Guelph Politicast

GUELPH POLITICAST #461 - Dispatches From a Quixotic Legislative Quest (feat. Mike Morrice)

When we talk about the affordability crisis, you sometimes hear the term “legislated poverty”, meaning the state of social assistance rates like Ontario Works and ODSP that assure people can never get ahead because the amounts paid never cover all the real costs of daily life. That’s why Mike Morrice decided to act when he was elected to the House of Commons in 2021, but like all great quests, it hasn’t ended up the way he envisioned.
Can one person make a difference? This is the question when you elect anyone, but without a party whip or a legislative agenda, an MP pretty much has to follow their own north star and Kitchener MP Morrice followed his star to a private member’s bill called the Canada Disability Benefit Act. The goal was to offer low-barrier, additional assistance to people with disabilities to help get them out of legislated poverty, but as always happens, reality couldn’t live up to aspirations.
When finished, the act proposed that people with disabilities in Canada will receive *up to* $200 per month once they’ve been approved for the Disability Tax Credit and all the requisite forms have been filled. On top of that, there was even doubt for a while that disabled people would even start getting their $200 this summer because the Treasury Board hadn’t approved the regulations until last week, which wouldn't have happened at all in the event of a snap election.
So how does the man who sponsored the Canada Disability Benefit Act feel now that he’s on the other side? Morrice will talk about that, why he fought so hard for the act, and why, even though it’s watered down, it’s still going to be a game changer for people with disabilities in Canada. He will also talk about the ins and outs working with the government to get the bill done, fighting for key provisions to make the bill better, and the marathon the last few weeks to get the regulations finished before any potential election. 
So let's talk about how the proverbial sausage gets made on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about the Canada Disability Benefit Act on the Government of Canada’s website. You can also check out Mike Morrice’s ongoing advocacy on this and other issues at his website.
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 #508 - March 6, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're coming down from election fever, and maybe get ready to catch it once again...(?) Yes, the time has come for a new Liberal leader to be selected, which is its own drama, but nothing compared to the drama in the White House, which is exactly how its main occupant likes it (and the rest of us hate). For the interview this week, we've got a two-for-one special!
This Thursday, March 6, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Garbage Disp-Oval. There's been no doubt that U.S. President Donald Trump is hostile to continued support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, but even by those standards what happened in the Oval Office last Friday was a disaster. A gathering in the U.K. on the weekend sought to buttress the rest of NATO in supporting Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but the bigger question is whether we can any longer be called the "Leader of the Free World".
Carney of Won? At the end of this weekend, we will know who the new Liberal leader and Prime Minister of Canada will be. The safe money now is on Mark Carney, the former head of the Bank of Canada, and it certainly seems like the Conservative Party sees him as the prime minister in waiting, but what are Carney's chances really, and is Canada's favourite banker primed for an upset this Sunday?
The Green Book. The Green Party of Ontario had one goal in last week's provincial election: Win more seats. That didn't work out, but party members and supporters can't say it was a total loss. For the first time in Open Sources history, we are hosting an entire party caucus from the Ontario legislature - Mike Schreiner and Aislinn Clancy - who will join us to talk about the election results, the lessons learned and what comes next.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #381 - March 5, 2025 (The Monkey)

This week on End Credits, we can't stop doing the monkey! Not the dance, but the movie of the same name that has been winning fans at cinemas all around the country these last couple of weeks. So yes, we're talking about The Monkey, and we're also going to be talking about the life and movies of another Hollywood icon! 
This Wednesday, March 5, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
For Gene. While the circumstances of his passing still has many unanswered questions, there's no doubt that Gene Hackman is one of the greatest actors ever to grace the silver screen. From The French Connection to Unforgiven to The Royal Tenenbaums, Hackman's legacy has been secured, and that's not bad for the guy his classmates at the Pasadena Playhouse called "least likely to succeed". To start this week, we honour Gene.
REVIEW: The Monkey (2025). The Monkey represents a horror trifecta: It's based on a story by Stephen King, produced by James Wan, and directed by Longlegs filmmaker Osgood Perkins. Perkins' success last year with Longlegs established himself as cinematic stylist and he brings all his skills to bear on this story about a cursed toy monkey that brings a swift and terrible death to the people around it. But The Monkey is actually a comedy too, which is not always an easy needle to thread, so has Perkins delivered the blood and gut(buster)s?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #460 - Now What? (feat. Diana Chan McNally)

