Guelph Politicast

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.

Open Sources Guelph #459 - February 22, 2024

This week Open Sources Guelph is dealing bad news. What else is new? From critics silenced to cities under siege, we're reminded that there's a world full of danger and destruction out there, which are two things that are closely associated with a specific man who was once President of the United States, and might be again. Meanwhile, closer to home, an old man is almost literally yelling at clouds.
This Thursday, February 22, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Alexei. They finally did it. After years of trying, Vladimir Putin and his appendages in the Russian state were finally able to eliminate his biggest critic, Alexei Navalny. The lawyer-turned-agitator "died suddenly" in one of the worst prison in all of Russian, and coincidentally just a few week ahead of a national election and the second anniversary of the Ukraine invasion. So where does Russia go now?
Rafah. The next front in Israel's war against Hamas seems to be the city of Rafah, but as the IDF are promising to launch their campaign just before the start of the holy month of Ramadan, the Israeli government is facing for blowback from the international community who are calling for a ceasefire and the resumption of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Nearly five months into this war, is there any chance that Israel will listen?
Oh Carolina! This weekend is the South Carolina Republican primary, and it's widely expected that Donald Trump will win. It will be just about the only winning that Trump's experienced recently after being told he doesn't have total immunity, he has to pay $364 million in fines for the way he did business in New York, and there are still so many court cases to go. So why does Trump look unbeatable?
They Call Me Mr. Tibbits. So the head of Conestoga College called his colleague from Sault College a "whore" last week in an actual interview with the press. Tibbits, along with many Ontario college leaders, has been on the defensive for the drastic increase in the number of international students enrolled, but is this ad hominem attack a sign of the stress getting to Tibbits, or is just a sign he should retire?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #329 - February 21, 2024 (Maestro)

This week on End Credits, we're back! Good thing Hollywood is so royally messed up due to several months of strike action last year that we haven't missed much!! So in our first episode back we're going to check one of this year's big Oscar nominees, Maestro, and we're going to go back in time to re-visit an Oscar-nominee from 40 years ago, Footloose (you read that right).
This Wednesday, February 21, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Footloose at 40! It's old versus young, rock 'n' roll versus classical, avant garde versus traditional. It's Footloose! Released 40 years ago this week, the Herbert Ross movie sees Kevin Bacon as Chicago transplant Ren, who arrives in small town America where dancing's against the law. Ren wants to use his fancy feet but a town full of small minds stand in his way, and a cinema classic is born. But now, four decades later, we wonder how Footloose shakes out.
REVIEW: Maestro (2023). You may not know the name Leonard Bernstein, but his impact on music in the mid-20th century is undeniable. He brought classical music to kids in New York, he wrote the score for On the Town and West Side Story, and he was a master of the art of orchestra conducting. In fact, Bernstein was such a master he stymied two of them when it came time to tell his story - Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese - so it falls to Bradley Cooper and his eternal search for Oscar glory, to do the Maestro right. So did Cooper deliver a masterpiece, or a flop?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #407 - Mike's Homes

