Guelph Politicast

The city clerk’s office oversees municipal elections, but they also oversee the orientation of the new council, teaching them the procedural ropes as they prepare to sit for the new term. So as we look to the inaugural meeting of council in a couple of weeks, we put the spotlight on the City Clerk who in just 20 days has to take five incumbents, seven newcomers, and a councillor turned mayor into a cohesive legislating unit.
Now that the election's over, the new members of council have to learn about the Code of Conduct, the Procedural Bylaw, and the basics of good meeting practice. And there’s even more basic stuff that an incoming city councillor needs to know like where do you park, where to you find the CAO’s office, and how do you log into your new, official City of Guelph email address. In other words, you need to know the rules of the road and the keeper of the rules is the city clerk.
And as we countdown to the start of the new term, we also need to consider matters beyond the basics. The clerk’s office undertakes two governance reviews every term, and obviously having a new mayor in charge is going to have an impact on the style and manner by which council business is managed. And then there's the future: the 2030 election, council composition and ward boundaries, and more! So how does the clerk’s office handle all of these challenges, known and unknown?
City of Guelph Clerk Dylan McMahon will join us today on this edition of the pod to talk about the lessons learned from the 2026 election, and how has the clerk’s role changed to get better voter turnout. We will also talk about how a new mayor will change the style of city council, and what it takes to get the new councillors up to speed. We will also look to the future and how the clerk’s office will tackle the ward review, taking a new look at the council vacancy bylaw, and putting internet voting in place in 2030.
Lots talk about the mechanics of the election and the new council on this week's Guelph Politicast!
The inaugural meeting of the 2026-2030 council term is on November 16 at 6 pm at city hall. You can see the full calendar of council meetings on the City’s website, and you can get all information about city council, the Procedural Bylaw and more at the “City Government” tab on the City of Guelph website. And stay tuned to Guelph Politico and the Guelph Politico Tip Sheet for all the ongoing updates about city council as the new term begins.
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.

This week on Open Sources Guelph we will get back to normal, or the close proximity of what he consider normal. In the interview, we will play part two of our exit interview with current Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie, but in the first half we will try and catch up with some of the news. We're going to talk about the political earthquake that just happened in B.C. and then we're going to talk about the coming potential earthquake coming to politics south of the border. Maybe.
This Thursday, October 29, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Ahead By a Century. While people in Ontario have been focused on local politics, British Columbia Premier David Eby called a snap election, and it ended up snapping in his face! For the first time in nearly a century, the B.C. Conservatives are forming government after falling one-seat short of tying the NDP in 2024 and given some of the controversies around the party, it's going to be anyone's guess about what's coming in the next four years. What can we take away from Eby's hubris?
Ass Man. There's an election still ongoing for another week in the United States, the midterms, and the only question anyone is thinking is "how badly are the Republicans going to lose?" Donald Trump has been doing his part, ogling some of the male candidates during his abominable rallies, but he doesn't seem to have a lot to offer aside from election interference and increasingly apparent dementia symptoms. At long last, is this the beginning of the end of MAGA?
Wham, Bam, Thank You Cam! Guelph now officially has a new mayor in the queue and everyone's now looking to the future. We're still looking back though, because there's still some things to think about when it comes to the last 12 years of Mayor Cam Guthrie's leadership at city hall. In this second part of his last interview as mayor, Guthrie will tell us about the hard lessons learned, the things he wishes he could have done differently, and what he’s planning next outside of politics.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits things are getting spoooooooky. You know it, you love it, and if it's the pre-Halloween show then you know it's time for the Halloween Horror Movie Draft! Let us gather around the campfire and tell stories about people people escaping improbable and frightening odds and completely ignore the hockey mask-wearing weirdo nearby.
This Wednesday, October 21, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson, Candice Lepage, Tim Phillips and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Halloween Horror Movie Draft 3-D. A relaxing time in the woods with old friends turns into a non-stop horror show as a man in a mask enters the picture and starts killing them all... in 3-D! Yes, per tradition, if it's the last week in October, then it's time for the Halloween Horror Movie Draft, and this year we're doing it in the third dimension!!! The whole gang is here again to carefully curate some excellent (or fun) horror movies across six distinctive categories to come up with the perfect Halloween watchlist. [spooky voice] Join us, won't you?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

