Guelph Politicast

GUELPH POLITICAST #519 - Habitat's Silver Anniversary (feat. Sarah Spry)

It’s an interesting time for someone new to take on the reins of this organization, and not just because of the housing crisis. This is the 25th birthday of Habitat for Humanity in Guelph and Wellington, so it’s a time of celebration, along with a time of tremendous challenge. In the overwhelming crunch of the crisis, how does the brand name in affordable housing celebrate its silver anniversary?
You can’t say that when Habitat for Humanity became an officially registered charity in 2001 that Guelph didn’t have any housing issues but that started changing in the last 25 years, slowly at first and then super accelerated though the pandemic and the immediate aftermath of it. With not just a lack of housing, but a lack of affordable and deeply affordable housing, the community was left scrambling, and that’s put a lot of pressure on established non-profits, like Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat has been busy for these last few years of the housing crisis with a stacked townhome development on Guelph’s eastside on Cityview Drive, a 32-unit project called Garafraxa Village in Fergus and next a new 30-home community on Speedvale Avenue East. At this pivotal moment, Habitat now has a new CEO, and as you’ll hear, she brings with her the experience of a business person and someone who’s been a part of the fabric of Habitat as its been navigating these difficult times. So what comes next for the new CEO? 
On this episode, we're joined by that new CEO, Sarah Spry, who will discuss her background and experience, how Habitat works and how they’ve been impacted by the housing crisis and the growing need. She will then talk about how the challenges of building non-profit housing are not that different from the for-profit ones, why the Habitat model works, and her vision for the organization. Also, you will learn how you can get involved, and what the next 25 years of Habitat will look like. 
So let's celebrate affordable housing builders on this week's Guelph Politicast! 
You can learn more about Habitat for Humanity Guelph Wellington, and all the ways you can take part in their efforts at their website, and you can follow them on Facebook and Instagram. You can also visit the two ReStore locations in the region, the one in Guelph is in the north end on Dawson Road and the other is in Fergus on Tower Street South.
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 #564 - April 9, 2026

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we recover from the Easter weekend. See the guy in this picture with the Easter Bunny? He made it very hard to relax with some very vivid saber-rattling over the pointless war he started in the Middle East. Closer to home, we will talk about trains and plans for trains, plus the attack on the newest federal leader that might indicate a greater degree of confusion in the discourse.
This Thursday, April 9, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
This is the End? If you didn't know what was going on with the War in Iran before the weekend, you're probably really confused now. U.S. President Donald Trump set an arbitrary Tuesday night deadline to end the war or "an entire civilization will die." Trump got a ceasefire instead, which he took, but the exact conditions of it were still unknown 24 hours later, and since no one really stopped shooting, it didn't matter. So does anything matter?
Alto Railroaded? The federal government is in the process of developing a high speed rail corridor between Toronto and Quebec City. It's already been in the works for 10 years, and it will be other 20 before its finally finished, at least unless Pierre Poilievre has anything to say about it. As the Alto Train gets closer to finalizing its plans, opposition is consolidating its own plan to stop it, so will the Alto become just another train dream (so to speak)?
The Problem with Avi? No sooner was Avi Lewis elected the new leader of the federal NDP, did a campaign begin to call him anti-Semitic. Interesting turn for someone from a prominent Jewish Canadian family, but his stands against Israel's genocide in Gaza and support for the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement hasn't won him many friends in Zionist circles. Is the smearing of Lewis a sign that we're confusing legitimate critiques of the secular Israeli government with very real hate crimes?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

WELLINGTON COUNTY POLITICAST #518 - Gently Down the Live Stream (feat. Jeff Duncan)

