Guelph Politicast

Open Sources Guelph #513 - April 10, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we've got bonusing! In our grand effort to cover all the candidates in Guelph and Wellington-Halton Hills North this election, we will be hitting your ears at the above average length of 90 minutes so you can hear from three of the dozen or so candidates running for the two local federal offices, our first interview with a Guelph candidate and two more for Wellington-Halton Hills North!
This Thursday, April 10, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Swack and Field. In their first election, the People's Party secured over a thousand votes in Guelph. In their second election, it was over 3,000 votes, which was nearly 2,100 votes less than the fourth place Green Party. So what about 2025? This time, the PPC flag is being hoisted by Jeffrey Swackhammer, a 23-year-old Guelph resident who, like a lot of young people, has a lot of concerns about housing and affordability, so does he have what it takes to make it rain purple in this election?
Stiles and Substance. It's not easy being Green these days. The Green Party of Canada is struggling to hold on to two seats and fending off a serious challenge to stay relevant in what looks more and more like a two-party race. In Wellington-Halton Hills North, a first time candidate will try to make a case that there's still room in the discourse for an optimistic take on a more environmentally-friendly future, and Liam Stiles will tells us why you should take a closer look at him and the Greens.
Get to the Chopper Pilot! Sean Carscadden has a hard job, and we don't just mean his day job as a Ornge air ambulance pilot. He's asking voters in Wellington-Halton Hills North to send him to Ottawa, to join a Liberal government already in progress, and to fire a well-known, well-liked, and popular Conservative MP to do it. Carscadden believes that a case can be made, and he will tell us why he's just the sort of fresh face and voice that help make voters think that the Liberals are ready for more.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #386 - April 9, 2025 (The Order)

This week on End Credits, we're on stakeout. We're going to go back in time and ride shotgun with FBI agent Jude Law as he takes down the bad guys in the new movie The Order, which might be classified as a political thriller. Say... That would be an interesting topic to tackle at the beginning of this show, so let's do that! 
This Wednesday, April 9, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Things Get Political. What makes a political thriller? Well, it's got to have, at least, some action, there has to be some mystery component, and it was to have a politically-motivated plot or characters. Sometimes there based on actual events, sometimes they're just inspired or are else completely made-up, but they otherwise forego the usual boring lawmaking of politics for something more deadly. We'll talk about some prime examples.
REVIEW: The Order (2025). You may have heard about David Koresh or Timothy McVeigh, but what about Bob Matthews? In the 1980s, he started a terrorist group of White Supremacists who had a specific mission in mind: Bring the racist dystopia novel The Turner Diaries to life! The story of Matthews, and the FBI-led effort to stop him, are now dramatised in The Order featuring two British guys - Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult - in a deadly face-off that still has political resonance, but how does the movie itself resonate?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #465 – How Do You Fill a Council Vacancy?

These are busy days at Politico HQ. There's a federal election on right now, and Guelph has become so big that it's spread over two ridings with so far a dozen candidates vying to be the next Members of Parliament. If one candidate in particular is successful then that means there will be a vacancy on Guelph city council. What happens then?
In the rare event that the City of Guelph has to fill a vacant council seat in the middle of a council term, for whatever the reason, the City Council Vacancy Policy goes into effect. It sets out the options for what the mayor and council should do if the there's an empty seat at the council table, or what a council should do if they suddenly find themselves without a mayor.
This week's episode of the podcast is dedicated to a reading of the City Council Vacancy Policy. Consider it an educational experience, and what can be more essential as we battle misinformation and look to resolve long-running blind spots in our civic awareness because while we love to complain about government many of us don't really know how it works. With this entry of the pod, we will start to aim to change that.  
So let's dig into policy (for a change) on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can read the City Council Vacancy Policy here, and you can check out the list of other City of Guelph policies here. Remember: If you’re interested in hearing interviews with the candidates running in Guelph and Wellington-Halton Hills North (which includes parts of Guelph), tune in on Thursdays on CFRU 93.3 fm or cfru.ca, or download OSG on Monday on this feed.
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 #512 - April 3, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph we begin the difficult juggling act of covering two federal ridings at the same time! This week, we'll start by heading not to Guelph, but the new riding of Wellington-Halton Hills North, which includes South Guelph, where we will hear from two of the candidates hoping that a new riding means new opportunities for any candidate not named "Chong".
This Thursday, April, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Stuck in the Centre With You. Tired of partisan politics? Wishing people could come together and build consensus more? Then you might be interested in what Ian Smith has to say. The Erin-based businessman is one of several people across Canada running for the new Centrist Party of Canada in the hope that people want more than in-fighting and three-word slogans, and this week he will lean on his experience in housing management to talk about why the missing middle in politics might be the Centrists.
A Man of Acton. The last time Andrew Bascombe ran for federal office he was a new transplant to Acton. That was 2019, and six years later he's ready to do what might seem like the impossible on two fronts: Win one for the NDP and beat the long-standing incumbent Michael Chong. Bascombe will join us this week to talk about why this time it's different for both him and Chong, why the NDP have proved their ready to lead, and why no voter should sleep on an Orange Wave at the end of this month.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #385 - April 2, 2025 (Seven Veils)

