Guelph Politicast

End Credits #392 - May 21, 2025 (The Ballad of Wallis Island)

This week on End Credits, we're having vacation thoughts already! How about an adventure on an island somewhere? We have a couple of options to consider today. One is a new film called The Ballad of Wallis Island where feelings might be hurt, plus we're going to talk about a well-know movie that's turning 50 this year where the danger is a little more physical.
This Wednesday, May 21, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Jaws at 50! Exactly half-a-century ago, a movie was released about a small island tourist town that was plagued by killer shark that stalked its beaches. No one knew that Jaws was going to be a hit *that* big, in fact there was every indication that it was going to be a disaster, but it turn out being one of the biggest movies ever, and one that we still talk about and enjoy today. So why does Jaws still have bite 50 years later?
REVIEW: The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025). It's a fairly well-known story: former bandmates separated by creative and personal differences are thrown back together again by fate and circumstances. The Ballad of Wallis Island is also itself a kind of reunion. Writers and co-stars Tom Basden and Tim Key, now joined by Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan, stage a feature length version of their short film from 2007 about a former folk duo who are thrown back together again by a millionaire on a small island, but does this movie sing?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #471 - The Year at Council So Far Part 1 (January-April)

This week Guelph city council is taking a holiday break, and perhaps understandably, because it has been a very busy year in the chambers so far. The first four months of the year brought a lot of change, a lot of drama, and some pretty big decisions that tested the fiscal and political capacity of a rapidly growing Ontario city. Now, we will pause and take stock of just how far we've come so far...
January began with some unfinished business from last year, quite literally. Council heard the budget of the local boards and shared services, which accounts for one-third of the total annual city budget. That seemed to go pretty smoothly, but it was a reminder that Guelph's fiscal picture, while stable, is facing tremendous pressures, which was a recurring theme through talk of debentures and risk management later.
Housing continued to be a big theme in the first trimester of 2025. There weren't a lot of new housing development proposals, but there were a few big ones, and there was a few discussions about how hey can use the tools to make more affordability housing options happen, and make them happen faster, but the options are still fairly limited. Plus, council revisited the Public Space Use Bylaw in the process.
Although it doesn't make the headlines, council also shook up itself. One councillor went on maternity leave and another took a leave of absence to run for higher office. There were also changes approved to council governance and a re-launch of the advisory committees of council, and at least one of them caused some blowback on city council before April was over. All this just constitutes the tip of a very big iceberg, can we cover it all in one pod?!
So let's get into the event of city council in 2025 so far in this week' Guelph Politicast!
Council is taking this week off, but will meet again on Tuesday May 27 at 6 pm. You can get all the previews, recaps and follow-ups on this website, Guelph Politico!
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 #519 - May 15, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're making a sad face. Not just about the condition of our New Democratic Party, but also because there's another flashpoint in the world that's using violent means to reach violent ends. At least everything local is cool, right? Well, not so fast, because we have another guest from city council who will be stopping by to set us straight.
This Thursday, May 15, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Kashmir. In a violent world, the disputed region between India and Pakistan might be among the most violent and it certainly looked that way again when the two countries started attacking each other last week following a terrorist attack in the India-controlled portion. Keep in mind, these are two nuclear powers, and they've been fighting each other for almost 80 years, so why is this latest provocation so dangerous and what do both sides in this conflict hope to get out of it?
The Dip. The federal NDP was routed in the election a few weeks, and are now leaderless with seven seats in the House. And yes, while many people strategically voted Liberal, many more formally NDP seats in working class ridings in Ontario and B.C. went to the Conservatives. So what the heck happened, and how does the NDP climb back to official party? We will discuss what the New Democrats have to do to appeal to their base again, and why what they have been doing, isn't working.
System of a Downer. It's been a busy few weeks at city council. More discussion about the state of housing, a new plan to tackle climate change, new legislation from the provincial government, a potential issue with fees around a student residence, and a new vacancy in Ward 6. That's a lot to figure out so we've recruited a very experienced and well-spoken guest to help us make sense of it all. Ward 5 City Councillor Cathy Downer will join us to lend some insight from the council chambers!
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #391 - May 14, 2025 (Freaky Tales)