When the Ontario Legislature resumed sitting this week, Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner wasn’t sitting alone as the only Green member. The fact that Aislinn Clancy won handily in Kitchener Centre might be a sign that people are interested in listen to Green ideas, and the Legislature will get a chance to show they they’re listening next week by sending Schreiner's private member's bill to committee and naturally, he thinks they should!
Bill 156, the Homes You Can Afford in Communities You Love Act, changes planning rules province-wide to allow for fourplexes and four story apartments in neighbourhoods and allow for mid-rise buildings ranging from six to 11 stories on transit corridors and main streets. The bill would also let these changes stands by not allowing them to be taken to the Ontario Land Tribunal for review, a process that can delay projects for years. It would be a game changer.
Now, some of this work is being done on the local level, Guelph included. But you’ll hear from Schreiner this week that while these are positive developments, it’s hard to make permanent planning changes one municipality at a time, especially when they can be appealed to the OLT. So doesn’t it make sense to change it province-wide all at the same time? Schreiner is banking on the idea that it does, and this week, he’s going to try and sell it to you on this very podcast. 
Schreiner will talk about his thoughts on how the housing crisis got this bad, the elevator pitch for the bill, and why he thinks it’s a good compromise to create density while maintaining neighbourhood character. We will also talk about municipal politics with planning, and how the bill tries to prevent NIMBYism. He will discuss "sharing the pain", the other factors in housing like labour and the economy, and Schreiner’s expectations for the debate next week. 
So let's talk about Schreiner's bill with the author himself on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about Bill 156, the Homes You Can Afford in Communities You Love Act, at the Green Party of Ontario’s website. As you heard, Bill 156 will come up for second reading next Wednesday, February 28, in the Ontario Legislature, which returned to work yesterday for the opening of the winter sitting.
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 #458 - February 15, 2024

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're not feeling the love this day post-Valentine's. We're going to start local where the Mayor of Guelph declared himself strong, and just in time for a very complicated and emotional meeting about public policy around encampments. Also (sorta) local, we will talk about the impact of the latest round of media job cuts and then it's off to Queen's Park for another adventure!
This Thursday, February 15, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Stronger Than Yesterday. Last week at the annual State of the City, which is mostly a networking opportunity and a chance for the mayor to talk up Guelph, Cam Guthrie announced that he's a strong mayor now. Using powers granted by the provincial government, Guthrie said that he's doing it to advance some key policy objectives on housing and homelessness, but is he sacrificing local democracy to achieve them?
Camp of Approval. Across the country, there seems to not be a war on poverty, or a war on homelessness, but a war on encampments. Here in Guelph, the battle space was the council chambers this week as council debated a bylaw to rid public spaces like St. George's Square of homeless encampments. We will talk about how Guelph's response is a microcosm of government failure on the issue of housing.
The Bell Tolls. Last week, Bell Media announced that they were cutting nine per cent of their workforce. In practical terms, that means no more noon hour news for anywhere other than Toronto, and no weekend news for anywhere that's not Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. People are taking this as another bad sign for local journalism, so how can local news be saved and why does nobody seem to want to fix it?
124 No More. Next week, the members of the Ontario legislature will roll back into Queen's Park for more law-making, which will now include the repeal of the highly-controversial Bill 124. An Ontario appeals court confirmed it was unconstitutional, and the Ontario government seemed to decide to give up. That's just one of the many controversies coming to Toronto next week, and we're going to try and dig into them all!
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #Repeat - February 14, 2024

This week on End Credits, we have cause for celebration. Some how, we’ve now cranked out 300 episodes of this local movie show for local movie fans, and on this distinguished occasion, we’re giving our listeners the present. Congratulations, you are about to listen to the biggest draft any movie show has ever done as we look back at some of our greatest hits!
This Wednesday, February 14, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson, Candice Lepage, Peter Salmon and Tim Phillips will discuss again:
300! Is this is madness? No, this is the 300th episode of the show! It was six years ago this week that we sat down and produced episode one of End Credits. It wasn’t the first movie show ever produced, but it was the Guelphiest, and to mark 299 episodes completed so far, we’re this week joined by the entire panel for the End Credits 300th Episode Draft! From the some 280-plus reviews done on this show, the cast will each draw five movies from five different categories that represent some of our best memories. This. Is. SPAR-TA!!!
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #406 – The Rest of 2023 at Council

