This week on Open Sources Guelph, it's about all the unanswered questions. Will another scandal permanently sink the Liberals chances for re-election? Which political party will disappointed progressives find more appealing in the election? Will Doug Ford ever run out of scandals? And is there an election somewhere that might be bigger and stranger than anything going on in Canada?

This Thursday, May 16, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

Norman Leering. The prosecution of Vice Admiral Mark Norman fell apart quite suddenly last week, and it made Liberal scandals involving prosecutorial interference front page news again. This story has existed under the wire for almost four years, but since the SNC Lavalin affair has cooled off, it's given the Opposition something new to get riled up about. But is the Norman scandal the same as SNC, and is there enough grist here for the non-stop mill of the news cycle?

Green Vs Orange. The Canadian Press recently wondered if the NDP's introduction to the House of Commons of a motion to declare a climate emergency was a preemptive move to get ahead of the Green Party. All signs point to an ascendant Green Party in this fall's election, and an NDP that might have to struggle to hold on to its 44 seats in the Commons. So will the real contest in October be between Jagmeet Singh and Elizabeth May instead of the title match between Justin Trudeau and Andrew Scheer?

Health Classless. Premier Doug Ford has had another busy week. Before getting booed at the open ceremonies of the youth Special Olympics, his government announced cuts to the province's public health units, and the fact that Ontario's 35 different units will be soon amalgamated into 10. The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph unit will now be lumped in with Waterloo, Peel, and Halton, and somehow that's just one of the stories in another week of overstuffed headlines from Queen's Park.

Asamanjas 2019 (Hindi for "Indecision 2019"). Canada isn't the only country with election fever these days. Over in India, Narendra Modi is facing off against Rahul Gandhi in an election featuring nearly a billion eligible voters taking turns voting in seven different rounds over the course of a month. We'll take a look at the issues and clashing campaign styles happening right now in the world's biggest democracy, and what Modi's odds for re-election are in the Earth's biggest election (ever?)!

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

It's time for another End Credits, and this week we're going where we've never gone before: in search of Pokémon. We're going to be solving crimes in this episode with Detective Pikachu, and we're going to be getting to the bottom of the latest news. On that account, we'll talk about movie schedule musical chairs, a Furious producer, 10 years after Trek, and some new trailers.

This Wednesday, May 15, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:

Shell Shock Empire. The Disney and Fox merger continues to have some major consequences for movie execs and movie fans. The Avatar sequels have been rejiggered to fit in between the new Star Wars trilogy that was just announced, and the normal slate of a dozen films put out by Fox, has been cut in half. So are we the ones losing out from Disney's gains?

Fast Today, Gone Tomorrow. Producer Neal Moritz has guided the Fast and Furious franchise from the beginning, but in a sudden twist of fate (of the furious) he's been tossed off his own series as it's about to enter potentially new heights of profitability. We'll talk about the mysterious firing of Moritz, and what effect it might have on the billion dollar Furious franchise.

A Once Enterprising Beginning. It was 10 years ago that J.J. Abrams brought back the final frontier with his reboot of Star Trek. It remains the most profitable Star Trek film made, but unfortunately it's been tough for the studio to capitalize on that success. So what is it about the first Abram's movie that worked so well, and why did the reboot efforts fall so flat afterward?

"Farewell" Said the "Spider" to the Clown. We have a new batch of trailers this week including the highly anticipated return of the Losers Club in the very first look at IT: Chapter 2. Also, beware of spoilers because the new trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home will ruin Avengers: Endgame. And speaking of difficult goodbyes, we'll say "Hello" to The Farewell.

REVIEW: Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019). The multimedia Pokémon phenomenon finally arrives in the form of a live-action movie, as Justice Smith heads to Ryne City, where Pokémon and humans live together side-by-side, to get to the bottom of the his father's mysterious death. Cracking the case involves teaming up with a Pikachu with the voice of Ryan Reynolds, but can this unusual partnership collect all the clues and save the day?

End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.

Clair-Maltby is hundreds of acres of mostly untouched greenspace in Guelph's south end. For some, it represents millions of dollars in potential real estate profit, and for others, it represents a chance to develop in an environmentally responsible way that avoids the natural instinct to sprawl. These ideals clashed before City Council this past Monday.

The main sticking point in this most recent update on the Clair-Maltby Secondary Plan was the fact that the planned location of the community park had recently been moved from a location on land owned by Fusion Homes, to the property commonly known as the Marcolongo Farm. The Marcolongos are hoping to use a portion of the land for affordable housing, built by a non-profit developer, so it seemed odd to them that the park would be moved without advanced notice to the one site in Clair-Maltby where the point is to not make money.