This week on End Credits, we're hitting the high notes! We know that this show is not necessarily high brow, but this week we're going to the opera with the new Atom Egoyan film Seven Veils. Along with that, we're going to look at the film's star, who's enjoyed a successful and varied career, and talk about all the times she's made an impression. 
This Wednesday, April 2, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
Mandy! This week's movie stars Amanda Seyfried, who is an actress that's been around for nearly 20 years now after her first big screen appearance as one of the titular Mean Girls. Since then she's done drama, she's done action, she's done scary, and she even got an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, but before digging into her new role in Seven Veils, we're going to talk the best of Amanda Seyfried.
Seven Veils (2025). In Atom Egoyan's latest movie, a theatre director is called back to the opera company where she go her start at the request of her former mentor and lover, it was his final wish that she stage a revival of the opera Salome. Egoyan revisits some of his old themes about unhappy families and sexual power, but it's also done through a #MeToo lens and against the background of Egoyan's own production of Salome at the Canadian Opera Company. So there's a lot going on, and we will try and sort it all out!
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #464 – Guelph Politi-Chat (feat. Morgan Dandie)

These are some heady political times. We’ve already made it through one election this year, and we’re now in the midst of another. As we’re going to air, the consumer carbon tax is gone, the major parties are duelling to see who can be the most moderate, and it appears that things like environmental stewardship and compassion are just not affordable. Maybe it’s time to re-calibrate.
Let’s talk about the last few weeks at city council for a moment. This week’s Committee of the Whole meeting tackled the new Private Tree Bylaw and the potential use of the Drill Hall as an art and cultural centre, which the staff report made it clear that these are things we can’t fully afford now. And last week, the Public Space Use Bylaw was amended so there’s definitely message emanating from inside the halls of city hall: We’re now in a time of austerity.
It’s a dirty word that activists don’t like hearing, especially if they’re on the progressive side. Not wanting to get lost in the mishegoss of the federal election happening right now, we're going to re-calibrate and focus on city hall stuff, and regular council observer and a semi-regular council delegate Morgan Dandie is going to help us with that. She’s often been a fly in the ointment at city council on all kinds of issues, so how is she feeling about the current political moment as a council observer?
Morgan Dandie will answer that and other questions as she talks about the state of city council, the state of Mayor Guthrie’s perceived relationship with the other members of council, and how “Gotcha moments” are in the eye of the beholder. She will also talk about whether or not she thinks her delegations have an impact, being open to learning new things, her own successful efforts to improve herself as a speaker and a politician, and what keeps her hopeful as an activist. 
So let's get into some Guelph Politi-Chat on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can follow Morgan Dandie on Instagram. You can see what she said at Committee of the Whole yesterday and get other information about what’s coming up at city council meetings on the City of Guelph’s website. And a programming note: If you’re interested in hearing interviews with the candidates running in Guelph and Wellington-Halton Hills North (which includes parts of Guelph), tune in on Thursdays on CFRU 93.3 fm or cfru.ca, or download OSG on Monday on this feed. 
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 #511 - March 27, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we are so back! Back on the campaign trail that is!! Yes, there's now a full-blown federal election across Canada and to kick things off on this show, we're going to talk about the opening moves by party leaders, the opening faux pas by a provincial leader, and how this election is going to look very different for all the voters in the Royal City no matter what riding they're in (?).
This Thursday, March 27, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
April Election Showers. Wrapping up his first couple of weeks as Prime Minister, Mark Carney decided that he's done everything he needed to do get the party election ready and visited the Governor General to start one. The date is April 28, and the first five days of the campaign have already been action-packed; from questions about conflicts of interest and potential election interference, plus the efficacy of Canada's third-tier political parties. What should we make of Campaign 2025: Week #1?
Ms. Smith Goes to Florida. As we're going to air, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is going to the Sunshine State. Again. Florida is ground zero for the MAGA movement, and Smith has been spending a lot of time there, but it's her recent appearance on a Breitbart podcast that not only has people calling her out for siding so blatantly with Donald Trump, but wounding the Conservative Party's first few days on the campaign trail in the process. So is Smith helping or hindering the Team Canada effort?
Now Twice the Guelph. It may surprise you to learn that depending on where you live in Guelph, you may not actually be in the federal riding of Guelph. Yes, the City of Guelph is now spread between the ridings of Guelph and Wellington-Halton Hills North, so that means you may have an entirely different set of candidates to vote for than your friends and neighbours. To wrap up, we're going to talk about the two Guelph ridings, their candidates, and the political considerations for the voters there.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #384 - March 26, 2025 (Black Bag)