What a night! What a campaign! What a result! It took us a while to get there, and you've probably already seen the numbers and know the make-up of the new council, and yet we're told that the journey is more important than the destination. So preserved here for posterity is CFRU's Municipal Election Night 2026 coverage and commentary, how did we go from zero to new mayor and council here in Guelph and around Ontario?
Let's flashback to Election Night on this week's Guelph Politicast! 
The final meeting of this last term of council is on Tuesday November 3 at 6 pm at city hall and you can see the agenda now at the City of Guelph website. The inaugural meeting of the new council will be on Monday November 16 at 6 pm and look for more details about that in the weeks to come. Obviously, stay tuned to both Guelph Politico and Open Sources Guelph in the weeks and months to come as we cover this new mayor and council. 
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.

This week on Open Sources Guelph we're bringing the election in for a landing. It's been a very busy couple of months covering this campaign and with this episode we safely cross the finish line. We will talk to one more person who wants to be the next Mayor of Guelph in the first half of the show, and then in the second half we will have part one of a two-part interview with the person who's still the mayor. At least for a couple more weeks anyway.
This Thursday, October 22, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Big League Chew. Although he was only just elected as a city councillor in 2022, Ken Yee Chew has decided that now is his time to bring new leadership and energy to city hall by becoming the next mayor. As we count down the last couple of days till election day, Chew will join us to talk about some of the new ways he wants to organize city hall, and how a greater focus on financial reporting at the City of Guelph is the best way to get to those affordability goals.
Wham, Bam, Thank You Cam! As Guelph awaits the election of a new mayor, the current mayor is counting down to his last day in office. For 12 years Mayor Cam Guthrie has led the Royal City through all manner of issues including a couple of existential crises including a global pandemic along the way. In this first part of his last interview as mayor, Guthrie will tell us about the hard lessons learned, the things he wishes he could have done differently, and what he's planning next outside of politics.
***Programming Note: We will be live to air on Monday October 26 starting at 8 pm to cover all the returns from Guelph and other parts of the province. 
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

By the time this podcast drops, there's just over 48 hours until voting opens on Election Day. Already, nearly 10,000 people in Guelph have cast their ballot but there are over 100,000 eligible voters in the Royal City, and surely some of them haven't made up their minds yet. It's unlikely that there are many undecideds among the Breezy Breakfast crowd, but they still had questions about what this election means, and what's coming in the days after.
I went to Breezy Breakfast at Uptown Grill this past Thursday to talk to the regulars and irregulars at the weekly gathering, including a couple of council candidates, and answer their election questions. What are the potential mayors going to do with Strong Mayor Powers? Why has it been so hard to get reliable information this campaign? Has the selection of potential council candidates been somewhat disappointing? We will tackle all of that and more over the next hour! 
So let's talk about what kind of election it's been with the Breezy's on this last edition of the Guelph Politicast before the election! 
Breezy Breakfast happens every Thursday at 8 am at Uptown Grill. You can get all election information including polling locations on Monday October 26 at the City of Guelph website here. You can watch the videos of these and other interviews on the Guelph Politico YouTube channel @PoliticoOnVideo, and you can now check out candidate questionnaires on the Guelph Politico website.
Reminder: You will be able to follow results and analysis live on CFRU 93.3 fm or cfru.ca on Monday starting at 8 pm.
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.