Although housing and homelessness has been THE issue for the last few years, it feels like they didn’t make a dent in the recently completed provincial election. As the news obsessively tracks the tariff war and Doug Ford’s response to Donald Trump’s latest drama, the struggles of growing unaffordability and homelessness seems to have taken a back seat., So now that the election is over, does anyone in authority still care about these issues?
Back in December, Premier Ford held a media event at Queen’s Park. In the company of several mayors he announced the Ontario Restoring Safety to Parks and Public Spaces Act, a bill that expanded police powers in dealing with encampments and offered stiffer penalties for people who repeatedly break trespass laws and use illegal drugs in public. But just before the election call there was a turnaround, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing said that maybe it wasn't needed after all.
Not wanting to take chances, the Ontario Coalition for the Rights of Homeless People’s tried to rally the political parties to all make the same campaign promise: A clear public commitments against criminalizing homelessness. Three of the four major parties signed up in common cause, but guess which one did not. With a new four-year majority for the Ford government secured there are now a lot of questions about what will happen next on the homelessness file.
There many questions to ask, and this week we're asking  Diana Chan McNally, who is a community and crisis worker in Toronto and co-ordinator of the Ontario Coalition for the Rights of Homeless People. She will talk about her expectations before the election, how issues of poverty got overshadowed by tariffs, and her concerns about another attempt at criminalizing homelessness. She will also discuss what the action plan is now, and why the next fight with the provincial government will be through municipalities.
So let's talk about where we go no on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about The Ontario Coalition for the Rights of Homeless People at their website. You can follow her on social media on Twitter and Blue Sky and you find links to her activism, op-eds and other work at Link Tree. At present there’s no word on when the legislature will return or when and if the government will table the Ontario Restoring Safety to Parks and Public Spaces Act again.
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.

Election Night in Ontario - Februrary 27, 2025

It's four weeks of snow, promises, confusion, and apathy and after the longest shortest month of the calendar, we have finally come to this: Election Day! Now typically on Thursday there's a new episode of Open Sources Guelph, but because Election Day falls on Thursday, we're going to do it later, and we're going to do it live!
Thursday February 27 at 8 pm, the Open Sources and CFRU News teams will go live to talk about the incoming results and immediate analysis as Ontarian choose their government for the next four years. Has Ford fumbled? Did Stiles slip? Will Crombie crush it? Will Schreiner turn his dynamic duo into the fantastic four? All questions will be answered including, why are we doing this again?
For the Open Sources interviews with the Guelph candidates, click on the links below:
Robert Coole, PC Party
Carina Fraser, New Blue
Mike Schreiner, Greens
Cameron Spence, NDP
Mustafa Zuberi, Liberals 
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #380 - February 26, 2025 (The Wild Robot)

This week on End Credits, we're heading back into the wild! Things always get pretty wild when it comes to Oscar-season as one team of PR flacks tries to 86 the other, but things also get wild on an uninhabited island where even robots can enjoy a world without rules! On this show, we're reviewing The Wild Robot and we will talk about the Oscars!
This Wednesday, February 26, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Not An Oscars Ballot. The 97th annual Academy Awards will be given out this Sunday live from Hollywood. Who will win? We'll get to that. Emilia Pérez has the most nominations, but not many fans among cinephiles who would much rather see honours go to Brady Corbet and The Brutalist or Sean Baker and Anora. To start this pre-Oscars show, we will lay out the ones we think will win the show, and the one's that should win.
REVIEW: The Wild Robot (2024). Speaking of the Oscars, the movie we're reviewing this week is nominated for one. The Wild Robot debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, and then it had long legs in theatres even long after it was released on premium VOD. Why? That's what we wanted to find out so this week we check out The Wild Robot, which you can now stream on Prime Video, to see how this Oscar-nominated film hit a nerve and maybe if it will hit our nerves too.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #459 – This Slushy Election (feat. Scotty Hertz)

