Guelph Politicast

GUELPH POLITICAST #531 – Slow Election? (feat. Scotty Hertz)

Does this one feel a little slow? There’s no doubt that there’s a lot of passion in the community for a variety of issues from affordability to housing development in this election, and there are a lot of new faces eager to take the reins around the council horseshoe, but a little over halfway through the nomination process, do the races this fall feel exciting, especially the open mayor’s race? Is there change in the air? Are people paying attention?
Last week, there was finally a break in the mayor’s race. Ward 6 Councillor Ken Yee Chew submitted his name to become the next Mayor of Guelph and thus presented a challenge to his colleague, Ward 5 Councillor Leanne Caron. Now technically, there are four people in the race, but if this comes down to past council experience, for now, this is Caron versus Chew to lead Guelph into its post-Guthrie years.
But that’s just the mayor’s race. If you look at the list of competitors in the six ward races, some of them are busier than others, especially Ward 1, which usually attracts a large variety of candidates in every election. There's still a question mark around two seats, one in Ward 4 and another in Ward 5; Councillors Christine Billings and Cathy Downer have yet to announce their intentions. And what about the school board races? Only four people have signed up across the four different school boards, why is that? 
To break down some of these questions, and more, we will be joined by Open Sources Guelph co-host Scotty Hertz. We will talk about whether this is a slow start to an election, why candidates need to have those social media accounts ready, and why no candidate can rest on social media alone. We will also talk about the top issues being discussed on the campaign trail, why candidates need to be ready to talk about cuts if they’re running against high taxes, and we will make a pit stop to talk about Mississauga politics. 
So let's talk about the election, two months down four to go, on this week's Guelph Politicast! 
You can see the full list of candidates running in all the races here. You can listen to Scotty and I talk every week, Thursday at 5 pm, on Open Sources Guelph, which airs on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca. We will be ramping up our election coverage there later this summer, and in the meantime, you can stay up to date on election stuff on Guelph Politico and by subscribing to the Tip Sheet newsletter.
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 #574 - June 18, 2026

anyone under the age of 16 and introducing new regulations around A.I. chatbots including a responsibility to direct people with suicidal ideation to places they can get help. With Australia's own ban struggling to take hold, and Canada's history of chickening out when tech companies push back, is this the answer people have been waiting for?
No Big Deal. Nearly four months after promising the war would only take two weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that one of his birthday presents was a deal to end the "skirmish" he started. With still 24 hours left to screw it up before the Friday self-induced deadline, we will talk about what we know about this still unknown (at press time) deal, and whether or not it means peace in our time or peace for short time.
The Responsibility Sandwich. It was a busy week last week at city council with a divisive debate about securing more of the Niska property, a new charitable hub project with some big unknown unknowns and the long awaited renoviction bylaw and vacant home tax. To help us talk about how it all went down, and what comes next, is Ward 1 Councillor Erin Caton, who will also join us to talk about the "responsibility sandwich" when it comes to filling gaps in local shelter programs.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #446 - June 17, 2026 (Obsession)

This week on End Credits we get obsessed. Finally, about a month after the fact, we will dig into a verifiable summer sensation, that other low-budget horror from a YouTube trained filmmaker.You guessed it, we will be reviewing Obsession, which is still in theatres, and then we will look even further back at the long history of an animation powerhouse. 
This Wednesday, June 17, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
Three Decades of Toy Story and Pixar. It was over 30 years ago that Pixar became a household name thanks to Toy Story, the first fully CG animated movie. The next Pixar movie, which is Toy Story 5, comes out this Friday, so to mark the occasion we will talk about the strange journey of the Toy Story franchise, the creative ups and downs of the studio over the last few years, and why you need to see Pixar's other 2026 hit, Hoppers, if you're an activist.
REVIEW: Obsession (2026). It's the box office phenomenon of the summer, a horror movie morality tale about being careful what you wish for. Bear loves Nikki, but he's not so sure that he loves her back, so he foolishly one night makes a wish using a "magical" doodad called a One Wish Willow to make Nikki love him more than anyone else in the world. And that's where everything starts to go wrong. In its fourth week in theatres, Curry Barker's Obsession still sits pretty with audiences, but now our team will offer our two cents about the biggest movie of 2026!
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #530 – What's Next 2026? A City of Attractions (feat. Joanne O’Meara and P. Brian Skerrett)

