Guelph Politicast

Open Sources Guelph #502 - January 16, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph we're going to party with our friends. While the party doesn't stop at Mar-a-Lago, it's a very different story here in Canada and everywhere else as people await the return of You-Know-Who with something resembling dread, and all while online folks are feigning surprise again that tech billionaires are putting themselves first. Back here at home, we've got south end business to discuss with a city councillor!
This Thursday, January 16, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
It: Part Two. There's still a couple of days before Donald Trump assumes the Office of the U.S. President, and he's already become everyone's obsession. Here in Canada, premiers have been trying different tactics to get Trump to take back tariff threats and they don't seem to be working, and no one is 100 per cent sure how seriously to take all those "51st state" threats. Meanwhile, Trump's murderer's row of clowns and sycophants have begun their confirmation hearings, so are we ready for Trump 2.0?
Mark His Words. Last week, Facebook creator and boss Mark Zuckerberg announced that he was taking away content moderation on the forum because it was "too political". But everyone saw through Zuckerberg's talking points: He was capitulating to the popular right-wing theory that facts have a left-wing bias. And yet, Zuck's decision comes at the exact wrong moment as conspiracies and lies and feeding the misinformation flames around those devastating California wild fires. Can we fight back against the tech bros?
Something to Chew On. Guelph City Council was back to work this week, and they heard a report about advocacy to upper levels of government, both of which might be having an election this year sometime. It's going to be difficult to get help that cities need when political parties are jockying for power, but that's just one of the things on Ken Yee Chew's plate in 2025. The Ward 6 city councillor will join us to talk about what he's working in '25, dealing with all the politics and all the stuff going on in the city's south end.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #374 - January 15, 2025 (A Complete Unknown)

This week on End Credits, we're getting excited about awards season! For the movie this week we've got a sure to be Oscar contender in the form of a musical bio-pic about one of the titans of popular music. Will it win? We don't know, obviously, but we're going to talk about the odds as the movie industry gets ready for its fanciest night of the year!
This Wednesday, January 15, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
On Golden Idols. This weekend, the nominations for the 97th Academy Awards will be announced it what might be one of the wildest and surprising Oscar races in years. To get a sense of who might be in and who might be out, we will analyse the winners and losers of the Golden Globes last week. Is The Brutalist the greatest movie you haven't see yet? Is Adrian the new Timmy, or is Timmy the new Adrian? We'll cover all that and more!
REVIEW: A Complete Unknown (2024). Bob Dylan. Have you heard of him? It's nearly impossible to think of someone from popular music in the last 60 years that's had a longer and more varied influence than Dylan, and in the new film A Complete Unknown, one of the most consequential portions of his life is chronicled. Timothée Chalamet meets the toughest challenge of his career as Dylan and the film comes from Walk the Line filmmaker James Mangold, so there are a lot of expectations for his one, but can the Unknown be known, or even enjoyed?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #451 – The State of the City 2024

The 2025 State of the City is coming up soon - Thursday February 6 to be precise - and as we always do at this time of year, we’re going to roll the audio from the previous year’s State of the City as a refresher course. The goal is to remember where we were at the time, where the mayor wanted to take us, and where we ended up now before Mayor Cam Guthrie starts looking to the future again!
Do you really need to listen to this to be reminded of the most salient point of last year’s State of the City address? Here’s the most relevant quote: “When cities are faced with strong issues, it requires a strong team to tackle them. However, to set the tone and the pace, you need a strong mayor. Therefore, effective today, I am announcing that I will use the Strong Mayor powers throughout the rest of this term.”
That was the moment Guthrie changed the game, and it came as a really big surprise to his council colleagues, many of whom were sitting front row or centre at the speech. Beforehand, the mayor gave away no hints that he was going to drop this bomb despite years of reticence, if not opposition, to the existence of such powers, but that was the headline coming out of the State of the City in 2024. Was that the end of the story though?
Of course it’s not, and on this week’s edition of the podcast you will hear the whole speech, including a Q&A afterwards, where Guthrie saluted outgoing CAO Scott Stewart, talked about the success securing Housing Accelerator Funding, and promoted the then-theoretical Public Spaces Use Bylaw. He also announced the formation of the Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee, and gave out the annual volunteer awards.
So let's flashback to last year's State of the City on this week's Guelph Politicast!
The 2025 State of the City will take place on Thursday February 6 at 7 am at the Delta Hotel and Conference Centre hosted by the Guelph Chamber of Commerce. Learn more by clicking here. There will, of course, be full coverage on Guelph Politico when it happens.
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify.
Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