Wellington County's Ward 9 is the Town of Erin, the eastern most end of the county and it faces a number of issues that might sound kind of familiar to politically tuned in Guelphites. How much do we have in common with our friends from Erin? That is a one of the questions that will guide this first entry in a brand new side story of the Guelph Politicast adventure as we start digging into the politics our our next door neighbours...
Erin is caught in the middle in a very real way. It’s a rural cushion between the encroaching urbanity of Peel and Halton Regions and it represents the halfway point between Guelph and Orangeville. Like all the municipalities that make up Wellington County, Erin has its own mayor and town council, and it sends a separate councillor to represent them on county council along with the mayor, and since 2018 that person has been Jeff Duncan.
In addition to his seat on council, Duncan also takes part in the Information, Heritage and Seniors Committee and the Economic Development Committee, which puts him in a pretty good position on a couple of key issues, like, for instance, the long shadow of water taking for botting purposes. Duncan has also been on top of a radical issue, at least radical so far as the county’s concerned: live streaming of council meetings, which sounds easy but comes with a number of challenges that he'll get into. 
On this inaugural edition Duncan will describe for us the unique political structure of the county, his own political background and navigating the intricacies of a two-tiered government system. He will also discuss protecting Erin’s water from growth and profit, how Erin is sitting at a literal and figurative crossroads, what it’s like dealing with Guelph from the county point of view, and trying to play catch-up on live streaming.
So let's head out to the east side of the county on this first edition of the Wellington County Politicast! 
You can learn about all things Wellington County on the their website, and you can send Councillor Duncan an email at jeffd [at] wellington.ca. Unfortunately you missed the Information, Heritage and Seniors Committee for this month, but the Economic Development Committee is on Tuesday April 21 at 10 am at the County administration building and County Council will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday April 30 at 10 am.
The Wellington County Politicast will return next month!! 
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 #436 - April 8, 2026 (The Drama)

This week on End Credits, things get dramatic. We will skip the blockbuster of the week for the more nutritious meal in the form of the star-studded indie The Drama, which you can, and should, see in a theatre near you. We will also talk about the phenomenon of the video game movie, a kind of sequel itself from our last conversation on the subject nearly eight years ago!
This Wednesday, April 8, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Game On! Maybe you were one of the millions of people who spent part of the weekend seeing The Super Mario Bros. Galaxy Movie, probably in the company of your kids. For over 30 years Hollywood has tried to capture the youthful excitement and fun of video games in movie form, but are we getting any closer to making it a unique genre like comic book movies? This week, we will look at video game, and video game adjacent, movies.
REVIEW: The Drama (2026). It's probably the most excellent counter-programing to The Super Mario Bros. Galaxy Movie, an A24 romantic dramedy starring two genuine movie stars with a *sick* twist at the beginning of the movie. Considering our spoiler adverse culture, we won't ruin the movie here, but in our review, we will dig into the spoiler-y goodness about seeing a couple played by Robert Pattinson and Zendaya fall apart on their wedding week. Does The Drama deliver on the promise of its name, or is it much ado about nothing?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #517 - Pump Up the Volume for Campus Radio (feat. Barry Rooke)

Campus and community radio stations are under pressure from all sides: provincial governments, student governments, activists, advertisers and big tech. There’s a growing spectre of doom for campus media, and the people charged with supporting radio stations across Canada are looking to bolster themselves with help from a newly fiscally prudent federal government. So has time run out for your campus radio station?
The pressure is real. Last week, the student union of Memorial University in Newfoundland voted to end funding to CHMR, the campus radio station. Why? They determined after one poll that the station is “underutilized” by undergraduates. Last December at the University of Ottawa, the campus radio station CHUO finally stopped producing live broadcasts two years after students voted to cease the special levy through which the station got the lion’s share of its funding.
Stations at Fanshawe and Algonquin College have become casualties to the loss of funding to Ontario’s colleges due the deep cuts in international student enrollment, which was doubly insulting since both radio stations were used as a training ground for students studying journalism and broadcasting. This fall, campus radio stations in Ontario that survived the Student Choice Initiative will face similar changes that were approved in Bill 33 last November. Can campus media survive these pressures? 
Barry Rooke, executive director of the National Campus and Community Radio Association, believe it can with help, and he's going to talk about that on this week's show. He will discuss how the NCRA is trying to answer all the various challenges facing campus radio, how some stations are trying to pivot and why it's so hard for some stations to make a change in order to survive. He will also look at the importance of campus media, the plan to protect the stations still standing and his beginnings at CFRU.
So let's save campus and community radio on this week's Guelph Politicast! 
You can learn more about the National Campus and Community Radio Association at their website. The NCRC 44 RadioDays North America event, which is the annual conference hosted by the NCRA, runs from May 4 till 9 in Toronto, and you can also find information about that on their website. You can also find a link to the Canadian Press story here, and, of course, you can learn more about Guelph’s campus and community radio station 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 #563 - April 2, 2026

