Guelph Politicast

Open Sources Guelph #442 - September 21, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph things get serious. Well, they're pretty serious every week, but it's not every week that we're talking about a foreign government allegedly killing a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. And to think we were going to start this week with talk of grocery prices... So there's that, plus we'll talk about the seasonal return of COVID-19 and in local news, we will turn to one of our city councillors about some of the latest doings at 1 Carden Street.
This Thursday, September 21, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Modi Operandi. It wasn't the bombshell we were expecting as the fall session of Parliament opened. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh Khalistani separatist in Surrey, was connected to the Indian government. The announcement helped explain the seemingly frosty relations between Trudeau and Narendra Modi a couple of weeks ago at the G20. But how will this impact Indo-Canada relations, and the India's broader role in world affairs?
Face/Cough. It's cold and flu season again, and you should probably add RSV and COVID-19 to that cadre. It's probably safe to say that COVID-19 never left us, but now we're feeling it's embrace again, especially after Dr. Theresa Tam did a media conference while wearing a mask. As we start fall, the number of COVID cases is definitely going up, the last boosters are on the wain, and nobody's wearing a mask anymore. Are we ready for the next wave?
Eastbound and Downer. Last week at Guelph City Council, they had a big meeting about housing and the gaps in social services. The desperation of the housing situation in Guelph is apparent, but the solutions seem a lot harder to find. We're going talk about that this week with Councillor Cathy Downer, who's also going to talk to us about the fights to protect heritage, next week's debate about parking minimums downtown, and, just in time for Homecoming, we will cover some town and gown matters too.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #313 - September 20, 2023 (Theater Camp)

This week, End Credits is all about the craft. You can have the best script, the greatest cinematography, and state-of-the-art special effects, but it means nothing without the actors to bring it to life. That's what Theater Camp does, it celebrates the actors, and their eccentricities. And speaking of celebrating actors, we're also going to talk about one of Peter's favourites.
This Wednesday, September 13, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Denzel's Hidden Gems. Now in theatres is Denzel Washington's new movie, The Equalizer 3. An improbable hit at the box office, it's a simple action movie about one man cleaning up an Italian town of mafia corruption. It's proof of Denzel's staying power and strength as a movie star that he can still make a splash without indie clout or big visual effects or even spandex and a cape. This week, we will pay tribute to Denzel by shining up some of his hidden gems.
REVIEW: Theater Camp (2023). Every kid loves camp, and if you're not especially into sports or boating or other feats of athleticism, you can always go to theatre camp. Well now there's a movie of the same name. Largely improvised and staged like a documentary, Theater Camp takes us to AdirondACTS summer camp where beloved founder Joan is in a coma due to the ill-advised use of a strobe light. With the camp under threat of foreclosure, the summer program perseveres with the only thing that matters: A love of the arts. But do we rise in applause?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #389 - It’s In the Code

Have you heard there’s a housing crisis? It’s pretty much all anyone can talk about, which is understandable, and the causes of the crisis are many. But have you thought about the Building Code? Chances are you haven’t, but this important document meant to govern our health and safety indoors might have some holes in it, and it might be causing complications that are getting in the way of desperately needed new units.
The Building Code, you say? We often talk about it like there's just one, but there's the National Building Code, the latest version of which was finished in 2020 but not published until 2022. Then, there's the Ontario Building Code, which needs an update based on those NBC changes, which is currently underway. Meanwhile, the OBC is based on the one previously established one in 2012, and there's stuff in the OBC that the NBS doesn't deal with like more stringent durability standards.
And that’s just the beginning of our drama because there’s a building code for how you build a residential building and there’s a building code for how you build an office building. There’s one for how you build a three-storey apartment building and there’s one for how you build a four-storey apartment building. How does that affect affordability? It's because our building code might be getting in the way of making more of that mythical "missing middle."
To learn more, we turn to Toon Dreesson, president of Architects DCA in Ottawa and past president of the Ontario Association of Architects. Dreesson will take us step-by-step through the process of how the building code makes a simple three-storey apartment project more expensive and more dense, plus he will talk about the overlapping demands of all the various building codes and building code updates. Dreesson will also tell us if we can balance the needs of the code and the needs for affordable housing.
So let's get into the code on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about Toon Dreesson’s professional work at the Architects DCA website. You can also follow him on social media @toon.dreesson on Facebook and @toon_dreesson on Twitter. You can read Dreesson’s piece from the Globe & Mail earlier this year called "Canada’s building codes and standards need to get with the times" on their website 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, 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 #441 - September 14, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're bring it home! The news that is. Of course, that's also the new catchphrase for the all-new, all-different Conservative Party who had a very newsy policy meeting in Quebec City last week. A little to the west in Ottawa, a couple of people once supported by the new leader of the Conservatives are now on trial, and we will discuss that too before finding an Ontario mayor not named 'Guthrie' to fill our interview slot this week.
This Thursday, September 14, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
The Pierre Up There. The Conservative Party of Canada had their policy convention last week, and that policy seems to be saying no to vaccine mandates, gender affirming care, diversity, and the carbon tax. There was also a call to defend what might have once been called "Old Stock Canadians" and a lot of lingering upset about the redesigned passport. You don't have to be a political genius to recognize American right-wing grievance politics, so is this how Pierre Poilievre intends to win?
Wellington Street Legal. We're now in the second week of the trial against "Freedom Convoy" organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber who are facing charges that include mischief, counselling others to commit mischief, intimidation and obstructing police. At stake is whether or not Lich and Barber have any criminal liability for the events of Winter 2022 in downtown Ottawa, but this is only the beginning of their legal struggles. We'll talk about the latest from the trial.
A Ward Season. Last month at the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the province's big city mayors were led into talks with the Ontario government by Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, the chair of the OBCM. This was after Premier Doug Ford put her on blast for not being a team player on housing, so Ward joins us this week to talk about recent events, Burlington's challenges on housing, and the recent decision to pause the provincial review of regional governments like Halton.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #312 - September 13, 2023 (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny)

