Guelph Politicast

WELLINGTON-HALTON HILLS POLITICAST #455 - Yes She Kent! (feat. Simone Kent)

In some respects, Wellington-Halton Hills is the riding to watch this year because, for the first time in three decades. it’s competitive. Ted Arnott announced that he would not be seeking re-election at the end of the last term, and while the PC Party would like to hold on to this one, opportunity is knocking for the other major parties. Today, Ontario's official opposition will make their case for the riding next door!
Of the four major party candidates in Wellington-Halton Hills, only one of them is not presently a politician with a municipal council. Between those four, there’s also an even split between candidates representing the urban side of the riding, and the more rural parts. Simone Kent is the from the rural side, and she's the one major party candidate who's not presently in a political office, but that's not to say that she doesn't keep busy.
Kent has a unique resume being both a dairy farmer and an education worker. She’s stayed active in organizations like Centre Wellington’s environmental committee and Jersey Ontario, a non-profit association for Jersey cow owners and breeders. Farming, education, the environment, grassroots organizing: that’s about as good as it gets for a resume for an NDP candidate, but what does Kent think of the issues, and what does she want to do as the first MPP in nearly 35 years whose not Ted Arnott?
We will get an answer to that and other questions on this week’s edition of the podcast as Kent talks about why she’s running and being the only major party candidate not already in politics. She will also talk about what an NDP-led Ontario government will do for Ontarians, and what kind of premier Marit Stiles would be. Also, she will discuss, whether Doug Ford has been ignoring Ontario’s farmers, and the issues she wants to put front and centre in these last two weeks of this very truncated campaign.
So let's dig into the NDP case on this edition of the Wellington-Halton Hills Politicast!
You can learn more about the Ontario NDP, their candidates, and their platform at the party's website. We will be cranking out another episode of the Wellington-Halton Hills Politicast this weekend, and, as you’re waiting, keep in mind that advanced voting is on February 20 through 22 and you can find out where to go at elections.on.ca.
NOTE: You will be able to hear interviews with all of the Provincial election candidates running in Guelph every Monday on the podcast version of Open Sources Guelph, and every Thursday at 5 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, Stitcher, 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 #505 - February 5, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're trying to project calm. It was a long weekend as we waited for a certain Florida Man who was inexplicably re-elected as President of the United States to blow up our economy, and we can't even avail ourselves of healthcare because that's in a terrible position in Ontario. So, what can we do to fix this? Our guest this week has some ideas and he wants you to elect him again to put them in action!
This Thursday, February 6, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Trade in Full. It was, as Shakespeare said, a tale of sound and fury signifying nothing. After announcing on Saturday that he would impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, U.S. President Donald Trump relented on Monday afternoon after both countries, essentially, promised to do things that they were already doing. Now, we're under a 30-day reprieve and who knows what happens then, even Donald Trump. So what happens when February ends?
Sick? Oh. So there's an election right now, maybe you heard about it. There's a lot of back-and-forth on the campaign trail about what political parties want to do about healthcare, about we don't want to talk about policy, we want to talk about the extent of the problem. With hospitals under financial pressure, suffering a desperate need for more people and more facilities, and the growing spread of privatisation, we will talk about what healthcare in Ontario looks like and what it needs beyond platitudes.
Still Like Mike? Getting back to the candidates, we will start our interviews with Guelph candidates this week with a familiar face. Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner is the incumbent in Guelph having won the last elections, and it seems to be a foregone conclusion that he will win again. Still, Schreiner says he wants to fight for it, and make sure that Guelphites really want to send him back to Queen's Park, and maybe with some more Green peeps by his side(?). Schreiner will tell us how he intends to make all that happen.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #377 - February 5, 2025 (A Real Pain)