Many people in Guelph are already dubious about the intent for Clair-Maltby, and that staff and council seem poised to repeat the sprawling mistakes of the past, so the imposition of the community park on the Marcolongo Farm seemed to prove the point. And on top of that, there's the general concerns about the environment, sustainable building, the threat to wildlife, the threat to the unique geography of the Paris Galt Moraine, and the potential threat to Guelph’s drinking water supply. The issues were as numerous as the delegates at this past Monday's council meeting.

So why not hear from them directly?

On this unique entry in the podcast, you will be taken into the City Council Planning Meeting from May 13. The excerpts for this episode comes from the public delegation portion of the evening, and the debate about the amended motion brought forward by Ward 6 Councillor Dominique O'Rourke asking staff to look again at options for the community park. 

The speakers list for the evening included Mike Marcolongo and his mother Assunta Uffer-Marcolongo (pictured above), Daniel Ger and Heather Tremain of Options for Homes, Dana Anderson of MHBC Planning, Susan Watson, Morgan Hannah, Carol Koenig of the Protect Our Moraine Coalition, former council candidate Matt Saunders, Julianna Van Adrichem, Dustin Brown of Extinction Rebellion Guelph, Hugh Handy of GSP Group, Cynthia Bragg, Dr. Hugh Whiteley, Kevin Guyan, and Joanne Moores.

So let's head to the floor of the council chambers to hear the debate on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!

You can stay up to date on all the latest developments concerning Clair-Maltby here. And if you found this kind of episode of the podcast useful, and if you’d like to hear more from the council chambers on key issues in future editions of the podcast, feel free to send your feedback or comment below.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here.

Remember that the Politicast Podbean channel is also the host for podcast versions of Open Sources Guelph. The previous Thursday’s episode of Open Sources will be posted on Mondays.

It's another busy week here in the Open Sources Guelph newsroom. We've got environmental stuff on the go with talk about the carbon tax and the small matter of a million species dying out. In between, we'll talk about religious matters of law in Quebec, and take a look at all the people who want to replace Donald Trump as the leader of the free world. Just business as usual.

This Thursday, May 9, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will (re) discuss:

Onward Carbon. A ruling from the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal says that the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, AKA: the Federal Carbon Tax, is constitutional. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, treating the situation with the appropriate amount of seriousness, compared this to game one of the Stanley Cup final, and said he plans to take it all the way to game seven, but is this more like "Game Over"? And what effect will this have on the separate Ontario court challenge to the GGPPA?

Text Secular. The CAQ government in Quebec is moving fast on Bill 21, which formally bans teachers, police officers, judges and others from wearing items like hijabs, turbans, kippas, and crucifixes in the course of their duties. Some people think this is only going to affect people working for the government, but there are some who are concerned that you might not even be able to take a bus while wearing a head scarf. So is it full speed ahead for the bill, or is there a chance that François Legault might relent?

Primary Runners. 21. It's the number you need in Black Jack, but it's also the number of candidates presently running for the Democratic nomination for President in the 2020 election. Some of them you may have heard about - Biden, Beto, Bernie, Warren Mayor Pete - and most of them you likely haven't, but from this diverse (and still growing?) field will emerge the person to take on Donald Trump for the White House next year? So what do we think of the candidates so far?

Extinction Agenda. Good news everyone, the natural world is in the worst shape it's been in since humans first walked the Earth. The United Nations is back again with another dire report about the end of the world, this time with a warning about over one million plant and animal species going extinct due to human action because of a variety of reasons up to, and especially including, climate change. So are we doomed, is there still a way out, and how do we get more people to care?

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we're getting politically romantic. Our review this week is Long Shot, a movie about finding love in all the wrong places, like the campaign trail, and it might offer some refreshing laughs from American politics. We're also going to be talking about spoilers, new trailers, the best of the decade, and the loss of a major voice in modern cinema.

This Wednesday, May 8, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:

Singleton in Time. John Singleton passed away last week due to complications after having a stroke in April. It was a blow for the film business for Singleton, as you may know, is the youngest person to ever be nominated for the Best Director Oscar, and the first Black person to ever get the nod. We'll talk about the life and career of Singleton, and the films and legacy he leaves behind.