This week on End Credits, we're going back to the well. For the review this week, we're going to catch up on one of the summer hits we missed with the now home video release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. And speaking of sequels, we will celebrate the second entry in a horror movies series by talking about our other favourite horror movie #2s.
This Wednesday, September 13, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Scream Two. This past weekend, The Nun II was number one at the box office. The latest offering in The Conjuring universe of films is just the latest successful horror sequel, which got us thinking about all the other great horror movie number twos (or part twos). The part two can make or break your franchise, so on this week's show we're going to look back at some of our favourite second entries in various scary movie institutions.
REVIEW: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). This summer, Indiana Jones came back to theatres for one last ride, and... things did not go as expected. It wasn't the big hit of summer, not even close, but that doesn't mean we should write off Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Now available on VOD, we will take another look this week at Dial of Destiny and determine where it stands in the pantheon of Indiana Jones movies, and whether there is any place in the modern movie eco-system for an archaeologist/adventurer anymore.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #388 – Book Sale: The Next Chapter

It’s one week till the Big Book Sale, the annual event that the Friends of the Guelph Public Library was created to administer over 15 years ago. It was a fundraising project launched to show that Guelph had an appetite for a new main library building, and after years of banking all the funds raised, the endgame is finally in sight nearly 20 years later. So what happens when the Friends have achieved their goal?
The first book sale was in Old Quebec Street in 2007, almost 20,000 books were sold and it made around $10,000. That's not a bad haul for any fundraiser, but the act itself was as much a statement of intent: a new downtown main library building was going to get built. That was 16 years ago, a bit longer than the Friends might have hoped, but the sale itself grew. By 2019, the last year the sale was held before a two-year pandemic hiatus, $127,000 was raised
A lot's changed in the last few years. Ground was finally broken in the Baker District Redevelopment site back in June, and on Monday, the Friends issued a comically large novelty cheque to Guelph Library staff for $1 million. It probably won’t be the last cheque because the sale's still going but then what happens? What is the role of the Friends of the Guelph Public Library when their 20 year mission is achieved in 2026 when the new downtown main library opens its doors?
That is one of the questions that Anne MacKay, who is an at-large member of the board for the Friends, will have to answer on this week’s podcast. She will give us a brief recap of the Friends’ history, and will talk about the logistics of this year’s sale including why the date was changed from October to September, and what kind of volunteer help they still need. Also, MacKay will discuss why she wanted to be a Friend, and what the Book Sale’s success tells her about Guelph's thirst for literacy and education.
So let's talk about the future of the Friends on this week's Guelph Politicast!
The Big Book Sale will take place from Wednesday September 20 to Sunday September 24 at this year’s sale location at 69 Huron Street. Wednesday is early bird night, which means it will cost you $10 to enter, but the other days are free to enter. To see times, and to get more information about the Book Sale, go to the Friends of the Guelph Public Library website. While you’re there, sign up for the newsletter and learn how to volunteer. 
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 #440 - September 7, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're not back at school but we're still looking for an education. With this episode, we're trying to get smarter about Greenbelt-gate, which had a number of big developments in the last several days, and a new mass protest based on conspiracy theories that has us worried. For the interview this week, we go to Ward 3 where one of the councillors from Guelph's north end will talk about the fall sitting of the horseshoe at City Hall.
This Thursday, September 7, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Are You Afraid of the Clark? Things seem to fall apart pretty quickly for Steve Clark, now the former Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. But despite the damning indictment of the integrity commissioner, and the (delayed) resignation of Clark, Premier Doug Ford has affirmed that his government's decision to sell portions of the Greenbelt stands and will now be reviewed, not withdrawn. How much more punishment can the government take on this file?
The Divides of March. This year, there's been something of an alarming uptick in the number of protests, vandalism and death threats against LGBTQ groups, drag time store hour events, and other places that encourage inclusiveness. Now, it seems like the people driving these incidents are combining their efforts into something called the "1 Million March 4 Children", which will take place on September 20 across Canada. Should we be concerned that we're looking at a new Freedom Convoy?
Fallt Preview. It's not just young people getting back to a routine this week, our city council is getting back to business as usual with a very busy fall slate of meetings that will get really real next week with a meeting entirely dedicated to the housing crisis and social service delivery gaps. This week, we're joined by Ward 3 Councillor Phil Allt who's going to tell us what to expect as council tackles planning matters, the multi-year budget, and the struggle to achieve Indigenous reconciliation, and that just covers the first few weeks of September.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #311 - September 6, 2023 (You Are So Not Inviting to My Bat Mitzvah)