This week on End Credits, we head east, young man. As we continue our cinematic trip through this year's Oscar nominees, we stop in Poland for A Real Pain, which is now easy to stream on Disney+. Before that though, we will stop and consider the calendar. What month is this? Why it's Black History Month, and we will look at some examples of great Black film talent!   
This Wednesday, February 5, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Black History Month Movies. This is our first show for February, so it seems right to spend a portion of it doing the obvious thing and that's pay tribute to Black History Month. So to begin this episode, we're going to choose two films made by two great Black filmmakers and talk about what makes them great and why you should seek them out on streaming. (Both are kind of romantic tales too for there's your Valentine's synergy too!)
REVIEW: A Real Pain (2024). Cousins David and Benji go to Poland to see the country their now-dead grandmother was born, which is the simple plot description of the new film from Jesse Eisenberg. Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin play the cousins, and now they're both nominated for Oscars for their work in this movie.- writing and acting respectively - but what about this movie they're being applauded for? This week, we will travel through Poland with the Pain boys as they get to know their grandma, and each other.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #454 - On Overthrowing "The King" (feat. Jacquie Wells)

ACORN is on the frontline of fighting the housing and affordability crises for low and moderate income people and in Ontario they’ve invested a lot of attention lately on one bad guy, Michael Klein. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he's the so-called "King of Renovictions". Last week the two sides came face-to-face, sort of, at the Landlord Tenant Board, but don't think this is the end of the fight!
On January 21st, Hamilton tenants living at 221 Melvin Avenue went to the LTB for the first of 20 such board hearings around a single respondent who’s bought apartment buildings around the Golden Horseshoe, Michael Klein. Klein’s pattern is clear: He buys a building, issues N13s, people move out of their rent controlled units, and jacks up the rent after some cosmetic change. He's even doing it here in Guelph with three buildings on Brant Avenue. 
At the heart of Klein’s scheme is a misunderstanding on the part of tenants about their rights. An N13 is meant to be used when you need to demolish the rental unit, do extensive repairs or renovations, or convert it into a non-residential use. ACORN argues that this is purposeful, it’s a strategy to take affordable housing and squeeze more profit out of it, which is why they want the LBT to consider all 20 cases as one. It's one way ACORN is taking on what might be its biggest and boldest protest yet! 
Jacquie Wells, who is one of the organizers of Waterloo Region ACORN, will join us this week to talk about who Michael Klein is, how deep the issue with renovictions in Ontario goes, and how many Michael Klein types are out there. She will also talk about the strategies Klein uses to lean on tenants to get them to leave, and the difficulties that  ACORN and other activists have experienced trying to organize against him. And finally, she will discuss what comes next in the fight against renovictions. 
So let's talk about taking down The King on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about ACORN at their website, where you can find their 2024 Michael Kein report. You can also follow ACORN Waterloo Region on Facebook and Instagram. There’s also an article that was published on Guelph Today over the holidays that’s worth reading because it features rare commentary from Klein himself
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 #504 - January 30, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we have to shake off the winter blahs and get into election mode! Doug Ford has called a snap election in Ontario for incredibly specious reasons, and we will get into that, and we will also get into an election issue that we should be talking about with a special guest expert on the subject. In other news, the federal Liberals are still trying to find a new leader.
This Thursday, January 30, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
The Winter Soldier On. He needs a mandate. That's what Doug Ford has been saying all week and on Tuesday he visited the Lieutenant-Governor to dissolve the legislature 16 months early to hold a snap election in February. Now, instead of legislating the myriad of crises that already exists and are under his control, Ford is running to get a *mandate* to stand up against Donald Trump, which is a federal area of responsibility. At least the opposition parties have their sh*t together, right...? Are we doomed?
The Magnificent Seven Six. The slate of leadership candidates for the federal Liberal leadership is now set, and there are six people vying for the role of Justin Trudeau's successor. As it stands today, it looks like former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has the inside track, but you can't discount Chrystia Freehand yet. Also, there may be deeper controversies afoot as Chandra Arya was left out of the race for damning and mysterious reason. We'll catch up with the Grit rehabilitation efforts.
Great Barrier Beef. Would it surprise you to learn that January 1, 2025 was the deadline to make Ontario barrier-free? It didn't surprise David Lepofsky, or anyone that works with his group, the AODA Alliance. It was the Alliance who pushed the Ontario government in 2005 to pass a bill to make Ontario a fully accessible place by now, and it's the Alliance who wants you to be aware that they failed. This week, Lepofsjy joins us to talk about why accessibility needs to be an election issue and how you can help make it one.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #376 - January 29, 2025 (Nightbitch)

