Guelph Politicast

GUELPH POLITICAST #411 - Raw Audio News

The last few weeks have been busy news weeks, so on this edition of the podcast we're going to lift the veil of news gathering and take you behind the scenes to see how the sausage the media gets made. To do that, we're going to talk to an Ontario cabinet minister about promises, hear from local fire officials about safety, and discuss how best to not get scammed.
First up, we will go back to last Thursday when Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra was in Guelph announcing that we were receiving $4.68 million for our progress in achieving local housing targets. While Calandra was here, he was asked about the premier's past comments about Guelph and our own desire for the provincial government to take a housing pledge. Hear how he answered.
On that same day, there was a media availability in front of a house on Edinburgh Road South. It was the site of fatal fire last week that cost two people their lives, and it seemed to happened because there was a definite lack of smoke detectors in their home. You will hear from Guelph Fire Chief Brian Arnold and Ontario Fire Marshal Jon Pegg about why you need to put safety first.
And finally, a sneak peak for the next edition of Open Sources Guelph! This is Fraud Prevention Month, which is still happening every March since it was first held now exactly 20 years ago. Sadly, fraud has not gone away and it's only seemed to become bigger business, and that's why we wanted to talk to Jeff Horncastle of the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, and you will hear him talk - in part - about how to stay safe from scammers.
So let's listen to the news as it happened on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about all of these stories on Guelph Politico. You will be able to hear the full interview with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre's Jeff Horncastle on Open Sources Guelph, which airs tomorrow (Thursday) at 5 pm 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, Google, 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 #462 - March 14, 2024

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we throw ourselves into international drama. From civil unrest in Haiti, to the ongoing disaster that's still unfolding - and might yet get worse - in Gaza. Also, there's a princess missing in England, and can you believe that's going to be the *last* segment?! Also, closer to home, we've got another great government attempt to regulate the internet to discuss.
This Thursday, March 14, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Know Haiti. For the last few weeks, a coup d'état has essentially been in progress in the Caribbean country of Haiti. This week, Prime Minister Ariel Henry agreed to resign once a transitional council is in place after gangs seemingly took control of vast portions of the county, including the capital Port-au-Prince. Is Haiti finally about to turn a corner, or is this just more chaos as Haitians pay the price for centuries of colonialism?
Rafah on the Brink. The holy month of Ramadan has begun, but the full blown assault on the Rafah area of Gaza has yet to begin as Israel threatened (as of this writing). In the west, President Biden is drawing red lines despite affirmations about protecting Israel, while Benjamin Netanyahu says he's not listening to those concerns. Is a turn coming for the war in the Gaza Strip?
Harm Offensive. The Government of Canada has introduced a bill called the Online Harms Act, which will create a new regulator separate from the CRTC, that will focus on overseeing digital safety with particular emphasis on protecting children and youths from internet exploitation. Still, this government has not had a lot of success regulating internet stuff, so will this bill deliver the right results?
Stuck in the Middleton With You. The Princess of Wales had abdomen surgery earlier this year, nothing major the Palace said, and then she took a powder from public appearances. With conspiracy theories on the rise, the Firm released a photo of Princess Kate and the kids, but what's that meme? It's a fake! So we're forced to ask the question: How were they so stupid, and why do we care so much?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #332 - March 13, 2024 (Perfect Days)

This week on End Credits, we search for perfection. It's hard to find, difficult to describe, and different for everyone, but if there's one thing that many critics can agree on, it's that the new film Perfect Days is pretty close to perfection. We will let you know if we agree with that assessment, but also under the topic of perfection, we will revisit another blast from our 80s past.
This Wednesday, March 6, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
This is Spinal Tap... at 40! Forty years ago this month, a small movie was released and while it didn't hit so hard at the time, it ended up having a huge impact in the long-term. Rob Reiner's first film, This is Spinal Tap, introduced the concept of the mockumentary, a documentary-style movie about a subject matter that's made up, in this case the British hair band Spinal Tap. This week, we will talk about the lingering effect of The Tap and take our nostalgia all the way up to 11.
REVIEW: Perfect Days (2024). What initially began as a tourism project to promote Tokyo's splendid new public toilets became a movie worthy of nomination for the Best International Feature Oscar! The legendary German director Wim Wenders takes us into the life of Hirayama, who spends his days keeping those toilets clean and enjoying a quiet life filled visits to his favourite haunts, taking pictures of trees in the park and his favourite American music on cassette tapes. In short, all of Hirayama's days are perfect days, but what happens when fate intervenes?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #410 – Buses and Trains Wanted!