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're trying to go for the under-reported stories. First, we will journey to Cuba where somehow things have gotten even worse for the people that live there even without a war (yet). Then, we will consider an important court case out of the United States that might start to generate some accountability for the harms of social media. For more physical harms, like hunger, we have a special guest to discuss those issues.
This Thursday, April 2, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Crisis in Cuba. While the U.S. is focused on the War in Iran, it hasn't stopped President Donald Trump from pondering his next quagmire closer to home. Since January, Cuba has been facing a growing humanitarian crisis that the United Nations is now calling a catastrophe. Already embargoed for decades, Cuba is now running out of fuel as supplies from Venezuela have been cut off by Trump and there's no sign that the world wants to act. Why is Cuba's suffering being ignored?
Social Media's Tobacco Moment. In courts in California and New Mexico last week, social media companies were found liable for getting users addicted to their platforms and refusing to accept responsibility for putting young people at risk. Insulated from consequences by their net worth and a Congress unwilling to regulate, are social media companies finally facing a reckoning in America's court rooms as more governments, attorneys general and school boards file suit?
Easter Food Hunt. We know that over 1 million Ontarians now use food banks to fill their daily needs, and we know that more and more working people are accessing food banks for the first time. We also know that the high cost of housing and the ability to pay for one's groceries are tied together in the affordability crisis, but are the upper levels of government doing anything to close the gap this Easter week. Carolyn Stewart, CEO of Feed Ontario, will join us and offer an update on food insecurity issues in Ontario.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #435 - April 1, 2026 (Project Hail Mary)

This week on End Credits, we're got hope and pessimism. The former comes from a new movie in theatres everywhere about a literal one-man quest to save the world, but with some alien help in the new sci-fi adventure Project Hail Mary. As for the latter, we head half-a-century into the past for the start of a new series about a big movie year and some of the most consequential releases. 
This Wednesday, March 25, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
6 For '76 Part 1: Taxi Driver. On this episode, we're kick off a new project. It's been 50 years since 1976, an important year for movies in an important decade for movies, and over the next several months we're going to consider six movies from 1976 starting with Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver. The tale of a malcontent wallowing in the malaise and moral decay of 1970s New York has been many things to many people, but what does it mean in 2026?
REVIEW: Project Hail Mary (2026). Based on another book by the author of The Martian, Project Hail Mary arrives at an opportune time. It's about humanity's best and brightest working to solve a world ending calamity, it's about putting hope in science and technology to help us find the answers, and it's about Ryan Gosling as a middle school teacher plus a rocky-looking alien creature on who our survival depends. Project Hail Mary has become the first big hit of 2026, but can it's hope-ium sustain a cynical movie audience going into the Easter long weekend?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #516 – A Snapshot of Food Insecurity This Holiday Week (feat. Carolyn McLeod-McCarthy and Dawn Wheeler)