This week on End Credits, we get wild! We will shine a light on a movie that seems to have missed most people's radar and it's all about embracing your inner animal, and other stuff. We're going to talk about Nightbitch, which you can stream now on Disney+ of all places, and we're also going to hit the metaphorical slopes out west and chat about a famous film festival.
This Wednesday, January 22, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
Sundance Hall of Fame. It's the biggest independent film festival in the world, which may be an oxymoron, but there's now doubt that for nearly 50 years, the Sundance Film Festival in Party City, Utah has been very important in finding and promoting major new films and filmmakers. With the 2025 festival now underway, we will talk about some of the all-time Sundance films across three different categories, and why they're so synonymous with the festival.
REVIEW: Nightbitch (2024). What if a stay-at-home mother became so frustrated with her domesticity that she turned into a dog at night? This is the ludicrous premise of Nightbitch, the novel-turned-film that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall and yada, yada, yada, now you can stream it on Disney+. The film does have a silly premise, but it's trying to get at something real with Amy Adams playing a harried Mother trying to reckon with her life as a mom and her life as woman. We'll talk about why you shouldn't sleep on Nightbitch.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #453 – The Changing Food Bank (feat. Carolyn McLeod-McCarthy)

It’s hard to think of any aid agency busier these days than the Guelph Food Bank these days, and to prove it, they went to city council last November during budget delegation night to ask for help. It might come as a surprise to learn that the Food Bank has never received any government funding, but it's proof that food insecurity is now outside their control, and it’s the reason for changes that they’ve started to undertake.
According to Feed Ontario, over one million people accessed a food bank in Ontario between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, which is an increase of 25 per cent over the year before and an 86 per cent increase since 2019-2020, the last year before the pandemic. To put that in context, one out of every 16 people in Ontario have been to a food bank lately, and if you think Guelph has escaped this deluge you would be wrong.
That’s why the Guelph Food Bank went to city council last fall. With 4,000 individuals using the Food Bank each month, which is more than double since before the pandemic,  the Food Bank needs government help for the first time. Its main location at 100 Crimea Street will now serve as a kind of distribution centre from where the food will flow to 10 satellite locations around the city. The Food Bank is adapting, and while they can’t do it alone, they do have a plan
Carolyn McLeod-McCarthy, Managing Director of the Guelph Food Bank, will join us this week to talk about that plan, and the pressures that they’ve been dealing with over the last few years that are unique to them. She will also talk about working with food pantries, co-ordinating with all local groups to fight food insecurity and going to city council to ask for financial help for the first time. And finally, she will talk about what the fight against food insecurity might look like in a few years. 
So let's dig into the changes at the Food Bank on this week's Guelph Politicast!
To learn more about the Guelph Food Bank, what services they provide, how you can volunteer, or how you can donate, you can visit the Food Bank website. You can also call the Food Bank at 519-767-1380 during their office hours, which is Monday through Friday 9 am to 5 pm. You can also follow them on the socials @guelphfoodback on Facebook and Instagram.
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 #503 - January 23, 2025