This week on End Credits things get freaky... er. Not really. Things are plenty freaky without this week's new movie, which just so happens to be called Freaky Tales. This one features an actor so big that he now has a whole summer of movies dedicated to him, but like many actors he had humble beginnings on a massive HBO show about dragons. Let's dig in!
This Wednesday, May 14, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
Game of Roles. This week's movie stars Pedro Pascal, and it officially kicks off what we're called "Pedro Summer"! Pascal's been a working actor for years, but he got his big break o Game of Thrones, and like a lot of members of that massive cast he was able to parlay that success into bigger roles in bigger projects. To kick off this week's show, we will talk about some of the actors that won the Game for Hollywood success!
REVIEW: Freaky Tales (2025). May 10, 1987. The Golden State Warriors are in a playoff game against the L.A. Lakers, and all-star "Sleepy" Floyd has the best game any NBA player has ever had. These are things that actually happened, and they are among the many events that unfold in Freaky Tales, an action comedy anthology set in Oakland, from Oakland-born filmmakers Anne Boden and Ryan Fleck. The movie blends fact and fiction, fantasy and reality, but this week we'll answer the question: Is Freaky Tales good or is it bad?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #470 - The Poverty Elimination Gut Check (feat. Dominica McPherson)

We have a weird situation: We’ve elected two new governments at both upper levels in the last four months and the hope is that they can turn things around, and yet, these are also, essentially, the old governments. How can we possibly expect better results from the new old people in charge, and are we even more alone than ever here on the local level? We’ll put this to one of the people whose job it is to advocate.
This week, the Ontario government announced something novel: changing municipal planning rules and fees to make the construction of housing faster. Despite the numerous regulations rolled back and the growing amount of money deferred from municipal coffers, Ontario is at the bottom in Canada in terms of housing starts. As for the federal government, well, it remains to be seen what exactly Mark Carney can deliver over and above his predecessor.
One of the groups designed to help co-ordinate the needs of fighting poverty locally is the Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination, whose goal is to work collaboratively, and informed by diverse voices of experience, to take local action and advocate for system and policy change to address the root causes of poverty. It’s a worthy mission, but one that’s getting harder to accomplish as community frustrations about higher costs and limited options. So, can we still fulfill the project of eliminating poverty?
Dominica McPherson, who is the director of the Task Force for will talk about the current state of advocacy with all three levels of government and whether or not things have gotten better or worse on the poverty file in the last few years. She will also talk about why the focus needs to be on permanent housing solutions, how Guelph and Wellington have actually done well on developing those options and how we can keep that momentum going forward. Also, what are the efforts the task force is undertaking right now?
So let's stay on mission with this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about the Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination and get involved at their website. After recording this interview I did get an update that the Wellington-Guelph Health and Housing Community Planning Table will be releasing a report about the work that’s been done since the Health and Housing Symposium next month, so stay tuned for more information sometime mid-June
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 #518 - May 8, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're throwing shade. What do you do when you're in the White House and forced to do a media availability with a crazy person? Make faces at the camera, of course. We'll talk about Carney's new place as everyone's favourite anti-Trump figure, some complicated feelings post-election in Alberta, and then we'll talk to the man who now formally represented Guelph in the House of Commons.
This Thursday, May 8, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Separation Anxiety. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced on Monday that if enough people in the province agree, the rest of Canada won't have Alberta to kick around anymore! Smith says that if enough people sign a petition, she will hold a referendum on separation. There's quite a vocal constituency in the Wildrose Province who want to put Confederation in the past, but are there enough of them to make a formal go of it? And do they even understand the logistics of leaving Canada?
Pundit? Just Leave It. Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to the White House this week was considered a success because he managed not to get yelled at by Donald Trump. Carney's Trump handling abilities scored him points from many American pundits who have all hailed the PM as the leader of the resistance they've all been waiting for, but what about us Canadians? Why isn't anyone talking about the issues we want fixed? Do Canadians even matter when it comes to our own politics anymore?
So Longfield. For the last 10 years, Guelph has been represented in Parliament by Lloyd Longfield. The former President of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce was elected along with the rest of Justin Trudeau's first class in 2015, and unlike many of his colleagues, Longfield happily went about the regular, everyday work of doing Member of Parliament stuff and avoided cabinet ambitions and political power plays. In his last professional appearance on Open Sources, Longfield will tell us how he did it, and what comes next.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #390 - May 7, 2025 (Thunderbolts*)

This week on End Credits, we finally embrace summer!.. movie season. We're struggling to get summer-like weather outdoors, but conditions are hot in the movie theatre now that Summer Movie Season is officially here and it starts with the movie we're reviewing this week, Thunderbolts*. What else is coming? We're going to talk about that too!
This Wednesday, May 7, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Summer Movie Preview Part 2. Obviously, we did a sequel. There were so many unanswered questions from last week's first part of the Summer Movie Preview like what's coming out in July and August? So this week, we will pick up where we left off by talking about the rest of the summer movie slate including more superheroes, some romance, some dinosaurs, and at least one instance where a serious actor tries slapstick!
REVIEW: Thunderbolts* (2025). The Marvel Cinematic Universe. Have you heard of it? It's seen better days, and you can call it over saturation or call it a creative lull, but what the MCU really needs right now is a winner. So here come the losers! Thunderbolts* follows a group of black ops agents - the ones who exist between heroism and villainy - and asks the question, why not us? Led by indie darlings Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan, can the Thunderbolts stage the superhero comeback the industry needs right now? We'll see.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #469 – Whatever Happened to "Sunny Ways"? (feat. Mustafa Zuberi)