Open Sources Guelph #501 - January 9, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph we violate our New Year's Resolution to have less drama! Canada's prime minister apparently had other ideas though by kicking off the week, and the year, with a big announcement that we have to cover. In other news, Pickering city council is making news in all the ways you never do, and for our interview this week, we'll return focus to Ottawa by talking to someone who works there.
This Thursday, January 9, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Tru-Done. It wasn't surprising, but it was still kind of a shock. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came back from Christmas vacation and announced that he's finally read the writing on the wall. He's done. He won't be Liberal leader or PM once the party holds a leadership race. Parliament is prorogued until March 24. Critics were less than magnanimous in the aftermath, but it seems like everyone's got what they've wanted: Trudeau is gone! So what happens next?
Nit-Pickering. Unless you're super keyed into local Pickering politics, you probably don't know who Lisa Robinson is. She's a city councillor there and has made herself a darling of alt-right figures like Kevin J. Johnson, so much so that she's been sanctioned four times for 15 different breaches of the municipal code of conduct. Now, other members of council and City staff are receiving death threats which is forcing all council meetings to be held online. What's happening in Pickering, and how can we make sure it doesn't happen here in Guelph?
Longfield Distance. By now you're thinking: What does Lloyd Longfield have to say about what's going on? Great question, and that's what we're gong to talk to him about in his latest appearance on Open Sources. Longfield has already said that this term will be his last in the House of Commons, but is he packed up and ready to go, or is he still holding out hope that he can finish some more work before election time? Also, what is he looking for in a new Liberal leader, and what are the stakes now for his successor looking to keep Guelph's 32-year Liberal streak alive?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #373 - January 8, 2025 (Nosferatu)

This week on End Credits, we're back! Technically, we didn't go anywhere because we kept cranking out new episodes over the Christmas break, but now we're really back, and we're ready to tackle the latest movies of 2025... with one of the leftovers from last year. Get ready to be afraid of the dark with Nosferatu, and we will also tackle other films with bite! 
This Wednesday, January 8, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
Films that Suck! Vampires: you know them, you love them! Vampires have a long cinematic history, and the granddaddy of all vampires, Count Dracula, has been one of the most adapted characters in the history of cinema and literature. So before diving into the latest vampire flick to grace the silver screen (not to mention Dracula rip-off), we will talk about some of our favourite vampire movies that suck... your blood.
REVIEW: Nosferatu (2024). In 1922, a German director ripped off a popular English novel by the author Bram Stoker and made one of the most influential movies ever. Now, 102 years later, director Robert Eggers has remade Nosferatu for the third time in a lavish adaptation that hits all of the filmmaker's famous notes from his hits like The Witch and The Lighthouse. Also, Nosferatu as been a surprising Christmas hit, and one with a lot of potential for Oscar buzz too, so we will head into the dark to see if this new vampire movie has bite!
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #450 - The Year at Council (September - December)

Last year was very busy for Guelph City Council, and the last four months of the year were perhaps the busiest. In fact, the business of council has gotten so busy to properly cover it all this "Year in Review" podcast now has to be done in three parts, splitting the year into three near equal sections for over two hours of combined content. So now, at the end, the final part of this trilogy.
The big thing from the back third of 2024 was the confirmation vote for the 2025 budget. Earlier in the year, Mayor Cam Guthrie used Strong Mayor Powers to direct staff to get the budget down to an overall four per cent increase, and there was a great deal of consternation about what that would mean. Council didn't get all the way to that four per cent mark, but it was a heck of a ride getting there!
And speaking of rides, there was a lot of drama over, of all things, fireworks. Guelph tried to rework its fireworks bylaw only to get burned when many people felt that it went too far. There were also metaphorical fireworks in the form of Mayor Guthrie's advocacy outside the council chambers, the eventual fate of the OR Lands, and a certain greenhouse on the campus of the University of Guelph which still may or may not be demolished.
That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this recap covering all the council action from September through to December. That's 17 different meeting (well, 16 when you consider that one meeting took place over two nights) and countless hours of back and forth over motions, counter-motions, concessions and compromises. Culled from the files of Guelph Politico, and a couple of thousand tweets, let's remember where we're going before we decide where to go next.
So for one more time, let's recap what happened at city council in 2024 on this week's Guelph Politicast!
Everyone will be back around the horseshoe again on January 14 for the first Committee of the Whole meeting of the year, and you can keep following all those developments at Guelph Politico and through the Tip Sheet newsletter.
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify.
Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

Open Sources Guelph #500 - January 2, 2024

This week on Open Sources Guelph there's cause for celebration! Not only is this our annual year-end (or year-beginning in this case) awards show, but it's also our 500th episode and the start of year 11 for OSG! It's a good thing we have all that to look forward to because this revisiting of 2024 had us bummed in a major way. Enjoy the fun gang, because it might be the last we'll have for a while!
This Thursday, January 2, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Worst Politician of 2024. Well this one's going to be a lay up, right? In a year this bad though, the real competition is going to be which of the worst is really the worst? And in a year where it seemed like everyone had an incentive to embrace their worst selves, we will look to the halls of our provincial and federal legislatures to find the people who ended up on the proverbial naughty list in 2024!
Good News Story of the Year. Yes, there was some good news this year. Difficult as it was to find under mountains of black tar and festering disappointment, there were some small morsels of optimism for those willing to looking for it in 2024. From some much needed solidarity among left-leaning politicians in one European country to people on the young side ready to put up a fight, we'll bring you the good news of 2024!
Dumpster Fire of the Year. Forget about one dumpster, the whole dump seemed like it was on fire by the end of December! Similarly to the "Worst Politician" category there was a variable feast for the "Dumpster Fire" designation, and boy did we feast good all things considered. Still, there must be a winner, and for this one we've got at least one horrible trend, and at least one negligent government!
Best Politician of 2024. Did we have go to the ends of the Earth to find people to fill this category? Almost definitely in one case, but not necessarily. Even in 2024, there were still some people in government who were trying to do good, trying to make a difference, as hard as that may be to believe. For the last award of 2024, we've got two prime examples of the parliamentary system to share from both here and New Zealand!
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #372 - January 1, 2025 (Top 5 of 2024)