As listeners familiar with the work of Guelph Politico are aware, improved transit is a pretty big part of the mission, and more often than not, we’re talking about local transit. But did you know that transit can take you to places outside of Guelph’s urban boundaries? This is somewhat tricky because regional transit, both to and from Guelph, is lacking, and we're not alone. That’s where a new advocacy group wants to make a difference.
Before looking at the pan regional picture, let’s look at what you have when it comes to getting out of Guelph on a bus or a train. First, you’ve got the Kitchener Line GO Train. Then there are several GO bus routes including ones to Toronto, Milton, Mississauga, Hamilton and Waterloo. There’s also RideWell and the Guelph Owen Sound Transit but almost all those options don’t run on the weekend.
What’s weird is that the demand is clearly there for more service. The Hamilton-Waterloo bus was an immediate success, and social media is littered with pictures of packed bus platforms at the Mount Pleasant GO Station on the weekends as people wait to head further west. Those of us who live at the far end of the GTHA and beyond continue to struggle, and are often left to our own devices to fill the gaps, plus no one’s looking at the broader regional picture...
...Until now. This week, we're joined by Haadhi Faizal, the founder of the advocacy group, More Transit Southern Ontario, who's going to talk about the gaps in regional transit, the difficulties of trying to pick your battles when there are so many, and how trying to co-ordinate between the municipal transit systems is part of the problem. He will also talk about building density around transit stations, and how we can get more people involved in the fight for more and better transit.
So let's talk about more buses and trains on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about More Transit Southern Ontario at their website or by following them on @MoreTransitSO on Twitter and YouTube. In terms of local regional transit expansion, there’s an open house for the business cases to build a rail line connecting Union Station and Cambridge through Guelph on Thursday March 21 from 6 to 8 pm at City Hall. There’s a virtual meeting on Tuesday March 19 too, and you can get all that information at engagewr.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, Google, 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 #461 - March 7, 2024

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're going back to the 80s. The 18th Prime Minister of Canada passed away last week and we will talk about his impact between then and now, and speaking of the 80s, we've also got to talk about Trump again. In the back half of the show, there was good news about the pharmacare, and we will try and find some good news for the women out there in advance of their day.
This Thursday, March 7, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Life of Brian. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney passed away last week and he will be honoured at a state funeral on March 23. But what will Mulroney be honoured for? A lot of people have pointed to his successes fighting acid rain and apartheid while others have pointed to his constitutional failures, neo-liberal economic policy and the collapse of his political party once he retired. Will the real Brian Mulroney legacy please stand up?
Super Tuesday's Child. This past Tuesday was Super Tuesday in the United States as 16 states held their primary on a single day. It was widely suspected that Donald Trump would secure the Republican nomination, so all eyes were on the future of Nikki Haley, and the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court who ruled that Trump gets to stay on the ballot in places where he was removed. Where does U.S. politics go now?
Down on the Pharm! Last week, the federal government revealed their national pharmacare plan. The policy, which was a key demand from the NDP for their confidence and supply agreement, will begin by covering contraception and diabetes drugs and then set up a process by which other drugs are added. Should we be excited about this progressive development, and will it be a selling point for this tired Liberal government?
Women's Day Economics. Friday is International Women's Day, and there are themes every year for the occasion. For 2024, the United Nations has set the theme, "Invest in women: Accelerate progress", meaning that we need to empower women who are so vulnerable to many different economic factors. From the "pink tax" to fact that women took the brunt of job losses in the pandemic, we will talk about finding equity in the economy.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #331 - March 6, 2024 (Dune: Part Two)

This week on End Credits, the movies are back! Obviously, they never went away, but after a fairly dry year at the movie theatre so far, boy we're we back last weekend with the arrival of the the long-awaited second chapter of Dune! If that's not exciting enough for you, there are some huge movie awards being given out next weekend, and we're very excited to talk about them!
This Wednesday, March 6, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Flight of the Awards. The Oscars are coming! The 96th annual Academy Awards ceremony is this weekend, and it almost goes without saying that this is going to be a big weekend for Oppenheimer. All the odds-makers are saying it's a good bet that Christopher Nolan's hit about the father of the atomic bomb is the one to beat, and it's been pretty unbeatable this awards season indeed. We'll talk about whether those odds will hold and the other bets around this year's Oscars.
REVIEW: Dune Part Two (2024). When we last left Dune, Paul Atreides and his mother had found sanctuary with the Fremen, the indigenous population of the planet Arrakis , and now Paul must decide whether to embrace his destiny as their saviour even if that means starting a holy war that sets fire to the universe. If may look like your standard big-budget, Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster, but Denis Villeneuve doesn't do conventional, and Dune's not your average cinema spectacle, so after a gangbusters opening weekend, we're going to talk about our thoughts about Dune: Part Two.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #409 – Advanced Repeat