Spoilers of War. The sky high expectations of Avengers: Endgame, and the fan excitement about it, has made people extremely prickly about seeing or hearing spoilers in advance of seeing the film. Disney even had a spoilers expiring date for Endgame. But is it possible that we're too spoiler-phobic? Where is the fine line between wanting to experience a movie fresh and just being obsessive?

Decade to Rest. It's only May, but we've already gotten our first list of the Best Movies of the 2010. The website World of the Reel surveyed 250 film critics, and collated the results to a Top 20 list of movies released so far since January 2010. There are some interesting picks in there, and some questionable ones, so we'll look at the list and talk about how it might compare to our lists (if we make one, and we might make one. You know, later).

Sonic Spoof. You shouldn't judge a film by the trailer, but here come a couple of projects that you can't help being judgey about. One is Sonic the Hedgehog, a live-action movie based on the 16-bit video game character, and the other is Gemini Man, where Will Smith fights Will Smith who's been de-aged 30 years thanks to digital technology. Is there any hope for these movies?

REVIEW: Long Shot (2019). Politics is a tough game, but not as tough as the game of love! In Long Shot, presidential candidate Charlize Theron tries to become the Leader of the Free World while her new speechwriter Seth Rogen makes a play to become the first First Gentleman. American politics aren't exactly a great, life-affirming basis to build a film on, so you can at least enjoy a funny movie and the surprisingly wonderful Theron/Rogen chemistry.

End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we take a mid-spring break. Does that sound weird? Too bad, we're doing! Maybe we're heading to Ottawa to see the Storm in the final round of the OHL playoffs. Maybe we're heading south to campaign for "Uncle" Joe Biden. Maybe we're workshopping our puppet musical about the life of Nikola Tesla. In any event, we're replaying our most recent interviews with the MP and MPP of the riding of Guelph.

This Thursday, May 2, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will (re) discuss:

Lloyd Stories. It’s probably a difficult time to be a backbench Liberal MP; you’re not really part of the SNC-Lavalin affair, but it’s what everybody wants to talk about. This week on our show, Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield finds himself in just such a position, but we find time to talk about other issues too like the implementation of the carbon tax and the recent loss of auto sector jobs. Plus, there’s an election coming, and we’ll talk to Longfield about what’s concerning him.

Panic Mike. Last week, the Ontario government delivered its first budget under Doug Ford and Finance Minister Vic Fedeli. While many were initially pleased that it didn’t seem like there were that many cuts, the days since have revealed that there was a lot unseen in the fine print. One of those people is Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner, who joins us this week for an in-depth discussion about the government’s budget priorities, the carbon tax court challenge, and how the Ford government might be running defense for their federal counterparts.

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we hope you like superhero movies and Avengers and stuff, because this one is all Marvel, all the time. Or, at least all Marvel, for an hour. So this week we're reviewing Avengers: Endgame, and before that, we're going to look back at all the movies that came before and rank them because that's what you do sometimes.

This Wednesday, May 1, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

New Universe Order. The Marvel Cinematic Universe launched in 2008 with Iron Man, and from that one movie, directed by the guy that made Elf and starring an actor Hollywood had long since given up on, came the most successful franchise in the history of film. For this week, we'll do the new definitive* rundown of the Marvel movies from best to not so best. (*List may not actually be definitive.)

REVIEW: Avengers: Endgame (2019). The 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe saga brings to a close the incredible feat of creating an intertwining, multi-film storyline over 11 years. But does Avengers: Endgame stand on its own? Does it manage to satisfy the decade-plus investment that fans have put into these stories and characters, while answering the criticisms of Infinity War, and the MCU generally? Well, $350 million in three days says it does...

End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.

It's been a while, but every now and then on the podcast, we like to take a minute, or 30, and talk about the issues happening Guelph, and give them some context in the bigger political picture. What are people talking about, how will it affect their lives, and what are the angles they're not thinking about? In other words, we're going to talk about "Guelph Stuff".

This week on the podcast, we're joined again by Guelph Politico contributor Eli Ridder to chat a little about "Guelph Stuff", and we've got three main topics to talk about.

First up, we’re going to talk about whether or not the City of Guelph should declare a climate emergency. Several municipalities in Ontario have made the move in the last couple of months, and there’s been a lot of talk about green-friendly Guelph doing the same, but not everyone at city council is getting behind the idea.

Then, a matter of branding. Mayor Cam Guthrie and others have been using the hashtag #GuelphProud to promote Royal City goodness for the last couple of years, but with groups like the Proud Boys, and Ontario Proud out there, the word doesn’t exactly carry the same kind of jolly symbolism it once did.

