For the first time since the second week of December, the areas represented by Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health will be entering the Orange-Restrict level. Eight health units are on the move after this week’s announcement about the changes in COVID-19 restrictions from Queen’s Park, and Guelph’s good news comes with some slight adjustments to our own local COVID protection protocols. Continue reading “Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph is Going Orange Again”
Despite the economic issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, local Guelph and area governments and agencies added more than 500 more names to the so-called “Sunshine List” in 2020. The yearly disclosure of the government workers in the province making 100,000 or more was boosted largely by medical fields, but the number of employees on the list in almost all agencies went up. Continue reading “Despite the Pandemic, Guelph and Area Adds 500 More to “Sunshine List””
Last week, the Government of Ontario announced further financial aid for cities for the 2021 fiscal year. The funds are desperately needed as we enter the second year of the pandemic, and the Provincial government wants to be seen as proactive as they get ready to deliver their next budget. So where is the money going to go, and who else just gave the City of Guelph a big cheque? Continue reading “Guelph Announces New Money from the Province and Alectra, Plus Budget News”
Thursday will mark the one-year anniversary of the declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organization, a declaration that will remain in place until the majority of people are vaccinated for COVID-19. That effort is proceeding carefully, but there is cause for a bit more optimism today as Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health is now taking names for the next phase of the vaccine rollout, and getting their lines jammed in the process.
Continue reading “Public Health Opens Vaccine Pre-Registration for Phase 2 Groups”
Municipal governments, including the City of Guelph, have been keeping up the pressure against the upper levels of government, and have been demanding more fiscal assistance to combat the negative effects of COVID-19 on the local bottom line. On Thursday, the Government of Ontario opened their own pockets to offer assistance, and they challenged the Federal government to be equally generous. Continue reading “Ontario Government Announces More Money for Municipalities”
Election reform advocates have been trying to get some serious changes made to the ways we vote and run political campaigns for years, but chances are that they were not the audience the Government of Ontario was thinking about today with changes to the Elections Act. The Attorney General announced the Protecting Ontario Elections Act on Thursday, and he says it’s meant to protect elections from outside interference. Continue reading “Ontario Government Announces Election Changes (Not the Ones You Want)”
The above picture is from the good old days when Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner could have a town hall with people in person. On Wednesday evening, Schreiner took part in a wide-ranging town hall discussion by phone, and his office pegs the number of participants at around 4,400 people, which would be hard to do in-person under “normal” circumstances. Continue reading “RECAP: COVID, Housing, and Environment Are Major Concerns from Schreiner Town Hall”
It’s a difficult time for conservation authorities across Ontario. Pandemic? Yeah, that’s part of it. Conservation authorities can’t take part in their usual programming, and they’ve lost normally dependable funds because of that, plus there are all the new precautions they have to take in areas of their parks that are open. But that’s just the beginning of the current headaches for conservation authorities. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #262 – The View From the GRCA Board”
Ontario was getting back to work on Tuesday. From regions of the province approved for re-opening, to the first day of the new session of the Legislature, returning to some degree of normalcy was the order of the day. At Queen’s Park, Guelph MPP and Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner got back to work with a media availability, and the announcement of a safe back-to-work plan for everyone. Continue reading “Schreiner Introduces Work Safe Plan Just in Time for Provincial Re-opening”
People aren’t using public transit the way they once did thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Federal government isn’t planning for transit this year, but transit in the years to come. An announcement this morning with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna promised $14.9 billion in new transit funding for the next eight years, but we’re not going see most of that till 2026. Continue reading “Federal Government Announces New Permanent Funding for Transit… in 2026”
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