Tag: Government of Ontario

GUELPH POLITICAST #474 – Running on Empties (feat. Karen Wirsig)

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When Doug Ford and the Ontario government announced that they were expanding alcohol sales to grocery and convenience stores it was seen as a positive move to break up a government monopoly, but The Beer Store still has one important piece of that monopoly: returns. It was an effective example of what we now call the circular economy, but in making alcohol more available, has it cost us the most successful recycling program we’ve ever had? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #474 – Running on Empties (feat. Karen Wirsig)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #463 – The End of the CTS, aka: Have a HART (feat. Melissa Kwiatkowski & Jean Hopkins)

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In six days, the doors of Guelph’s Consumption and Treatment site will close for the last time. Unless a Charter challenge in an Ontario court succeeds, the Ontario government’s mandate to close a dozen different CTSes and replacement them with new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment, or HART, Hubs. Or at least that was the plan. Either way, what happens on April 1? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #463 – The End of the CTS, aka: Have a HART (feat. Melissa Kwiatkowski & Jean Hopkins)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #460 – Now What? (feat. Diana Chan McNally)

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Although housing and homelessness has been THE issue for the last few years, it feels like they didn’t make a dent in the recently completed provincial election. As the news obsessively tracks the tariff war and Doug Ford’s response to Donald Trump’s latest drama, the struggles of growing unaffordability and homelessness seems to have taken a back seat., So now that the election is over, does anyone in authority still care about these issues? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #460 – Now What? (feat. Diana Chan McNally)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #444 – The Ongoing Struggle at Community Living (feat. Cindy Kinnon)

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Community Living Guelph Wellington has been around since 1955 providing support and services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their families in the communities in which they live, and for the last few years they’ve faced some serious financial issues. 2024 is no exception, but might the important services of Community Living get lost in the shuffle of all the crushing need out there. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #444 – The Ongoing Struggle at Community Living (feat. Cindy Kinnon)” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #442 – The War on Bike Lanes (feat. Mike Darmon & Adrian Salvatore)

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If you feel like active transportation options are under siege at the moment, you’re not alone. The Ontario government is coming for municipal bike lanes while cities like Guelph, facing unprecedented financial barriers, are seeing robust active transportation networks as a “nice to have”. We’ve spent the last few years trying to undo decades of building our cities around the personal automobile, but is the war on bike lanes finally here? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #442 – The War on Bike Lanes (feat. Mike Darmon & Adrian Salvatore)” →

RECAP: Constituents Push Schreiner to Fix… Ontario at Town Hall

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Now less than a week before the end of the Ontario Legislature’s 20-week “summer” break, Guelph MPP and Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner held a town hall with a small group of constituents to hear about their priorities. It turns out though that everything is on the front burner. From housing to affordability, from healthcare to community living, and from hospitals to national urban parks, see what Mike had to say about these issues below… Continue reading “RECAP: Constituents Push Schreiner to Fix… Ontario at Town Hall” →

A Tunnel?! Ford Has Ideas About Gridlock

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Politicians, and those critical of politicians, often talk about thinking “outside the box”. Well, let it never be said that Premier Doug Ford doesn’t know how to think because Wednesday, from the side of the road in Toronto, he announced a bold new plan to fight congestion on Highway #401: A tunnel *under* the 401. Ford is directing engineers from the Ministry of Transportation to do a feasibility study to see if the GTHA can dig their way out of gridlock. Continue reading “A Tunnel?! Ford Has Ideas About Gridlock” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #Repeat – Mike’s Homes (feat. Mike Schreiner)

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Housing. It’s an easy problem to diagnosis but it’s a hard problem to solve it seems, and that has seems to have stopped the Government of Ontario from even trying. Cabinet ministers have probably been getting an earful about that this week at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference, but there’s one member at Queen’s Park that still hasn’t given up, and you will never guess who… Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #Repeat – Mike’s Homes (feat. Mike Schreiner)” →

Provincial Changes Mean Guelph’s CTS Will Be Gone By April

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The Consumption and Treatment Site (CTS) at Guelph Community Health Centre will have to close by the end of March. This decree comes from the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference today where Minister of Health Sylvia Jones announced that the provincial government is banning supervised drug consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and child care centres. Continue reading “Provincial Changes Mean Guelph’s CTS Will Be Gone By April” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #Repeat – How the Greenbelt Was Won (feat. Kevin Thomason)

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It was about this time last year that the so-called Greenbelt scandal blew-up. Although the issue had been simmering since fall 2022, the persistent efforts of journalists and activists to get to the bottom of the decision to separate and sell-off portions of protected land resulted in the land being restored, the minister responsible replaced, and the RCMP looking into whether or not anything criminal happened. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #Repeat – How the Greenbelt Was Won (feat. Kevin Thomason)” →