Greenbelt-gate continues to be a pain for the Government of Ontario, and the opposition parties are twisting the knife. Today, Guelph MPP and Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner took things up a notch by calling for an independent public inquiry into the scandal. It’s another pressure point in a week full of renewed pressure on Doug Ford and company about the deal to sell Greenbelt land to developers. Continue reading “Schreiner Calls For Public Inquiry into Greenbelt Shenanigans”
The City of Guelph, and it’s various partners and agencies, put out a lot of information on a weekly basis, and while it all ends up on the City’s website somewhere, wouldn’t it be easier to just scroll through it all on one easy-to-read article on Guelph Politico here…? Continue reading “CITY PAGES: Parks & Rec Feedback, Emma-to-Earl Approved, and Greener Homes Launch”
The Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has announced the extension of Strong Mayor Powers to 26 municipalities including Guelph effective July 1st 2023. Previously only Toronto and Ottawa mayors had these powers. Continue reading “OP-ED: Strong Mayor Powers “Unacceptable”, Even as a “Tool””
Last Friday, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark announced that so-called Strong Mayor powers were being extended to 26 of Ontario’s biggest cities, including Guelph. The move was not shocking, and going back to the original announcement last summer, it had indeed been promised, but it was kind of surprising that Guelph’s mayor was there, on stage with the minister, for the announcement. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #378 – Strong Mayors Podcast”
We’re coming up on the end of the first year of the Ford government’s second term, and it’s been a highly consequential year if you work in one of Ontario’s 444 municipalities. At times, it felt like there was an announcement every week about some change to how cities conduct oversight or run their own planning processes. It’s enough to make you ask, “what will happen next?” and last week we got the answer. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #374 – The Problem (?) With Government”
Ontario farmers are expressing their concern about the Ontario government’s latest proposal to supercharge the development of housing. It’s called Bill 97 – the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act – and while that sounds like it has nothing to do with farming, there is a caveat in the legislation that has farmers concerned. Something they say will accelerate the loss of precious farmland in Ontario. Continue reading “Farm Groups Have Concerns About Bill 97 Leading to Land Loss”
This month’s planning meeting was probably always going to be a controversial affair, but, as it turned out, making a decision about a 23-storey tower at the corner of Wyndham and Wellington is something council didn’t have to worry about… for now. Instead, council had to find a new source of friction and boy was it delivered thanks to a staff report about the Ontario government’s decision on the latest Official Amendment. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Official Plan Decision Debate Takes Over Planning Meeting”
City council is proud to present this month’s planning 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 “LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for May 9, 2023”
May’s planning meeting was all set to be a contentious affair, 23-storey contentious. But you know what? Never mind. See more details about that below, and also see details about the next building in the heritage planners’ list of buildings to save, the effects of Bill 23 on the Building Code, and, at last, a full discussion about the impacts of the provincial changes to the City’s primary planning document. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the May 9 Meeting?”
This has been an exceptionally busy week for the City of Guelph’s planning department. As the staff were getting for the final approval of the new Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw this week – the first update in nearly 30 years, remember – the Government of Ontario dropped their decision on Official Plan Amendment #80, the latest version of Guelph’s Official Plan. It never rains, but it pours! Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #369 – What’s the Deal with OPA 80?”
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