The recent federal election was the formal turning of the page from the premiership of Justin Trudeau to the one led by Mark Carney. For long-time political observers, the difference between the two men in both style and substance is stark, but there’s no doubt that the change in leadership in March is at least half the reason the Liberals got a near majority last week. And yet, the question remains: What happened to Trudeau-mania?
The date was February 7, 2013. The location was the Brass Taps, the pub on the second floor of the University Centre at the University of Guelph. Packing them in that day was Justin Trudeau, then a candidate for federal Liberal leadership. At this point, the Liberals were in the political wilderness, but there was a new kid on the block who had different ideas. The pundits didn’t really take Justin Trudeau seriously, but the young people in the Brass Taps that day did. They really, really did.
How did the excitement about Justin Trudeau and his “Sunny Ways” sour so completely that his mere removal from the ballot made the party he revived competitive again? Was it the right-wing smear job? Was it the rise of Trumpism and anti-woke sentiment? Was it the lingering social and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic? It could be all three and it could be none of it, but it's one of the great questions of this political era, and this episode of the podcast.
To answer it, we're joined by Mustafa Zuberi, who was, for a time, the president of the Young Liberals at the U of G and served as the Liberal candidate for Guelph in the recent provincial election. Zuberi was one of the thousands of young people drawn to politics by Trudeau and his idealism, so he will help us understand how he inspired so many young people, why that youthful energy started to move to the right in recent years, and how Trudeau might have been more of a victim of circumstance than ability.
So let's talk about the rise and fall of Justin Trudeau on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can follow Mustafa Zuberi on Instagram. You can check out the coverage from Justin Trudeau’s stop at the Brass Taps in 2013 on the original Guelph Politico Blogspot. And obviously, we will be keeping up with the latest developments from the new Canadian Prime Minister every Thursday at 5 pm on Open Sources Guelph on CFRU 93.3 fm or cfru.ca
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 #517 - May 1, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph we get back to normal. No more election talk for at least a year now. Well, maybe a bit more election talk. We will talk about everything we didn't know on election night and what it means, and then we will get back into the normal work of proctoring developments at the Ontario government and Guelph city council, and on the subject of the latter, we have a guest for that.
This Thursday, May 1, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Carney Me Home (aka: It's Poili-over!). The magic number is 169. That is the number of seats that the Liberals have as they form a new minority government under Mark Carney, seen above celebrating (?) with Down With Webster. There was considerable less celebration at Conservative HQ where leader Pierre Poilievre isn't out yet, even though he's out of his seat, unlike Jagmeet Singh who's definitely out. We will wrap up the 2025 Canadian election and start looking ahead to what comes next.
Drama Queen's. While we've been focused on the federal election, the Ontario government finally got back to legislating for the first time since early-December. So how's it been going? Well, they've announced that they're going to be forcing financial oversight on some school boards, they're tearing up environmental regulations in the name of resource extraction, and they've announced more tough on crime measures. We'll catch up on everything you didn't get a chance to know about at Queen's Park.
Allt-ernative Media. We're also going to play catch up with Guelph city council, where there is now a vacancy after Dominique O'Rourke won the Guelph seat in the House of Commons. Her colleagues at city hall meanwhile are dealing with a whole slate of issues from housing, to water supply, to relations with Guelph's disabled community. There's a lot of ground to cover after our month-long break from council business, and to help us get caught up we will lean on old friend and Ward 3 City Councillor Phil Allt.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #389 - April 30, 2025 (Presence)

This week on End Credits, things get spooky! That's a weird thing to say when summer is almost here, but in today's episode we'll confirm that Summer Movie Season is definitely here, and we will talk about what you can expect in some of the weeks to come. After that, we get into the spooky stuff with a ghost story from someone we recently talked about on this show.
This Wednesday, April 30, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Summer Movie Preview Part 1. This is the last show for April, on the last day of April, and you know what that means... It's Summer Movie Season! This requires a preview, and in our endless quest for completism, we will keep doing this until we get through all the movies that are coming out this summer starting with what's being released between now and the first week of June including good guys, bad guys and something weird.
Presence (2025). We've already done one Steven Soderbergh movie this year, Black Bag, but did you know that two Soderbergh movies have been released - so far - this year? The other one is now available on VOD, and it's called Presence. It's a ghost story, but it's from the ghost's point of view, watching the strange dynamics of this family that moved into a new house and struggle with all their internal drama including Chloe, the one member who senses... The Presence. We will talk about why you shouldn't ghost on Presence.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.