This week on End Credits, we become adults! That's the whole point of a Bat Mitzvah, and that's the whole point of the new Netflix coming-of-age comedy You Are So Not Inviting to My Bat Mitzvah, which has a fun local connection. Speaking of making connections, we will talk about some of the movies we're looking forward to seeing over the next few months.
This Wednesday, September 6, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Fall Movie Preview. As September dawns and festival season begins, we look forward to lots and lots of consequential movies. But wait, there are still strikes going on which means that our well planned fall movie release schedule might get interrupted; we're already lost Dune Part 2!! It's okay though, because there's still a lot of cool stuff that hasn't been moved to 2024 (yet?) and we're going to talk about some of those picks from historical epics to indie darlings!
REVIEW: You Are So Not Inviting to My Bat Mitzvah (2023). Last summer, Guelph was in the middle of Sand-man Fever! Adam Sandler kept turning up at Guelph establishments as he was shooting a movie in nearby Elora, and this is that movie. You Are So Not Inviting to My Bat Mitzvah is not you're typical Sandler fare, but it is a Sandler family affair. It's an adaptation of a YA novel about two young women who's friendship falls apart just as they're about to become adults in the eyes of God. So was this movie funny enough in the eyes of these two reviewers?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #387 – Trade Kraft

This year, Guelph Public Library CEO Steve Kraft is celebrating 40 years as a dedicated employee of the Guelph Library, rising through the proverbial ranks - or is that stacks - from the counter in the children’s library to the chief executive’s office. As Kraft’s library career in Guelph turns 40, the system he runs is turning 150, and as the Guelph Public Library marks its sesquicentennial in 2023 it’s in the middle of very big transitional period.
On June 20, something impossible happened in downtown Guelph: ground was broken on the new main library building. Kraft brought a special prop for the occasion, a shovel owned by WIlliam Tytler when he planted a tree on the grounds of the library to mark his 50 years as a member of the library board in 1931. It was symbolic of Guelph truism that Kraft and Tytler have in common: Those involved in the Guelph Library tend to stay involved. 
Kraft will be leaning on that kind of community commitment for the next few years because there’s still a lot of organizing that needs to be done between now and when the new library opens in 2026. There’s some serious fundraising to do, decisions about new programming to offer and hiring people to bring those programs to life. Also, the library is feeling the issue of homelessness as the building serves as a kind of sanctuary for those with no where else to go.
That's a lot for a library CEO to take on, but we're going to try and cover it all through the lens of Kraft's four decades of experience. He will talk 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 will also talk about the Library's future, from the new building to all the branches, plus he will discuss the demand for library programs, and if there’s anything libraries can’t do.
So let's talk about 40 tears behind the stacks on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about the Guelph Public Library, its programming and locations at its website, or by connecting with them on social media @GuelphLibrary on Facebook, Twitter and Pintrest or at @GuelphPublicLibrary on Instagram and YouTube. The next meeting of the Guelph Public Library Board is Monday September 25 at 6 pm.
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 #439 - August 31, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're getting you ready for Labour Day! No, not the holiday weekend widely considered the last break of the summer, we mean the "fight the power" version where you get out on the streets and fight for workers' rights. We've got work on the mind with labour negotiations for Ontario's teachers, and we've got fighting on the mind with the latest from Ukraine. In terms of a labour fight, we've got someone who's a picket line right now.
This Thursday, August 31, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Bold School. Kids across Ontario go back to school next week, but... For how long?! Well, that's more of a pressing question for elementary, Catholic school and French-language school students because members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation reached a deal with the Ministry of Education to enter arbitration, which was kind of a coup for Stephen Lecce, but left the other unions out in the cold. What does labour look like at Ontario's schools this fall?
Cloak and Wagner. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian private army called the Wagner Group, was killed on a flight outside Moscow last week almost two months to the day he gave up his apparent coup attempt on the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin. Why Prigozhin quit when it looked like he had the momentum is still a mystery, and speaking of a lack of momentum, what happened to the Ukrainian counteroffensive that was supposed to be so effective? We'll have an update.
TVOn Strike! They're not the first workers to go on strike this year, they're not even the first group to go on strike in the last month, but the workers of TVO, Ontario's public broadcaster, have been on the picket line for nearly two weeks now. What do they want? A long delayed pay raise and an end to contract labour that's creating instability in the work force would be a good start. This week, we're joined by Canadian Media Guild president Annick Forest about the stakes of the strike for TVO workers and the stakes more broadly for journalists and public broadcasting in Canada.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.