Guelph Politicast

Open Sources Guelph #435 - July 20, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we don't do summer fun, we do serious issues. One the one hand, there's a refugee crisis in Toronto that no one has an explanation for, and on the other hand you have a presidential candidate saying crazy things, and you can't call him a Republican this time. We're serious on local news too, and one of our friends from city council is stopping by to lend a first-person view on big issues facing our city hall right now.
This Thursday, July 13, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Gimme Shelter. It's not an usual site to see people experiencing homelessness on the streets of Toronto, but it is kind of weird when all of those people are 1) concentrated in front of one shelter, and b) are actually asylum seekers who were referred to that one shelter to get help. What the hell went wrong? That's a question that a lot of people want answers to as the blame game between the various levels of government has given way to some temporary solutions, but what about permanent ones?
Bobby Pinhead. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a famous name, and it's probably for that reason alone that this man has been allowed to get away with vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy theories for this long. But he stepped in it this weekend when he was caught on tape suggesting that COVID-19 was designed to infect White and Black people and not Chinese or Jewish people. Even his sibling couldn't ignore his blatant flirtation with anti-Semitism, so is this end of RFK Jr's White House run?
Yes We Ken. Guelph City Council is about to wrap up for the rest of the summer, but you'd have a hard time arguing that anyone at 1 Carden Street is slacking off right now. There was a double-header at council last week, there was a double-header at council this week, and there's a lot of unfinished business from Committee of the Whole to deal with next week. To help us sort all that out today is Ward 6 Councillor Ken Yee Chew, who will tell us about progress on housing and other issues before the horseshoe.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #306 - July 19, 2023 (The Blackening)

This week on End Credits, we're doing a little extension of Black History Month into July. It's also time again for some horror talk, which maybe makes this a little like Halloween Summer. Whatever the occasion, we will review the new film The Blackening, and in its spirit we will talk about some notable Black characters in horror movies who are winning even if they may not survive.
This Wednesday, July 19, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
Character Study. As you will see in this week's movie, it's not easy being Black and being in a horror movie. There's a certain trope about the fate of all Black characters in horror movies, especially if there's only one Black character, and while there's a certain truth to that, we couldn't help but wonder about where the tropes get it wrong. This week, we'll look at great Black characters from horror movies, some of whom don't die first, or even at all!
REVIEW: The Blackening (2023). What started as a short film from the comedy troupe 3Peat is now a full length feature film. Inspired by movies like Get Out, Antebellum, and other elevated horror movies with a social message, the makers of The Blackening ask the most pointed question: If the Black character always dies first, then who dies first when the whole cast is Black? The Blackening wants to lampshade a lot of the tropes we've come to know and love from the horror genre, but does it hit just as hard if you're more of a casual horror fan (or not at all)?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #382 - સમાચાર (The News)

Dhwani, which in the Gujarati-language means "The Voice" or "The Sound", launched back in March and it immediately tested a few assumptions. Could you successfully start a newspaper in the year 2023? Is there an audience for a community paper that’s specifically pitched to an ethnic community? It turns out the answer to both questions is "yes", but how big can it get?
It’s been over a decade since someone tried to start a newspaper in Guelph. There have been calls, especially at the time of the Guelph Mercury’s closing in 2016, but there was a fundamental understanding that no one could start a newspaper in this digital era. But what if that paper wasn't written in English? Guelph is a growing community that's also becoming a more diverse community, but it's hard to reach people and get them involved if you’re not speaking their language.
The City of Guelph’s communications department is trying to make those changes, but helping people get informed about community happenings is one of the reasons that the news media exists. This was also a thought that Hitesh Jagad had last year when he was running for city council, and the co-proprietor of  Kirtida's Kitchen decided that the time was right for an idea he had been cooking for several years now: There are people in Guelph who need news that literally speaks to them.
That’s just the beginning of the journey on this week’s podcast as Jagad tells us about why he started Dhwani, and why he wanted it to be a physical newspaper first. He will also tell you about how Dhwani works, what his future expansion plans are, and why Google Translate is just not the same as someone writing in another language. And finally, he will discuss when you might see reporters working for Dhwani, and why you need to always to make time for the community.
So let's talk about the news, or સમાચાર, on this week's Guelph Politicast!
If you speak the language, you can find a copy of Dhwani at over 30 locations between Guelph, Waterloo Region, Brantford, Hamilton and the GTA, and you can find a digital copy here. If you don’t read Gujarati, you can always visit Kirtida's Kitchen on Eramosa Road at Metcalfe, and you can follow Jagad on social media on Twitter 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, 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.
Photo Courtesy of Hitesh Jagad/Kirtida's Kitchen.