Just because it's February, it doesn't mean that it's too late to think about last year, at least in the realm of council business. We've only had a couple of meetings under our belts so far in 2024, and a lot of what's been on the council agenda actually started in the latter part of last year, from the announcement of the housing symposium, to the 2024-2027 budget process, to Mayor Cam Guthrie's announcement that he was looking to regulate encampments.
So let us flashback to August. Yes, there was a council meeting in August, which was a very unusual circumstance, but it plays into the issue of the day. The Home for Good campaign needed an emergency boost, and city council wanted to give it to them to ensure that the Kindle Community supportive housing project stays on track. Housing was a major point of concern for the rest of the year.
There were two whole, long meetings on the subject of housing, and out of that came the housing symposium that took place just a few weeks ago. (We still don't know what actually came out that though.) There was also some debate about the new Downtown Parking Master Plan including the introduction of the Payment-in-Lieu of parking policy, which was just introduced at Committee of the Whole last week.
And of course there was the budget. It was an interesting process this year with the first full multi-year budget, and the first budget produced under the spectre of Strong Mayor Powers (you might have heard something about that in the last week). There was also some more back and forth with changes prompted by the provincial government, there were a lot of new planning projects approved, and there was a whole controversy about an old bell. Just another fall in the council chambers!
So let's gt back into council business on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
There's so much going on at city council this February. Stay tuned to Guelph Politico for all the latest developments!
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 #Repeat - Febraury 8, 2024

This week on Open Sources Guelph, are we even real? Maybe this show has been one, big nine-year conspiracy. Not that we’re trying to put thoughts in your head, but it turns out that we don’t even really need to try that hard because so many us are ready to believe a conspiracy theory. We’re going to talk about that, and we’re also going to talk about the latest from the war between Israel and Hamas. Closer to home, we’re going to talk to the newest member of the Ontario Legislature.
This Thursday, February 8 at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss again:
Back to Your Regularly Scheduled War. Despite the accomplishment of a nearly one-week long ceasefire and prisoner exchange, the fighting is back in Gaza and it’s even more fierce as Israeli Defense Forces are now moving on the southern end of the Strip. The difference this time is that Israel is feeling the heat. The international community that was once so supportive is now trying to get Benjamin Netanyahu to take it easy, but can the pressure work?
We Want to Believe. The polling firm Leger has discovered something interesting: An almost shockingly big number of Canadians believe in at least one conspiracy theory. That includes five per cent who think the Earth is flat, and 11 per cent who think humans never landed on the moon, which is to say nothing of the 34 per cent who think the government is withholding a cure for cancer. How concerned should we be about the electorate’s inclination towards conspiracies?
Take a Clancy on Me! It was big news last Thursday when it was announced that Aislinn Clancy would become the new MPP for Kitchener Centre, beating her nearest competition by just over 5,000 votes. It creates a Green Party beachhead in southwestern Ontario between Clancy, Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner, and Kitchener Centre MP Mike Morrice and now everyone’s looking at Kitchener and wondering, “How did they do it?” Clancy will join us this week to talk about how she helped turn Kitchener Green and what comes next when she joins Schreiner in the Legislature.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #Repeat - February 7, 2024

This week on End Credits, it’s a Barbie world, and we are Barbie girls! (So to speak). We had to make the proverbial Sophie’s Choice when it comes to “Barbenheimer” and we sided on Barbie. We will have our review of that big summer hit, and speaking of summer hits, we will talk about some of the movie news that has made this summer very interesting indeed. 
This Wednesday, February 7, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss again:
Newsy Much? Obviously, the big news of last weekend was “Barbenheimer”, the arrival of two of the biggest, most unexpected hits of the year, which opened at the same time. But that’s not the only thing that’s going on. What about the smash success of the highly dubious Sound of Freedom? And what about the fall of so many major franchises at the box office? And aren’t their two big Hollywood strikes happening? We’ll cover The News!
REVIEW: Barbie (2023). In a modern age of studio movies where ideas are almost exclusively derived from successful intellectual property, a movie based on Barbie just makes a lot of sense. But a Barbie movie directed by Greta Gerwig, the godmother of mumblecore? That’s something weird enough to get excited about! Barbie may be the big hit of summer, but it got there following the least conventional path. Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, the picture perfect Barbie and Ken, we will look at how Barbie became the unlikeliest hit of the year.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.