to Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph’s Medical Officer of Health on Thursday, public health is ready to roll out vaccines for children once the word is given, and they’re anticipating that the first doses of vaccine will be handed out at the end of next week. Continue reading “Kids Could Be Getting COVID Shots By End of Next Week Pending Approval”
On Wednesday, the Government of Ontario announced that they are expanding the eligibility of third doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. Starting on November 6, booster shots will be made available to additional groups of high-risk individuals, and that boosters will then be gradually rolled out for all age groups 12 and over. Good news, but it wasn’t the vaccine news that everyone was talking about on Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading “Ontario Government Increases Access to Boosters, But That’s Not the Vaccine News Today”
We’re about halfway through fall, we’ve overcome the big hurdles like Back to School and Thanksgiving, and the new daily case count both in Guelph and across Ontario remains relatively steady. We’re still giving out vaccines, with a few thousand eligible people left to get their jabs, and then, a few weeks ago, we had our first case of the flu this year. What are we to make of all this? Let’s call a doctor! Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #296 – Still COVID with Dr. Mercer (Fall Edition)”
It should be a force of habit by now, but Guelph General Hospital is joining the list of places where you will have to show proof vaccination if you want to pop by. Starting on November 9, the Hospital will be initiating a proof of vaccination requirement for many of the people visiting the hospital in what their management is calling an additional step to ensure the health and safety of staff and patients. Continue reading “Guelph General Wants to See Proof of Vaccination for Visitors”
Guelph Politico 