There’s no escaping just how crushing the increasing cost of groceries is, and it’s even been affecting the people we might consider affluent, so how tough is it for the organizations we depend on who are trying to level the playing field, and can they overcome those same economic pressures themselves? On this holiday week, we tackle the essential questions on local food security with two people who know about it.
More people are feeling food insecure, and Feed Ontario’s last Hunger Report said that over a million people in the province are now using food banks, with over one-third of them accessing those services for the first time. Some municipalities are declaring emergencies in food security, and the City of Toronto recently approved a pilot to open government-owned grocery stores, but how do we address the problem right here and right now in our own community?
Such a big problem requires the assistance of two guests starting with Guelph Food Bank CEO Carolyn McLeod-McCarthy. She’s going to talk about the logistics of their spring donation drive, the things that they need now and always need, and the ways they’re struggling to keep up with demand in areas like distribution and access. We will also talk about how current economic conditions are impacting the amount of donations they’re receiving.
After that, we will talk to Dawn Wheeler, a support worker for the West Village Co-op neighbourhood group. She will discuss the unique challenges in the west end, the number of people they’re helping out, and the ways they have to be creative to help as many people as possible. She will also talk about filling people’s needs beyond food, and the ways they specifically need assistance when it comes to donations, and volunteer opportunities.
So let's talk about local food insecurity on this week's Guelph Politicast! 
The Guelph Food Bank’s Spring Food Drive runs through April 22, and donating is as easy as dropping food off in the marked bins at your neighbourhood grocery store. You can also learn about other ways to give or give back at their website. You can also learn more about all the programs at the West Village Co-op on their website. For more discussion on food security, tune into Open Sources Guelph on Friday for an interview with Feed Ontario CEO Carolyn Stewart.
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 #562 - March 26, 2026

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we go federal again. It's been a busy week for three of the country's main parties, and there are busy times to come in at least one case. On this edition of the show we will look ahead to this weekend and one party's crucial vote, we look back at a federal leader's busy itinerary abroad making new friends, and we will consider the last year under Canada's first-time politician turned first-term PM.
This Thursday, March 26, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Orange Counting. This weekend, members of the federal New Democratic Party will gather in Winnipeg to decide who will succeed Jagmeet Singh as their leader. In a sense, this vote is just the end of the beginning of the struggle because the new leader has to rebuild the party, payoff debts, choose a direction and start recruiting future candidates, so are any of the five confirmed candidates up for the massive job ahead?
Pierre Does America. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre went on his own world tour last week, or at least an American one. He made several requisite stops at various media outlets, including the biggest one of all, The Joe Rogan Experience! Perhaps to his credit, Poilievre didn't disgrace himself with Rogan or take any of his conspiracy claptrap bait, but can we say that Pierre looked prime ministerial fresh from his trip south of the border.
Mark'ed For a Year. It's been one year since Mark Carney won the emergency Liberal leadership convention and became the prime minister, and what a difference a year makes! Once the Liberals were on a backfoot, accused of being out of touch and out to lunch, and then Carney comes in and Canada's natural governing party reclaims its place at the centre of the universe. How did he do it, and how long can Carney stay on top?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #434 - March 25, 2026 (Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die)

This week on End Credits we get a-political, with the "a" standing for "apocalypse". Our movie of the week is now on PVOD after a brief theatrical run and given it's about the dangers of A.I. and social media, it's no wonder. We will review Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die, and in the same corner of streaming we will revisit a different dark future now 20 years later in V For Vendetta. 
This Wednesday, March 25, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
V For Vendetta at 20! Two decades ago, a movie about a masked man taking on a totalitarian government in the United Kingdom was released in the wake of the War on Terror, 9/11 and a backlash against LGBTQ+ rights. Based on the graphic novel and produce by the Wachowskis, it seemed V's moment came and went, but in the Trump era, and a new war in the Middle East, maybe V For Vendetta's time has come again. This week, we will re-watch and render our judgement.
REVIEW: Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die (2026). There's been a lot of concern about A.I. in narrative fiction for a while, and now it's everywhere! Too late for us? Not quite because Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell is here to save the day, and the future, from an A.I.pocalypse that destroys the world as humanity watches it all pass by doom scrolling on their phones. Gore Verbinski's (the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy) first movie in 10 years has its finger on the pulse, but can he deliver on this bizarre and unique mix of sci-fi, adventure, comedy and cultural commentary?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.