It's rare these days to work in the same place for over four decades, but when you go to the Guelph Public Library this week you may notice that one long-time face is no longer around. Maybe you didn't notice because you were so obsessed with the thought of heading into the DVD stacks to find more Denis Villeneuve flicks, high on the hit from Dune: Part Two. If any of this sounds right, this podcast is for you!
First, we will insert a little End Credits action into this show by replaying the definitive ranking of Denis Villeneuve movies pre-Dune from September 2021. The Quebec-born director has risen through the ranks from being the darling of homegrown Canadian cinema to being a major Hollywood filmmaker, but American reviewers ignore those quirky first Canadian flicks. We don't!
After that, we will re-play our interview with now former-Library CEO Steve Kraft from last September where he talked about his career, why he wanted to become a librarian in the first place, and how technology has changed what a library is all about. He also talked about the Library’s future, from the new building to all the branches, plus he discussed the demand for library programs, and if there’s anything libraries can’t do.
So let's talk books and movies on this week's Guelph Politicast!
The Guelph Public Library Board of Directors has formed a CEO recruitment committee and they will be dedicated to hiring a new CEO sometime later this year. Dune Part Two is no in theatres everywhere and you can listen to the full review on this week's episode of End Credits.
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, Google, 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 #460 - February 29, 2024

This week on Open Sources Guelph, it's Leap Day! Recorded for posterity, episode #460 of this show is being released on Leap Day, February 29, 2024. This year February added an extra day, and on this show we're adding to the discourse! We're going to drop in on our friends at the Ontario Legislature, and then we're going to talk to a friend from the trans community to see how they're coping with current events.
This Thursday, February 29, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Weak in the Fees. This week, the Government of Ontario announced that they're pumping $1.3 billion in extra funding into the province's universities and colleges, and this after Premier Doug Ford reportedly canned a decision to hike tuition fees by five per cent over three years. And yet, the biggest controversy of the week involves judicial appointments and accusations of patronage. We'll catch up with all the fun at Queen's Park.
The Johnstone of Destiny. Canada’s queer and trans communities are feeling besieged lately with many provincial governments trying to legislate parental rights and/or are openly discriminating against LGBTQ+ people. This week, we're joined by Fae Johnstone, a trans activist and the executive director of the Society for Queer Momentum, who's going to tell us about how they maintain hope that we’re still on the progressive road to equality.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #330 - February 28, 2024 (Drive-Away Dolls)

This week on End Credits, we're on the road again. The last few weeks of winter hardly seems like a good time for a road trip, but maybe that's the point. It's time to get in the car and drive with the Drive-Away Dolls and our old friend Ethan Coen, but before that we will talk about all the movies they aren't entirely sure they want you to see as we reach the end of "Dumpuary."
This Wednesday, February 28, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Dumpuary Jones. We've reached the end of February (though technically nearly the end because it's a leap year), which also means it's the end of "Dumpuary". It's the time of year where Hollywood studios dump the movies that they think can make some money but are too embarrassed to release in the harsh light of summer or Christmas. So for the first part of the show this week, we will hail some Dumpuary classics both past and present!
Drive-Away Dolls (2024). As you may recall, the famous filmmaking fraternity the Coen Brothers are taking a break from each other. A couple of years ago, Joel made The Tragedy of MacBeth, and Ethan made this, a 1999-set road trip comedy about a pair of young women finding themselves on the road to Tallahassee and finding something mysterious and tantalizing in the trunk of their borrowed car. If you like Classic Coens like Raising Arizona or Burn After Reading, you will probably see a lot to recommend in Drive-Away Dolls, but is one Coen Coen enough?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #408 - Greg Dorval Has Things to Say

One of the problems covering issues of homelessness in the media is that it’s hard to find people to be the face of those issues. You see this in just about every news story, “person X is experiencing issue A”; it’s a way of personalizing the issue and making it relatable to the audience, and it’s one of the reasons why the homelessness crisis is so unrelatable. That’s where Greg Dorval entered the picture a few weeks ago.
As government representatives and social services agencies got together for a two-day Health and Housing Symposium at the Delta Hotel and Conference Centre, Dorval pitched a tent in the back of the Wellington County Administrative Centre. Dorval had decided to become an ambassador for the people living rough in Guelph, and his point was clear: We’re here, and we need assistance greater than what’s been received.
Dorval also set up shop in advance of a special meeting of city council, one that discussed a new bylaw that regulated the use of public spaces on City-owned property. Developed in 11 days, City of Guelph staff felt like they were trying to walk a fine line between human rights and safety concerns, but people living rough and their advocates saw it as an attack on people who had no place to go. Dorval was one of the delegates at that meeting, but he still has more to say.  
On this edition of the pod, we catch up with Dorval as he talks about how he felt sitting through the rest of the meeting, and trying to find some peace of mind when people are saying unkind things about people living rough. He will also talk about his initial uncertain interactions with Wellington County staff and how he turned that into a path forward on the issues. And finally, he will talk about the need for continuity of care, and how we wants this to be the last winter anyone lives in a tent in Guelph.
So let's hear more from Greg Dorval on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
Greg Dorval continues to take up residence in St. George’s Square to demonstrate for more assistance for people who are unhoused. The City of Guelph’s Public Spaces Use Bylaw is on hold for the time being, and there will be a third day of the City and County’s housing symposium that will be open to public participating sometime in April. Thanks to Bry Webb and Christopher Currie at CFRU for setting up time in studio to record in studio even as a band warmed up!
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, Google, 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.