This week on Open Sources Guelph we're trying to avoid talking about You-Know-Who, but it's so very hard! Instead, we will talk around him by looking at at the Liberals who want to match wits with the new regime in Washington and their first major geopolitical challenge in the Middle East. In the interview, we're going to talk to one of the people that wants to be a part of the next government no matter who leads it!
This Thursday, January 23, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
The Libs of This Rock. It looks like the line-up of candidates for the Liberal leadership race is set, and while former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney seems to be the proverbial frontrunner, there's a fairly diverse line-up in the offing including Chrystia Freehand, Karina Gould, Jaime Battiste, and Chandra Arya. Still, do any of these contenders have what it takes to not only lead the Liberals, but lead them to something that isn't a complete decimation in the next federal election?
Ceasefire. After nearly 500 days, the guns have finally stopped in Gaza. A ceasefire is now in effect in the region and a plan is in place for Hamas to release all the remaining hostages that have been in their custody since October 7, 2023. Still, it's not clear sailing from here as there's some doubt about the Israeli government's commitment to long-term peace and now all eyes are on the West Bank where violence is still a daily occurrence. Is there any real reason for hope that we're at the end of the war?
The Doctor Is In! It seems like the 2025 federal election is on pause until the Liberal Party sorts out its issues, but that doesn't mean the other parties are taking it easy. This week, we will be joined by Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik, a local physician who is now making the jump to politics as the Federal Green candidate for Guelph. Zajdlik will tell us why she wants to be MP, why she wants to fight for better environmental stewardship and why she thinks the Greens can overcome the long odds this election!
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #375 - January 22, 2025 (The Last Showgirl)

This week on End Credits there's a blast from the past and a sign of the times. Our movie today is a timeless story about someone who feels like the world has passed them by, and it features someone you might have forgotten. We will be checking out Pamela Anderson's return in The Last Showgirl and we will be saying goodbye to a real cinematic original! 
This Wednesday, January 22, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
David Lynch. Last week came the bad news that David Lynch passed away, a director so iconoclastic that an entire enigmatic style was named after him. You can't describe what makes a film "Lynchian" but you know it when you see it, and you've definitely seen it whether you know it or not. So to begin this week, we will say a very fond farewell to Lynch by talking about some of his finest works, at least of the feature film variety.
REVIEW: The Last Showgirl (2024). Oscar hopeful Pamela Anderson?! This is the movie that may actually make it happen. Anderson was an icon of the 90s thanks to her starring role in Baywatch and her status as a sex symbol, but you haven't heard from her lately. That all has changed with The Last Showgirl, a movie by a Coppola no less (Francis Ford's granddaughter Gia), which follows the last days of an old fashioned nude revue in Las Vegas and the lost souls who perform it every night. Might The Last Showgirl usher in Anderson, the Oscar nominee?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #452 – New Year, New CAO (feat. Tara Baker)

The CAO position is the highest ranking official in local government that doesn’t have the job title of either mayor or city councillor, and it’s the only staff position at city hall that’s hired by a committee made up of the mayor and councillors. So yes, it’s a pretty important job, and it’s not like there’s any shortage of issues or needs for the new woman in charge as she enters her first full year in charge.
It was about this time last year that Scott Stewart announced that he would be retiring by the summer. Stewart had been the CAO for five years, and they were probably the most challenging five years any CAO has experienced in the history of Guelph. (Well, so far.) He got a lot done, but there also ended up being a lot of work for Tara Baker to do once she picked up the baton in mid-September. Fortunately, she had something of a head start. 
Before becoming the CAO, Baker had spent 13 years at Guelph city hall, including the last eight as the City Treasurer and the General Manager of Finance. If the emphasis is to be put on affordability now, as it was with the last budget she worked on as Treasurer, it puts even more pressure on Baker as she's managing all the spinning plates in her new office. On this edition of the podcast, she will tell us what comes next. 
Yes, Baker joins us this week to talk about why she wanted to be the CAO, why she thinks she stood out from the other applicants and the changing role of the CAO position after the introduction of Strong Mayor Powers. She will also talk about the search for a new City Treasurer, and the greater emphasis on affordability when it comes to City business. Also, she will discuss the changes she’s making to the job, and what she wants her legacy to be when it becomes her turn to retire from the role.
So let's get the 4-1-1 on the new CAO on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can see Baker's plan for goals and objectives for the coming year as part of the council agenda package for the January 28 meeting here, and you can just learn more generally about the CAO office here. And speaking of podcasts, you can check out Baker’s appearance on Breezy Breakfast from last October and you can find that pod on whatever platform you listen to his one on.
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.