This week on End Credits, we're posting through it. We will once again dive into the swampy morass of social media and moneyed interests run amok with the new based-on-a-true-story legal thriller The Social Reckoning in a theatre near you. We also dive into the director of The Social Reckoning, and he's accomplished screenwriting career. 
This Wednesday, October 21, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
The Sorkin Scenes. Aaron Sorkin is one of the most celebrated and accomplished screenwriters of our time. He's written scripts for extremely popular movies like A Few Good Men and The Social Network and created highly influential series like Sports Night and The West Wing, but some scenes are still better than others, right? To start this week's show, we're going to be talking about the A-sides from Sorkin's film and TV work.
REVIEW: The Social Reckoning (2026). In 2010, David Fincher made The Social Network. Back then, social media was still in its infancy (so to speak) and the dangers were not yet fully revealed, so it makes sense to follow-up on this story 16 years later, right? The Fincher-less Social Reckoning features Mikey Madison as a Facebook whistleblower, Jeremy Allen White as a Wall Street Journal reporter looking to expose the company's sins and Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg, our villain. But does Reckoning deliver the same blow as Network all these years later?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.. 

We have come to the end of this election, at least so far as these council candidate interviews go. The final vote is on Monday, but if you're still undecided, at least in two of the six wards, maybe these two interviews will help you make a final decision. In the Politicast's last election entry, we talk to one person running in Ward 4 and another in Ward 2.
First, data analyst Ali Malik will talk about why he's focused on the digging through the budget data, why his goal is operational excellency at the City of Guelph, how he will manage the competing demands of being a councillor, whether he’s concerned his plans will amount to micromanaging.
Then we will talk to community activist Barbara Mann about the trouble with communicating this election, how she’ll balance competing needs downtown, standing out in the very competitive Ward 2 slate, and whether hate and social justice have been big enough issues in this election.
So let’s hear from the last council candidates on this week’s Guelph Politicast!
You can get all election information including polling locations on Monday October 26 at the City of Guelph website here. You can watch the videos of these and other interviews on the Guelph Politico YouTube channel @PoliticoOnVideo, and you can now check out candidate questionnaires on the Guelph Politico website. You will be able to follow results and analysis live on CFRU 93.3 fm or cfru.ca on Monday starting at 8 pm.
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.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we've got two more people who want to be mayor. As we close in on Election Day, and as early voting continues in the city, we bring you one person that's spent a lot of time on city council these last two decades, and someone who helped make their own Guelph council. Which one should you consider voting for? Don't ask us! We report, and you decide.
This Thursday, October 15, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Caron My Wayward Son. If you're looking for experience to fill the vacancy being left by Cam Guthrie, you're probably looking at Leanne Caron. She's served as one of the Ward 5 city councillors since 2006, and now she's ready to take on the challenges facing Guelph as mayor, but in a change election, is experience the most important thing voters are looking for? Caron will answer that question and take on others about the issues facing the Royal City, and her potential solutions.
Rendezvous with Ramos. Perhaps what city hall needs is someone with a different council experience. Evaristo Ramos, Jr. is one of the founders of the Guelph Indigenous Community Council, and now the transplant from Texas wants to take the lead on the biggest council in town. Ramos will tell us why he's campaigning differently from his rivals, how he plans to tackle the biggest problems in the city, and why Guelphites need a mayor they feel like listens to them.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

As this election comes to a close, we do the nearly impossible and finish the list of candidates running in Ward 5. That's been the busiest race in this municipal election with 10 candidates in total, and they represent a wide variety of vocations, perspectives and experiences, and here, with these last ones, we meet, perhaps, two of the most unique.
First, we will chat with pharmacist and homelessness advocate Danny Lui about why council needs some on the frontline of homelessness crisis, why compassion needs to be an election issue, why poverty is an affordability issue too, and why the next council can’t lose focus on supporting arts, culture and community.
Then we will then talk to biologist and environmental activist Dylan White about he’s more progressive than the rest, why we haven’t talked about the environment enough this election, how he can talk about the environment when all people want to talk about is affordability, and what happens next with town and gown relations.
So let’s hear from two more council candidates on this week’s Guelph Politicast!
Reminder: Early voting continues this weekend at the Victoria Road Recreation Centre, the Evergreen Seniors Centre, Shelldale Family Gateway, West End Community Centre, University Centre and Arkell Road Bible Chapel from 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
To learn more about important election dates, and to see the list of candidates running in all the races, go to the City of Guelph website here. You can watch the videos of these and other interviews on the Guelph Politico YouTube channel @PoliticoOnVideo, and you can now check out candidate questionnaires on the Guelph Politico website.
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.