Guelph Politicast

GUELPH POLITICAST #385 - The Year at Council So Far...

In August, there's usually no council business to talk about but there are unusual times so on the same day the annual mid-year council recap goes live we get a super-unusual August council meeting. In this very busy first year of a new council term, perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that council business would burst over the side and flood the vacation months, and it all comes down to a single word: housing.
The housing crisis has been hovering over just about all aspects of City business in the last seven months. Obviously, the biggest piece of this is the so-called housing pledge. As part of Bill 23 passed by the Ontario government, every municipality had to sign a promise to Queen's Park that they will build their share of 1.5 million homes by 2031, and our city council signed their unique version of the pledge way back in February.
Housing would emerge in other ways, like the amended Official Plan amendment that caused controversy at council, or the new Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw that's now waiting to replace the old one that's nearly 30 years old due to over a dozen appeals. That part wasn't in the Strategic Plan, which was also refreshed in 2023 with renewed emphasis on a lot of the City's main objectives, which includes transit, the environment, and yes, housing.
So this week on the podcast, we will cover all the ins and outs of the last seven months at city council and that includes all the issues discussed above plus other matters that have come to council including the first phase of the Heritage Conservation District on the OR Lands, changes to the fare structure for Guelph Transit, the tree canopy, short-term rental licensing, the South End Community Centre, and the rise of pickleball. That's a lot of ground to cover, but we'll do it in about 10,000 words to an hour!
So let's recap the year at council so far on this week's Guelph Politicast!
The special meeting of council to make a decision about the allocation of affordable housing funds to Kindle Communities is tonight. The next official meeting will be Committee of the Whole on Wednesday September 6 at 2 pm, and the agenda for that meeting will be posted next week on the City's 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, 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 #REPEAT - August 10, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we’re taking a break, and it’s the same for next week (or last week depending on when you’re reading this). Yes, the time has come for our usual summer vacation, but we’re not leaving you hanging! As we recharge our senses and collect your thoughts, you will be treated to a long-running tradition in the production of rich media: The rerun. As we cash-in some of our vacation days, you will be entertained by the ghosts of Open Sources’ past.
Barbeque Season. As Doug Ford and other politicians cook up some delicious meats, the scandals are taking a break. For this lazy August, we’re going to take a break too as we wait for the governments to return to their chambers and grill some more controversy, and in the meantime we’re presenting you two different episodes of the show that highlight some of the interesting news we’ve covered lately, and some of the interesting people we’ve talked to. Get outside, have fun, and don’t forget the coleslaw!
*Programming Note: Open Sources Guelph will return with new episodes on Thursday August 17.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #309 - August 9, 2023 (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem)

This week on End Credits, we have Turtle Power! As we enter the proverbial late summer doldrums at the box office, we look for some gold in the form of the new animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. And since summer's best days are behind us, we will peel back the layers and determine what was the best, and yes, what was the worst.
This Wednesday, August 2, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Summer's End. Okay, so it's not technically the end of summer, but then again, September 20 is technically the real last day of summer. Anyway, since we're going on vacation for the next few weeks, we're going to close the book on Summer Movies from 2023 a bit early by giving out the awards: What was the best movie? What movie did the most damage to its franchise? And which Part One had us the most excited about Part Two? Let's find out!
REVIEW: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023). In the 1980s, two indie comic book artists turned a spoof about the growing trend of ultra-violent comics into the basis of a multi-million dollar marketing empire directed mostly at kids. Over six movies and three decades later, the Ninja Turtles are still teens, and they're still chasing that cheese (pizza) now with a new animated movie from producer Seth Rogen. He's enjoyed a lot of success with comic book material lately (Prime's The Boys for example), so can he bring the Turtles back to prominence?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.
*Programming Note: End Credits will be taking the next two weeks off. Repeat episodes will air in the usual Wednesday afternoon time slot with new episodes returning on Wednesday August 30.