One of the big initiatives in this term of council, especially as we emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, was the effort to promote Guelph as a tourist destination. There are two major projects now in the pipeline that would do a lot to brandish Guelph as regional, provincial and nation destination, but as we look to the next term of council, will there be the political capacity to help make these projects a reality?
We’ve talked about both of these projects in previous episodes of the pod. Royal City Science is an effort to build a science centre in Guelph, and last fall they released their feasibility study, which laid out the plan for a 100,000 square foot facility to be built in three phases and will include exhibition halls, education spaces, a planetarium and an IMAX theatre. (That would be a first for this area by the way.)
When it comes to the National Urban Park, we know that infrastructure isn’t the problem because the land is already there, and while Guelph City Council has endorsed the idea, three very important people have held back: The Mayor, our Member of Provincial Parliament, and our Members of Parliament. In the meantime though, there’s a massive community investment in the project and they're ready to go! So what’s happening now with both of these projects? 
Joanne O’Meara, one of the organizers of Royal City Science, and P. Brian Skerrett, a heritage advocate and creator of Urban Park Guelph, will join us on this edition of the pod to talk about the latest with these initiatives. O’Meara will talk about the search for a site to build the science centre and whether the drama around the Ontario Science Centre is a drain on this project, and then we will then talk to Skerrett about community versus political support and getting ready to make an updated pitch to Parks Canada. 
So let's talk about Guelph as a city of attractions on this week's Guelph Politicast! 
To learn more about Royal City Science at their website, or follow them on Instagram. The monthly Science on Top events at Royal City Brewing will return this fall. You can also learn more about the effort to turn the OR Lands into a National Urban Park their website, on Facebook. The Yorklands Green Hub regularly hosts events on the property, and you can find more information about what’s coming up here, and learn more about other Guelph tourism events here. 
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 #573 - June 11, 2026

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're splitting our time between politicians and activists. On the one hand, we will talk to our local representative at the federal level about matters local and international, and on the other, we will talk to two housing advocates out of Toronto who are taking a break from coping with the World Cup to talk about their uphill climb on the issue that's important to them.
This Thursday, June 11, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Federal Dollars. Unlike their Ontario counterparts, reps in the House of Commons will still be sitting for another couple of weeks, but in the mad dash to finish up before summer vacation, we will be joined by Guelph MP Dominique O'Rourke who will talk to us about recent funding announcements for Guelph Transit, the present economic picture as Canada enters trade talks, and the highly combative discourse over Canada's response to the genocide in Gaza.
Housing Advocates Assemble. For years, we've been waiting for all levels of government to make substantial progress on getting more affordable homes built, but some advocates are now wondering if maybe working within the present system is worth their while. We will be joined by Matt Whitfield and Gaetan Heroux, organizers of the People’s Assembly for Housing Justice, who tell us why fighting Toronto’s housing crisis may not involve getting involved in the local election this fall.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #445 - June 10, 2026 (Backrooms)

This week on End Credits, there's a chill in the air. No, it's not the weather, because it's finally fairly warm outside, but in the movie theatre, that's not just the air conditioning you're feeling. For the review we will finally check out the Backrooms, which is currently making bank, and we will also go back to 1976, and high school, for a lesson in kindness. 
This Wednesday, June 10, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
6 For '76: Carrie. Returning to our series about the movies from 1976 we arrive at what might be the scariest. Brian De Palma, still looking for his first hit, took a gamble on the first novel from a new author named Stephen King about a mousy high school student who is pranked one time too many by her classmates. We will talk about the enduring appeal of Carrie, De Palma's trademark style, and the repeated efforts to try and remake perfection.
REVIEW: Backrooms (2006). This may be the story of the year: A 20-year-old first-time filmmaker, Kane Parsons, turned the YouTube series he made in high school into a movie starring two Oscar nominees that's presently outstripping a new Star Wars movie at the box office. Not too shabby, so let's talk about the movie itself, which finds a strung out man played by Chiwetel Ejiofor discovering a vast, magical enclosed space beyond the wall of his furniture store. Why does Backrooms work for audiences, and does it work for these reviewers?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #529 – The Trustee to Council Pipeline (feat. Linda Busuttil & Katherine Hauser)

Half of city council is new in terms this being their first term in office, but that doesn’t mean that some of those people were politically inexperienced entering this office. For decades, the farm league for politicians has been the local school board, which is about as direct as democracy can get. Looking back at this term, and the rapid pace of change that councillors have had to deal with, have the councillors with that school board experience had a leg up?
It was literally the day after the 2022 municipal elections that the Ontario government announced Bill 23 and sweeping changes to local planning policy. Later, Strong Mayor Powers were expanded beyond Ontario’s biggest and then the downloading began again. It’s safe to say that being a city councillor in 2026 is not the same as it was in 2021, so can you persevere in a job that’s no longer the one you applied for?
This may be the key question of this election, at least when we’re talking about the DNA of local governance. Here in Guelph, two of the first-term councillors are ready to keep going and perhaps unsurprisingly, they were the two formally of the Upper Grand District School Board. They're used to being the underdog in an all too familiar fight for fairness, so as we head into this fall’s election, what are the hard lessons they’ve learned that make them want to take the fight into a second term?
Ward 4 Councillor Linda Busuttil and Ward 6 Councillor Katherine Hauser join us on this edition of the pod to discuss how the job has changed in the last four years, how the council experience differs from serving on the school board, and whether or not they had any doubt about running for re-election this October. We will also talk about the three Bs, managing expectations and criticism from constituents, and handling the constant flow of information that’s coming in with the weekly council reports.
So let's talk again about the last four years on council on this week's Guelph Politicast!
Once again, nominations for mayor, city councillor, and school board trustee are open until August 21. You can learn more about how to run, who’s running and other important information here. If you’re listening to this on Wednesday, there’s a city council meeting later today starting at 4 pm, and you can get all the council agendas on the City Government page of the City of Guelph website, and you can follow up with all the coverage here on 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 #572 - June 4, 2026