Open Sources Guelph #434 - July 13, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph, things get awkward. It's hard enough to criticize your political enemies, but what happens when you criticize your friends and then you have to fly off to Europe and see them face to face? That's one question this week, and another question is how concerned we should be about a mosquito-borne disease that's making a local-ish comeback? In the second half of the show, we will hear from the woman who hopes to hold on to a nearby riding for team orange.
This Thursday, July 13, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Cluster F**k Up? Last week, the United States announced that it was making cluster munitions available to Ukraine for deployment on the frontlines with Russia, which offered a rare moment of disunity among the united front of NATO. Canada was among the countries that called out the U.S. for the move, but everything seemed hunky dory in Lithuania when the full complement of NATO met to welcome Sweden to the team and affirm their dedication to defeating Russia. So what's next?
Malaria Code. It's a mosquito-borne infectious disease that usually causes fever, fatigue, vomiting, and headaches, but can also cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or even death. Malaria is still a problem in many parts of the world, but it was eliminated from the United States in 1951. It's back now with new cases in Florida and Texas, but while it's only a handful of patients, it's gotten some doctors worried about an underappreciated aspect of climate change. How worried should we be?
It Can Chapman to You! There are a couple of Ontario by-elections happening at the end of the month, but one of them isn't in Kitchener Centre. That doesn't mean that there's not any election action happening up the road, and to prove that we're joined this week by Debbie Chapman, current city councillor and now NDP candidate. Chapman will tell us why she hopes to succeed fellow NDP politician Laura Mae Lindo, how it feels to face off against fellow City Councillor Aislinn Clancy, and why she wants to trade the council table for a bench in the Ontario Legislature.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #305 - July 12, 2023 (Master Gardener)

This week on End Credits, we have reason to be happy and we have reason to be sad. On the happy side, we will talk about some of our favourite movies from this year, which is going to be fun. As for the sad, Paul Schrader is back with another movie, so you know what time it is. This week, we're reviewing Master Gardener, which may yet be one of the best movies of 2023!
This Wednesday, July 12, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Simply the Best (of 2023 So Far). We're more than halfway through 2023 so that means the time has come to take stock of what's been released so far and pan for those gold nuggets. This year represents the closest we've been to a normal movie release schedule since the start of the pandemic, so there are a lot of expectations. From a true Canadian tech story, to a documentary about a true Canadian icon, we will talk about the best so far!
REVIEW: Master Gardener (2023). The latest entry is Paul Schrader's "Sad Man" trilogy, or "Man Sitting at a Table" trilogy, is about a gardener at a massive Southern estate. Like Pastor Ernst Toller in First Reformed, and William Tell in The Card Counter, Narvel Roth is a man with a dark past desperately trying to live a life of quiet contemplation as he desperately tries to avoid his own memories. And then a stranger comes along. Joel Edgerton is the sad man this time, and if you're familiar with Schrader's recent work this will definitely seem familiar, but how does it work for us now?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #381 - G2G Trail Fail