GUELPH POLITICAST #Repeat - Counting Down to (Net) Zero

"Hot enough for ya?" A charming conversation starter in summers past, but here in August 2023 it seems more like a damning curse. Last month was the hottest month on the planet in a few hundred millennia, forest fires rage out of control in several provinces, smog from those fires choke cities in the south, and now there's the threat that the Gulf Stream may be gone by 2025. What can we do on the local level in the wake of all these developments?
That was one of the questions we put to Byan Ho-Yan, the manager of Energy and Climate Change at the City of Guelph, when he appeared on the podcast last fall. Fresh off an election, there was a pause for the new council to consider how they might build on the accomplishments of the previous council, a directive to accelerate the City’s shift to net zero and 100 per cent renewable. Ho-Yan is the man who has to make it happen.
Since December, there has been some progress. Council passed the Guelph Greener Homes program earlier this year offering zero-interest loans to residential property owners in Guelph to help cover the costs of residential energy efficiency upgrades. We just initiated an e-scooter pilot program,and we got federal money for new EV chargers and to cover the cost of HVAC upgrades at the West End Rec Centre. Good news, but we need to do more.
Ultimately, the City of Guelph, as a corporation, is only responsible for three per cent of the local carbon footprint, which means it's up to the rest of us to get the other 97 per cent of the way to zero, and that's where we start with Ho-Yan. He will about the limits of what the City can do to affect our climate change goals, and the ways that they can rally the community. Plus, he will talk about the progress made so far, and the one thing he wishes everyone knew about the fight against climate change.
So let’s talking about fighting climate change at the city level (again) on this week’s Guelph Politicast!
You can see the City of Guelph's 2022 Sustainability Report here, and to learn more about how to apply to the Guelph Greener Homes program, you can click here. Programming note: Next week's pod will be the midyear council recap, and then there will be another repeat on August 23 before getting back to our regularly scheduled programming on August 30.
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 #REPEAT - August 3, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we’re taking a break, and it’s the same for next week (or last week depending on when you’re reading this). Yes, the time has come for our usual summer vacation, but we’re not leaving you hanging! As we recharge our senses and collect your thoughts, you will be treated to a long-running tradition in the production of rich media: The rerun. As we cash-in some of our vacation days, you will be entertained by the ghosts of Open Sources’ past.
Barbeque Season. As Doug Ford and other politicians cook up some delicious meats, the scandals are taking a break. For this lazy August, we’re going to take a break too as we wait for the governments to return to their chambers and grill some more controversy, and in the meantime we’re presenting you two different episodes of the show that highlight some of the interesting news we’ve covered lately, and some of the interesting people we’ve talked to. Get outside, have fun, and don’t forget the coleslaw!
*Programming Note: Open Sources Guelph will return with new episodes on Thursday August 17.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #308 - August 2, 2023 (Oppenheimer)

This week on End Credits, we tackle the back half of "Barbenheimer". After rolling with Barbie last week as she travelled from the real world to Barbie word and back again, this week we go into the past with Oppenheimer, which is as real as the real world gets. And if you still have a jones for Oppenheimer adjacent material, we will have some recommendations for you.
This Wednesday, August 2, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
The Day After Oppenheimer. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is a film that covers one of the most famous events in history, and it centres on a man who has both his good and bad qualities. These are the perfect ingredients for a movie, and it's been done in different ways with all sorts of famous historic figures and events, and it's also been done with the invention of the atomic bomb. We'll talk about what to watch after Oppenheimer.
REVIEW: Oppenheimer (2023). He was man plagued by terrible visions, he might have been the first rock star scientist, and without him it's unlikely that the United States would have created the world's first atomic bomb. J. Robert Oppenheimer was a complicated man, and so is the movie that now bares his name. Oppenheimer calls on all of Christopher Nolan's skills as a filmmaker as he tells one man's story spread over multiple timelines and featuring a cast of thousands, but does he overcome his mechanical prowess to find Oppy's humanity?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #384 - The Immortal John Galt