This week on End Credits, we get bad. Cue the Inner Circle music because we're heading back to the Halcyon days of the mid-90s to revisit a couple of bad boys. And then, in the here and now, we're going to talk about people behaving badly in the name of patriotic service with the new spy thriller Black Bag. God save the King and the movie-going audience! 
This Wednesday, March 26, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Bad Boys at 30! Could you have imagined that when Bad Boys came out three decade ago that we'd still be cranking out Bad Boys movies in the 2020s? Probably not. Bad Boys didn't look like a movie that would stand the test of time, another dumb buddy cop action movie, but it launched Will Smith to superstardom, Michael Bay to blank cheque status, and it became a franchise of surprising longevity. Today, we go back to the beginning.
REVIEW: Black Bag (2025). What if Steven Soderbergh took Mr. and Mrs. Smith seriously, but not, like, too seriously...? That kind of seems like the pitch for Black Bag, a spy thriller about married spies played by Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett where a man must determine whether his beloved wife is traitor, or whether it's one of their frenemies in the agency. It's high stakes, but done with the same Soderbergh light touch as his Ocean's 11 movies, so do we black bag Black Bag, or should all of you open the bag and dive in!
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #463 – The End of the CTS, aka: Have a HART (feat. Melissa Kwiatkowski & Jean Hopkins)

In six days, the doors of Guelph’s Consumption and Treatment site will close for the last time. Unless a Charter challenge in an Ontario court succeeds, the Ontario government’s mandate to close a dozen different CTSes and replacement them with new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment, or HART, Hubs. Or at least that was the plan. Either way, what happens on April 1?
It was kind of a surprise last summer when the Ontario government announced that they were closing several consumption and treatment sites. The justification? Safety. Any CTS within 200 metres of a school or daycare has to close down and in their place is a HART Hub, which will provide primary care, mental health services, shelter and transition beds, supportive housing and more.
Looking at the numbers, the success of the Guelph CTS is clear; 41,000 visits, 1,000 referrals to primary care, 44 people per month referred to treatment, 311 drug poisonings reversed - only 12 requiring a follow trip to the hospital - and zero fatalities. While activists and advocates welcome the nearly $400 million in new funding, especially for the housing, but there’s still a lot of concern about what’s going to happen April 1.
To learn more, we're joined this week by Guelph Community Health Centre executive director Melissa Kwiatkowski and Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy manager Jean Hopkins. They will discuss the anxieties and concerns about the pending closure of the CTS, the impact on the services Community Health can offer, and what exactly will change on April 1. They will also discuss what the Guelph HART Hub will offer, how it’s not a replacement for safe consumption services, and how they’re planning on filling the gaps between the two.
Let's talk about these last days for the CTS on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about the CTS at the Community Health website and you can find the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy website here. There will be another drug poisoning and overdose response skills training on Tuesday April 29 at 6:30 pm at Art Not Shame downtown, and you can find direct links to more information about the transition from the CTS to the HART Hub 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 #510 - March 20, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we've got Canadian Tire money to burn. Like Justin Trudeau! Who spent the first day of the first week of the rest of his life pretending he's a normal guy. As for his successor, he was going stuff this week, while south of the border there's this guy that keeps talking smack about Canada, and now he's rounding up people who are using their voices to be critical of foreign powers.
This Thursday, March 20, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Arctic Blast. Nearly wrapping up his first week as the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney did a whirlwind tour of France, the U.K. and Iqaluit where he announced a deal to buy a new radar system from the Australians to insure northern security. Meanwhile in Ottawa, the Conservatives are trying any and every strategy to get something on the new PM as his numbers keep going up and theirs keeps going down. So how is Carney doing after six days?
51st State of Play. Since U.S. President Donald Trump started talk about all this 51st state nonsense, there's been a persistent nagging question: How seriously are we supposed to take all this? While there are some serious implications from things like the tariffs and the trade disputes, what's the endgame here? Does Trump seriously want Canada to be a part of the United States, or is this just more of his patented trolling?
Khalil's Speech. You may not know the name Mahmoud Khalil, but he was one of the organisers of the campus protest at Columbia University last year demonstrating against the War in Gaza. Now he's the canary in the coal mine. Despite his status as a legal immigrant, and his marriage to an American citizen with whom he's expecting a child, he was arrested by government agents and is presently being held in detention with the administration promising more to come. Has the American nightmare arrived?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.