There’s been a lot of discussion around the council table lately about the future of cycling in Guelph and whether or not staff and council are serious enough about taking on the challenge, and some of that debate centred around the G2G Trail. While the trail is 99 per cent complete, the one per cent of the portion that’s incomplete is exclusive in that second “G” in the trail’s name, Guelph.
The 132-kilometre trail runs a course from Downtown Guelph to the shores of Lake Huron and passing through Blyth, Milverton, Milbank and Elmira along the way. It follows old rail lines, which is appealing for people looking to enjoy a nice relaxing ride because it’s mostly flat the whole way, and it’s also appealing for more than just a nice steady bike ride. At least until you get to Guelph. 
If you access the trail map you will note that much of the Guelph end of the connection is coloured in a dark yellow when the vast majority of the rest of the trail is coloured green. This is why three different cycling advocates last week came to city council and used the presentation of the Future Guelph Strategic Plan to push for the completion of the Guelph end of the trail. Why is it so hard to invest a couple of million dollars and complete the last three kilometres of a potential tourism draw to the area?
To talk about that we're joined by Lorenz Calcagno who is the treasurer of Guelph Cycling Club, president of the Guelph Off-Road Bicycling Association, and a spokesperson for the Guelph portion of the G2G Rail Trail. He will tell us about the history of the G2G Rail Trail, and why it’s so appealing to recreational cyclists and the local tourism picture. He will also talk about the problems with the Guelph end, and why it's been so hard to make progress to finish those last three kilometres.
So let's fig into the G2G enigma on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about the Guelph-to-Goderich (G2G) Rail Trail at their website,  including the complete map of all 132 kilometres and ways you can get involved as a volunteer. You can also find them on social media at @g2grailtrail at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, plus @g2grailtrail84 on YouTube. 
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 #433 - July 6, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph, the weather is hot, and so are the topics! It's an all news show this week as we look to some international news that happened in own backyard, and some international news that happened in France but has a very familiar tone to it. In news from across Canada, we'll talk about the problem with News Brunswick, or its premier at least, and why your favourite leader of His Majesty's loyal opposition is changing things up, for the better(?).
This Thursday, July 6, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss
Attack on Gender Studies. News about last Thursday's assault in a philosophy class where three people were stabbed - a professor and two students - was all the more frightening because it happened so close to home, up the road at the University of Waterloo. As people try to understand the violence and the reasons for it, others are concerned about the security failures on campus and whether this is just an isolated incident. We'll try and make sense of the senseless.
Pain and Blaine. New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has been fighting public blowback, including some blowback inside his own cabinet, about changes to Policy 713, which is legislation meant to protect LGBTQ+ students in schools, but has now been perverted into something that could now potentially put them at risk. To many, Higgs is making a cynical political calculation to tact to the far-right and galvanize the anti-queer sentiment, but might he lose his job in the process?
Mid-Plight in Paris. Just months after civil unrest around the increase in retirement age, people are taking to the streets of French cities to protest an instance of police brutality, a 17-year-old kid who was shot dead by police. There are shades of similar killings here in North America, but the clashes in Paris have been occasionally more brutal, and the family of Paris' mayor were nearly victims themselves. Can France make it through their Black Lives Matter moment?
A Pierre to Remember? Something's changed about Pierre Poilievre. He's lost those nerdy glasses and the stuffy suit for something more relaxed, laid back, and dare we day, Trudeau-esque? Just in time for the summer barbeque season, there's a new Pierre on the block, but is it enough to make people forget the old Pierre, the one that spend most of the long weekend attacking Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra for talking about his sneakers in a CBC article?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #304 - July 5, 2023 (Asteroid City)

This week on End Credits, we're going to a place called Asteroid City, which is not an asteroid and it's not a city. It's also not a real place, but it does look like a lovely vacation spot, or a good place to kill a couple of hours in an air conditioned movie theatre. We will make those determinations, and we will also wrap up our Indiana Jones re-watch.
This Wednesday, June 28, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Run the Series: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We wrap up our Indiana Jones re-watch with the most controversial entry (yet?). Nearly 20 years after The Last Crusade, the clouds parted and all parties were able to get on the same page for a long-awaited fourth entry, but it didn't go according to plan. Remember, "nuke the fridge"? Remember Shia LaBeouf in Marlon Brando cosplay? Well, maybe it's not as bad as you remember it. We'll find out.
REVIEW: Asteroid City (2023). This is a Wes Anderson movie so you've got to expect a couple of things: a large cast of Hollywood stars, numerous members of the Anderson rep company, an Alexandre Desplat score, highly complex and methodical mise-en-scène, and a health dose of nostalgia. Anderson's brand is so recognizable that there's a cottage industry of A.I.-generated spoofs, but you can't beat the original and even Anderson seems aware that he needs to shake things up get ahead of the wags with Asteroid City. Does it work though?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #380 - Cops and Stoppers