“John Galt, novelist, colonial promoter. Galt was superintendent of the Canada Company, a colonization company created to settle part of Upper Canada. During that time, he founded the town of Guelph (1827); the town of Galt was named after him.” That’s what the Canadian Encyclopedia tells you about Galt, but it doesn’t tell you a lot about who he really was.
A lot of assumptions have been made about Galt, and the popular wisdom for years was that he was a failure as the head of the Canada Company, yet the city he created survives and thrives 200 years later. But what about Galt as a colonizer? It may surprise you to learn that Galt, ever the iconoclast, had some unusual ideas for how settlers and Indigenous people should get along as equals, and it was among the reasons why he was sent back to Scotland two years after founding Guelph.
This week, we're joined by someone who might know Galt better than anyone (in the 21st century). Gil Stelter, a professor emeritus from the history department at the University of Guelph, has dedicated his life's studious endeavours to the man who's name is on the proverbial patent for Guelph. In his career, Stelter has amassed quite a number of insight into the man, his career as a businessman and author, and what his intentions were for Guelph, some of which actually came to pass.
And that’s where we pick things up on this week’s podcast as Stelter gives us a breakdown on who John Galt was, and his notoriety beyond the borders of Guelph. He will also talk about what Galt’s written works tell us about his thinking, how his relationship with John Brant informed his thinking when settling Guelph, and what Galt might think of Guelph now nearly 200 years later. Also, he will talk about how Galt might have been right at home among the celebrity businessmen of modern day.
So let's talk about the John Galt you don't know on this week's Guelph Politicast!
Learning the basics about the life of John Galt is relatively easy, but if you want to follow up on this particular discussion, you can consult Galt’s written works, including The Apostate or Atlantis Destroyed, which you can buy through Vocamus Press. You can also watch Stelter’s presentation to the Guelph Historical Society on Rogers’ YouTube channel. 
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 #436 - July 27, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're a four quadrant success. We're going local, provincial, national and international with the news this week, and this is what we're talking about in no particular order: There's a new map of Guelph and you may not like it in the south end, patronage is back in Ontario, the prime minister hopes that new cabinet faces will solve all his problems, and Florida Man is still being Florida Man.
This Thursday, July 27, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Shuffle My Feathers. Rumour control said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was going to reshuffle his cabinet this week. Probably a good call since at the time of this writing at least three cabinet ministers have announced that they won't be seeking re-election. But between election interference, the Bernardo transfer, transportation problems, the dock strike in B.C., and ongoing problems with housing and affordability, how much can one shuffle solve?
Counsel Culture. It's been a pretty quiet summer for all things Doug Ford, but there's always controversy brewing underneath Queen's Park somewhere. While people are still trying to get to the bottom of the skulduggery around the Greenbelt, and express concerns around the growing privatization of healthcare, Ford decided to whip out a good, old-fashioned patronage scandal by naming Caroline Mulroney a King's Counsel, a position that no one's filled for 40 years. Why Doug?
Indict Club. By the time you're reading this, Donald Trump may have been indicted for a third time and even if he hasn't, it's only a matter of when. And then there's a fourth indictment coming sometime in the near future... So given all this, why is Trump still the frontrunner for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2024? We will look at Trump's mounting legal troubles, and why none of his competitors, including Ron DeSantis, seem unable to catch him.
Map Battle. Last week, the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario released their new maps for Ontario, and there was a surprise for Guelph: We're no longer one riding. Now that's not necessarily a surprise, the maps are unchanged from the proposed maps released last fall, but it now leaves Guelph in a position it's never experienced before, being separated by federal boundaries. Will this have an effect on city business, and why does this make our job harder?
*Programming Note: Open Sources Guelph will be taking the next two weeks off. Repeat episodes will air in the usual Thursday afternoon time slot with new episodes returning on Thursday August 17.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #307 - July 26, 2023 (Barbie)

This week on End Credits, it's a Barbie world, and we are Barbie girls! (So to speak). We had to make the proverbial Sophie's Choice when it comes to "Barbenheimer" and we sided on Barbie. We will have our review of that big summer hit, and speaking of summer hits, we will talk about some of the movie news that has made this summer very interesting indeed. 
This Wednesday, July 26, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Newsy Much? Obviously, the big news of last weekend was "Barbenheimer", the arrival of two of the biggest, most unexpected hits of the year, which opened at the same time. But that's not the only thing that's going on. What about the smash success of the highly dubious Sound of Freedom? And what about the fall of so many major franchises at the box office? And aren't their two big Hollywood strikes happening? We'll cover The News!
REVIEW: Barbie (2023). In a modern age of studio movies where ideas are almost exclusively derived from successful intellectual property, a movie based on Barbie just makes a lot of sense. But a Barbie movie directed by Greta Gerwig, the godmother of mumblecore? That's something weird enough to get excited about! Barbie may be the big hit of summer, but it got there following the least conventional path. Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, the picture perfect Barbie and Ken, we will look at how Barbie became the unlikeliest hit of the year.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #383 - The Housing Guru

As you may know, Ontario has set the goal of building 1.5 million houses by 2031, and Guelph’s share is 18,000, but there’s a difference between setting a goal and having the means to reach it. One of the people that's been trying to promote that idea is a man named Mike Moffatt. You might have heard have him. Certainly everyone concerned about housing in Ontario has!
Dr. Mike Moffatt is the Senior Director of Policy and Innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Business, Economics and Public Policy group at the Ivey Business School at Western University. He was a special presenter at a Guelph city council meeting in February before our city council signed the housing pledge, and offered some interesting insights into the process and the challenges.
Moffatt explained to council that the 1.5 million target for Ontario is about right, but he also wondered if it was a bit on the low side too. He pointed out that Ontario’s never built more than 850,000 homes in a 10-year span. He noted that the issues with housing are multifaceted and multi-level, and that they're issues that the municipality can’t resolve alone no matter how many legislative changes that the Government of Ontario passes.
This is where we pick things up on this week's podcast. Moffatt will talk about whether any municipality will be able to achieve their housing pledge, and whether they’ve been set up to fail. He will also talk about the role of developers in reaching the pledge, and the role of other groups like upper levels of government and post-secondary institutions. And finally, he will discuss why the lack of mobility in the market is a big problem, and how we can address housing needs now.
So let's talk housing with the Housing Guru on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about the work of the Smart Prosperity Institute at their website. You can follow Mike Moffatt on social media at "MikePMoffatt" on Twitter to get insights daily. As for Guelph, you can watch Moffatt’s presentation at the February 28 meeting of city council, and you can follow this link to find the City of Guelph’s story map about housing in the city.
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.