This week on Open Sources Guelph we boogey! And yet, there's not much time to celebrate because the news keeps on coming. We will see who won the B.C. Conservative leadership race and talk about what the next steps, and then we will look at a certain prime minister's weak spot when it comes to a very green issue. Closer to home, we have a guest from Guelph city council to talk about, among other things, the next council.
This Thursday, June 4, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Findlay's Wake. Last weekend, Kerry-Lynne Findlay become the new leader of the B.C. Conservative Party, and there's a lot of hope that this former Harper government member and current subject of an Elections Canada probe might be the unifier that this upstart political party is looking for but, as we've seen, unifying a party of made of small 'c' conservatives and fringe-y cranks is easier said than done, so has Findlay got what it takes?
Carney, Climate, Catastrophe? In the year since he's became prime minister, Mark Carney has undone a lot of the climate action policies by his predecessor Justin Trudeau, and we were reminded of that last week when all of Trudeau's old environmental ministers were together in the same room, including Steven Guilbeault who just quit the caucus. Does Carney care about his lack of a climate plan, and does he care about the growing number of objectors in his own party?
Ward One is Enough. When it was announced that Mayor Cam Guthrie was not running for re-election, many people looked to Ward 1 Councillor Dan Gibson as a potential replacement. He's not doing it, but he is looking to run again for this current seat, and this week we will tell us why he made that call. Gibson will also talk to us about what he hopes to achieve these next four years, the realities of municipal budgeting and his thoughts on council's closed meeting politics.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

GUELPH POLITICAST #528 – The Breezys Vs Big Brother (feat. Steve Cornwell & Jonathan Webb )

Just this week there were more warning from the federal government about the threats of out malleable information ecosystem, warnings that Russia is targeting Canada with misinformation to sew divisions and erode confidence in democratic institutions. In an era of partisan media and A.I. deep fakes, how do you know that what you’re reading or seeing is the truth? Let's talk about it...
It may surprise you that the idea of universally objective press is a relatively modern idea. In the past, anyone with the means, money and ability could start a pamphlet or newspaper if they had a point of view, whether that was supporting a political party or candidate, or advancing a business interest. In a sense, our media landscape has gone backwards in the last several years, we have returned to the days of partisan newspapers (in a sense). 
When you’re doom scrolling on your favourite social media app, how to you know if the post you’re seeing has a specific political slant, even compared to the next post you see on the very same topic? Now there’s the added complication of artificial intelligence but how do you know that the story you’re reading, the video you’re watching of the picture you’re seeing is even real? The odds are against you, right?
Maybe, but that doesn’t mean you’re alone, or that you can’t get smarter on these issues. At a recent edition of Breezy Breakfast hosted at Uptown Grill, Trillium reporter Steve Cornwell, and I took part in a conversation that covers all the bases including A.I. slop, foreign misinformation campaigns, internet anonymity and how these issues impact us on even a local level. This was recorded at the May 21 edition of Breezy Breakfast. 
So let's talk about fighting A.I. and misinformation on this bonus edition of the Guelph Politicast! 
You can read the reporting of Cornwell and his colleagues at Queen’s Park, including their new hire Tina Yazdani, here, and you can sign up for Webb’s newsletter “In Other News” here. If you’re looking for help when it comes to the ways of combating misinformation, you can find resources on at Canada’s Centre of Digital Media Literacy, or the Centre for Information Integrity at the University of Ottawa. Breezy Breakfast happens every Thursday at 8 am at Uptown Grill and you can find out more by sending an email to breezybullhorn [at] gmail.com. 
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.

End Credits #444 - June 3, 2026 (Tuner)

This week on End Credits, we've got pitch! Our movie this week combines a love and appreciation for both classical music and classical crime in the new indie thrill Tuner, which you can now see in a theatre near you. And for something completely different, we will take the opportunity to mark some our favourite war movies as a new one also enters theatres. 
This Wednesday, June 3, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
War Movies Are Hell. This week marks the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, and not coincidentally there's a new movie in theatres that's about the weatherman who provided the forecast for the invasion (it's called Pressure by the way). So in that spirit, we will talk about some our favourite war movies, but with a twist: each of our picks have to be from a different war! From the trenches of the Great War to the deserts of Afghanistan, we will prove again that war movies are... you know.
REVIEW: Tuner (2026). It's a story that's been told several times: Down on his luck guy with a special skill finds success in a life of small time crime until things go horribly wrong and he wants out! In Tuner, that's Niki who's extreme hearing sensitivity makes him an excellent piano tuner... and an excellent safe cracker. From Academy Award winning documentarian Daniel Roher (though it's not a documentary), Tuner is being sold as a crime movie with a heart with a talented new leading man at it's centre, but is this new take on an old story pitch perfect, or does it hit a sour note?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.