It’s been four weeks since Doug Ford asked the Lieutenant-Governor to dissolve the legislature and it really hasn’t felt like anything has changed. Now, we will go to the polls on Thursday to decide who will form the provincial government for the next four years and despite all the issues, it feels like it’s still going to be the people who’ve run it for the last seven years. So what have we missed this election?
Early voting last weekend registered a six per cent voter turnout across Ontario. Not great. Accessibility activists have noted that this winter campaign generally, and the last week of wicked weather specifically, have thrown up big barriers to participation for anyone that’s not able bodied, and wasn’t that the point? It sure seems like it was and the impact has been pretty visibly felt: How many election events have you been to?
Out of the campaign trail it’s been rough going. The two likely successors to Doug Ford - Marit Stiles and Bonnie Crombie - have been straining to get attention. The Greens, led by Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner, have been pragmatic: They will not form a government, but they might be able to secure a few extra seats. And as for the big man himself he’s been playing fast and loose with election rules, and going back and forth as candidate and premier. Now, there's 24 hours left till Election Day. What will happen?
Scotty Hertz, co-host every week on Open Sources Guelph, appears today for a pre-game show. We will talk about what six per cent early voter turnout means, the ins and outs of winter campaigning, and why this didn’t end up being a change election. We will also talk about the leaders’ campaign, the various party strategies, and why Ford’s been allowed to slide on all the domestic failures while failing in Washington on trade. Also what questions do we have going into our election night coverage?
So let's get into this election that almost was on this week's Guelph Politicast!
This Thursday, February 27, we will be going live to air for results and analysis starting at 8 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm or cfru.ca. For the interviews with the candidates running in the ridings of Guelph and Welligton-Halton Hills, you can check out previous episodes on this feed. To find where and how to vote this Thursday, go to elections.on.ca to find the polling location nearest you. 
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 #507 - February 20, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we go mega! On this super-sized edition of the show, the last one before Election Day and the episode that opens three days of advanced polling, we will profile the three candidates we haven't covered yet. From the long-time campaigner running for the governing party, to an upstart trying to rebuild a Liberal stronghold, and a new face for a new party!
This Thursday, February 20, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Be Coole. You may not know Robert Coole, but he's been doing politics in Guelph for a long-time as a reliable and seasoned campaigner for local Conservatives, but now, he's in the spotlight as the PC Party candidate in this provincial election. Coole will join us to talk about why Guelph needs a voice in the next PC government, and why he's taking the spotlight after years of playing in politics behind the scenes.
Mustafa: The Liberal Candidate. There are a lot of young people running for the Ontario Liberals, and Mustafa Zuberi is one of them. Pretty well established in local politics thanks to his years running the Young Liberals at the University of Guelph, Zuberi now aims to be the next MPP from this riding and part of a Bonnie Crombie government. He will tell us why the Liberals are ready to run Ontario again.
If the Blue Fits... Just when it looked like there would be no emerging party candidates running in Guelph this election, we get the arrival of Carina Fraser. The author and single mother is running for New Blue, which, as the name implies, is an alternative to the PCs aiming to collect the ones turned off by Doug Ford and not willing to bank on one of the other major parties. Fraser will tells us why you shouldn't sleep on the New Blue.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

WELLINGTON-HALTON HILLS POLITICAST #458 – Runnin' Up That Hilson (feat. Alex Hilson)

According to the latest polls, the governing PCs might be in minority government territory, and the spoiler might be a revitalized Liberal Party. In Wellington-Halton Hills it will be a big climb because while this seat is open, the Liberals finished fourth in a close race for second in 2022. Is there the possibility that without Ted Arnott on the ballot that voters might be willing to take a closer look at the man from Acton?
When he was last elected in 2022, Arnott won more votes than the NDP, Greens, Liberals, and New Blue combined. Incumbency has its advantages, but so does longevity. How many people in Wellington-Halton Hills were voting for Arnott out of sheer habit? For 34 years at the Ontario legislature, Ted Arnott was always there. In fact, for some people living in Halton Hills and some parts of Wellington, Ted Arnott is the only MPP they’ve ever known
Alex Hilson is one of those people. It’s interesting to note that two of the people running to replace Arnott are Halton Hills councillors. Hilson represents Ward 1 in Acton, and has been running a pretty solid social media campaign during this election. He's a people person, as his background working with youth and the Acton BIA might imply, but will the people be willing to take a chance on him as part of a new Liberal dynasty?
Hilson join us to answer that question and more. He will talk about his background, why youth matters right now in Halton Hills politics, and how his experience as a city councillor informed his desire to run for provincial office. We will also talk about the Liberal comeback under Bonnie Crombie, and what the Liberals need to do in order to earn the trust of the electorate again. Plus what issues is Hilson personally concerned about?
So let's talk about a Liberal comeback on this episode of the Wellington-Halton Hills Politicast!
You can learn more about Alex Hilson and his campaign at this website. For the interviews with the candidates running in the riding of Guelph this provincial election, you can check out Open Sources Guelph. Election Days is this Thursday, February 27, and we will be going live to air with the CFRU News Team that night with election results and analysis starting at 8 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm or cfru.ca.
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 #379 - February 19, 2025 (Captain America: Brave New World)

This week on End Credits, we find an America we're glad to call "Captain". Hey, we know that the United States is having its issues right now (and if you don't there's a show for that), but one them isn't finding a new Captain America! This week, we will enter a Brave New World, and we also talk about the fine art of starting over. 
This Wednesday, February 19, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Mike Ashkewe will discuss:
Remake, Reboot and Requel. Although it's not technically a reboot, it's pretty safe to look at Captain America: Brave New World as chance to restart a long-running franchise that's been struggling in recent years. This is not a new trend because Hollywood studios love their franchises, and when the audiences don't respond, that's when they pull out all the stops to get the series back on track. To start, we'll talk about our favourite do-overs!
Captain America: Brave New World (2025). When we last left the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Deadpool and Wolverine met and fought (and fought). But don't expect a lot of in-jokes and jocularity with Captain America: Brave New World, the first featuring Anthony Mackie as the title character, and the first of three new Marvel efforts this year. But this new Cap isn't getting an easy start with threats of war, a conspiracy, and a president with a secret, but can Captain America beat his worst adversary of all: The Critics?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.