And finally, polls show that the Liberals and the Greens are running neck and neck in the federal riding of Guelph, which might be a serious problem for this typically Liberal stronghold. So is it possible that Guelph might go entirely Green in the coming Federal Election, and what are the challenges for the other major parties?

So let’s get into some “Guelph Stuff” on this week’s edition of the Guelph Politicast!

Action on climate change will be a hot topic at the Committee of the Whole meeting on May 6, and you can find coverage of that, and all the latest Guelph political news here on Guelph Politico. “Guelph Stuff” will return sometime next month.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here.

Remember that the Politicast Podbean channel is also the host for podcast versions of Open Sources Guelph. The previous Thursday’s episode of Open Sources will be posted on Mondays.

This week on Open Sources Guelph we learn again that elections have consequences. Here in Canada, we'll look at the consequences of two very big provincial elections at either end of the country, and here in Ontario we'll again look at what happens when you elect a party with no costed platform. But hey, it could be worse. The head of your government might be an unindicted co-conspirator who may only not be in jail right now because he's President of the United States!

This Thursday, April 25 at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

Green Nook. History was made in Prince Edward Island on Tuesday, just not the type of history that many people were hoping of expecting. The Progressive Conservatives won the most seats, but they'll now oversee a minority legislature with the formerly governing Liberals now in third place and now former Premier Wade MacLauchlin unable to keep his own seats. Meanwhile, the Green Party is now the Official Opposition, and that makes us wonder what it means for Greens across Canada.

Jason Born. As predicted, Jason Kenney led the United Conservative Party to an easy majority victory in Alberta last week, and ended the Wild Rose Province's brief flirtation with the NDP. Kenney immediately stated his intention to follow up on key campaign promises like cancelling the carbon tax and playing hardball with B.C. to get those pipelines built, while no one in Alberta seems particularly concerned about the quality of people they just elected to their legislature. So what next for Alberta?

Rescue 911. Premier Doug Ford has done it again, and by "it" when mean announce policy that's made a lot of people upset and concerned. Along with a proposal to amalgamate provincial ambulances services, public health agencies will also stand to lose millions of dollars in funding over the next few years, which is giving Ontarians some shades of Walkerton and the political decisions that led to that tragedy. We'll talk about the latest controversies from Queen's Park.

Mueller's Crossing. U.S. Attorney General William Barr finally released a redacted version of the final report by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, and the result is not "total and complete vindication" as President Donald Trump would like you to believe. Far from it. Now everyone is waiting to see what comes of the report as Democrats in the House keep pushing for more information, including the un-redacted report, and start debating about whether or not to impeach. So what's next in this high stakes drama?

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits we journey to the darkest depths of the backyard and the hidden evils of where Ruffles and Mittens are laid to rest. Yes, we will journey to the remade Pet Semetary, and talk about the man behind it, and the movies base on his works. We'll also talk about summer movies, the fate of Roman Polanski, and some local movie news one town over.

This Wednesday, April 24, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Vince Masson will discuss:

Roman Numeration. Academy Award winning director Roman Polanski was removed as a member of the Academy last year in the wake of the #MeToo movement along with Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein, but Polanski is now making the case that he should get his membership back. What are Polanski's odds, and will this controversy ever be resolved?

Noise of Summer. With the release of Avengers: Endgame this week, it's safe to say that even if it doesn't feel like it, summer is here! Now summer movies are often associated with sequels, franchises, remakes, and extended universes, but we'll dig into the release calendar and find some movies that skewer a bit more to originality than the average summer movie.

Princess Furies. Waterloo's original Princess Cinema, one of the oldest art house cinemas in Canada, is facing the likely possibility of having to close its doors at the end of May. Why? It seems that the landlord can make more money with another tenant, even as they claim that Princess owner John Tutt has been nothing but great. What does this say about the future fate of art house in Canada?

King of the Underworld. As evident by our review this week, there's no denying Stephen King's influence on horror, and horror films. Many of Kings books, novellas, and short stories have been adapted by many different filmmakers, but who gets it right, and who doesn't? What makes a good Stephen King adaptation, and why do many adaptations miss the mark?

REVIEW: Pet Semetary (2019). Sometimes, dead is better. And sometimes it's better not to bother with a remake, especially if it seems like you have nothing new to say. The remake of one of Stephen King's most popular stories features a new, decidedly less campy spin on the novel than it's 1989 predecessor, but it doesn't exactly deliver the TKO that King fans want, or have come to expect after other recent King adaptations like IT. So was Pet Semetary resurrected for nothing?

End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.