For decades, Crime Stoppers has offered itself as a kind of investigative middleman: If you didn’t want to go to the police yourself for whatever reason, you could leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers and they would pass it along. Our local Crime Stoppers is admittedly pretty successful at what they do, and they have the awards and statistics to prove it, but what's their role 35 years from where they started?
When Crime Stoppers began in the 1970s it was radical in a number of ways. They would offer awards for information about crimes in the area, and they could also offer anonymity for the people leaving the tips if the tipster was worried about becoming a target for retaliation by sharing information. Another unique feature of the program was those TV recreations, which brought the crime to life to jog the memories of potential witnesses.
Here in Guelph and Wellington County, our Crime Stoppers branch was incorporated in 1988 and in the last 35 years it has collected over 23,000 tips which has led to 1,600 arrests for over 4,500 charges. In recent years, Crime Stoppers has extended themselves to make people more knowledgeable about crimes before they happen, like fraud and human trafficking, and like all the work Crime Stoppers does, it's paid for through their own fundraising efforts, not through the police budget.
This week, we're joined by one of two staff members at Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington, program co-ordinator Sarah Bowers-Peter. She will tell us about how she got involved with Crime Stoppers, and how the organization has changed over the years. She will also talk about how Crime Stoppers works with groups beyond the police, and how they’ve been affected by the changing media landscape. Also, she will discuss Crime Stoppers expansion into other types of programming.
So let's take a bit out of crime (sorry, wrong program) on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about Crime Stoppers at their website, and that’s where you can find the details about the Crime of the Week, and details about various Crime Stoppers programs like Crime Stoppers 101 and Human Trafficking. To make an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers call  1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or email at info [at] csgw.tips.
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.
Photo courtesy of Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington.

Open Sources Guelph #432 - June 29, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're not phoning it in before the long weekend. There are some very serious issues that we need to shed a light on, including that was-it-a-coup-attempt in Russia last weekend that might have changed the game. And speaking of changing the game, is Canada about to be serviced by one big newspaper company? What about the fate of local news? In the back half of the show, nothing major, just the state of our emergency rooms in Canada.
This Thursday, June 29, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
The Man Who Coup Too Much. Over the weekend, the mercenary Wagner Group marched across Russia towards Moscow in what looked like the opening moves of a coup d'état and then, just as swiftly as it began, Wagner's leader (and former hot dog peddler) Yevgeny Prigozhin decided to call the whole thing off. So what happened? Are we really supposed to believe that Vladimir Putin's favourite puppet Aleksandr Lukashenko brokered a deal? And what happens next on the frontlines in Ukraine?
Stop Local. A little more than a week after they cut 1,300 jobs and shuttered bureaus around the world, Bell Media sent a letter to the CRTC asking them to review the requirement to have their local TV stations produce local news. These requirements have existed since the dawn of commercial television, but now Bell thinks that local news is a lemon that they want to get rid of. Following Bill C-18, and the announcement that the Toronto Star maybe merging with Postmedia, can anything save local news?
The Old Department. It's been one of the worst kept secrets that emergency departments at Canada's hospitals are in trouble. COVID-19 turbo charged the issues they were facing, and in a post-COVID world, hospitals are dealing with staff burnout coupled with constant high levels of activity that fall outside the normal patterns. Then, last week, Dr. Catherine Varner wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that not only are the problems in Canada's E.R.'s persistent, they're going to continue for the foreseeable future. She's going to tell is all about why.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.