This week on End Credits, it's the first day of a new year! Let us celebrate in the time honoured tradition (of the last seven years) of marking the best movies of previous year! Yes, it is time again to take a year-full of cinema and whittle it down to the five best films from the last 12 month. You know it, you love it, and now we talk about the Best of 2024!
This Wednesday, January 1, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson, Tim Phillips, Peter Salmon, and Candice Lepage will discuss:
The Best of 2024! It was looking a little rough there at the beginning of the year... There was a movie about a killer swimming pool, and wasn't there a movie about a psychic leading a group of Spider-Women? So it's safe to say that neither of those movies will make our Top 5 of 2024 lists, but that doesn't mean that there won't be any shortage of surprises as we count down the best movies of the year. On this first day of 2025, we will send off 2024 by talking about it's greatest hits with red rooms, old asses, sand, self-reliance and more!
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #449 – 2024: Year in Review (feat. Mike Ashkewe)

If you’re listening to this on New Year’s Day then you might be welcoming 2025 with relief, or maybe even trepidation. If you thought last year was a rough ride it may be an hors d'oeuvres compared to what comes next, but before we get into all that, we’re going to formally say goodbye to 2024 by talking about the year that was, and the year we wanted it to be!
There was a lot going on in Guelph in 2024, did you hear that we’re having a housing crisis? There was the use of Strong Mayor Powers, the push to make the OR Lands a national urban park, and the closure of the old Nestle bottling plant in Aberfoyle. There was also almost a transit strike, not to mention a weeks-long strike out on Dunlop Road at the Cargill Plant. A lot can happen in 12 months, and it did.
But what was 2024 really about? That is a difficult question, but Mike Ashkewe was a pretty good person to ask. He’s a member of the Accessibility Advisory Committee and an Indigenous activist, and he’s a regular at the weekly Breezy Breakfast gatherings downtown, which makes a triple threat when it comes to local politics. Perhaps he can help us make sense of this tumultuous year...
Ashkewe will join us talk broadly about what we learned in the year 2024, what we will take with us on into 2025, and why he’s decided to get more active in local politics. He will also talk about finding community, and what it takes to make the hard choices even if they’re not the most popular. Also, we will make some pop culture references to our current predicament, and talk about why where you live matters.
So let's talk about the year that was yesterday on this week's Guelph Politicast!
Mike Ashkewe, who has his fingers in many pies and you can find links to all those pies at his personal website. You can find his podcast This Week in Geek on all the major podcast platforms, and you can follow the Guelph Storm Trackers "@guelph_storm_trackers" on Instagram. 
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify.
Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

Open Sources Guelph #499 - December 26, 2024

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we box! It is Boxing Day, isn't it? So we're going to be boxing up all kinds of things, but the one thing we will be unboxing is our annual political movies show! For the tenth annual edition, we will look at four important films that cover a lot of political ground, from a documentary about a famous writer to the nightlife of Berlin just as things started getting Nazi, and from the end of the world in 2027 to a David Vs. Goliath courtroom fight!
This Thursday, December 26, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Scotty's Pick #1: I Am Not Your Negro (2016). "In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished."
Adam's Pick #2: Children of Men (2006). "The world's youngest citizen has just died at age 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set in and around a dystopian London fractious with violence and warring nationalistic sects, this movie follows the unexpected discovery of a lone pregnant woman and the desperate journey to deliver her to safety and restore faith for a future beyond those presently on Earth."
Scotty's Pick #2: The Rainmaker (1997). "Rudy Baylor is a young attorney out to make a difference in the justice system. He is also the only hope of an elderly couple after their corrupt insurance company refuses to pay out a claim that could save their child's life. In this judicial drama, Baylor rails against corporate lawyers, corrupt judges, and abusive husbands, all with the help of a fellow lawyer who hasn't even passed his bar exam. He is facing long odds in the courtroom - and this is only his first case."
Adam's Pick #2: Cabaret (1972). "In Berlin in 1931, American cabaret singer Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) meets British academic Brian Roberts (Michael York), who is finishing his university studies. Despite Brian's confusion over his sexuality, the pair become lovers, but the arrival of the wealthy and decadent playboy Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem) complicates matters for them both. This love triangle plays out against the rise of the Nazi party and the collapse of the Weimar Republic."
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.