Guelph Politicast

Open Sources Guelph #404 - December 8, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph. we're coming home for Christmas (at least so far as the news is concerned). We're going to Alberta where there's some interesting new legislation to parse, and then we will catch-up with our old friends in the Green Party who also made some interesting choices. In Guelph though, we're going to sit down with another new city councillor to talk about local issues big and small.
This Thursday, December 8, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Alberta First. Despite the numerous problems they're facing, the first bill brought to the floor by the new(ish) Alberta government was the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act. Premier Danielle Smith says that the bill will give Alberta more control over its own destiny, and almost everyone else thinks it's an undemocratic power grab. Is a potential constitutional crisis a good move six months before an election?
Till You're Old and May... Elizabeth May has been returned to the head of the Green Party of Canada, but this time she has a young sidekick, Jonathan Pedneault. The co-leader arrangement is meant to buttress the charge that the party's looking backwards, especially after all the accusations and missteps during the leadership of Annamie Paul, but here's the real question: Does Canada still need a national Green Party?
Linda-gram. As we continue our journey around the new Guelph City Council table, we come to the new rep from the Quatro! This week, we're joined by Ward 4 City Councillor Linda Busuttil who will talk to us about her transition to council from the school board, transferring her community activism in the west end to her new role, and the big debates she's anticipating when council opens the budget in the new year.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #275 - Wednesday December 7, 2022 (Spirited)

This week on End Credits we're haunted. The spectre of death casts a long shadow on this week's show even as we review another Christmas movie, but since it's the end of the year, we have to start taking stock. So we kick off the show with a remembrance of some of the people who aren't with us anymore, and then we get right into Christmas with a review of Spirited on AppleTV+.
This Wednesday, December 7, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
Death Notes. It's been a year, and December is a time to remember the things that happened during the previous 11 months. But what about the people? Well, to kick off this week's show (which coincidentally includes a review of a movie about ghosts), we will look back at some of the famous and talented people who passed away this year, remember why they were so entertaining and influential, and why we will miss them.
REVIEW: Spirited (2022). You know the story: three ghosts showed a miserable old miser the true spirit of Christmas, but Ebenezer Scrooge wasn't the first person to get the Christmas Carol treatment, and he wasn't the last. Ryan Reynolds plays a professional mudslinger who's lived a life of apathy and selfishness, he's irredeemable, but Will Ferrell's Ghost of Christmas Present accepts the challenge. A Christmas Carol plays out as a musical comedy with a twist, but can this team-up of Reynolds and Ferrell make things merry and bright this holiday?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #351 – The 97 Per Cent Solution

It was about one year ago that Guelph City Council approved a slate of motions to accelerate the City’s shift to net zero and 100 per cent renewable. The meeting was especially notable for the number of young people who came out to delegate about their panic around the climate's future, and their concern that governments are not moving fast enough to act. So where do we sit on this Race to Zero?
The biggest takeaway from a report in June about the Race to Zero initiative was that corporate greenhouse emissions have been reduced from the 2018 baseline, but those corporate emissions only account for three per cent of Guelph’s total emissions. In other words, the City can lead, but it will be up to the people in Guelph to do their part too. But how do we do that?
Per the Environmental and Sustainability report, over 26 per cent of CO2 emissions in Guelph come from transportation. Making a dent in that load will require people driving less and take some of cars off the road, and that's where the City comes in because they could make it easier to take transit with more routes and more frequency while Guelph Transit converts their vehicles to EV. That's one-quarter of Guelph's carbon footprint, but what about the rest?
To answer that question, and others, we're joined by Byan Ho-Yan, the manager of Energy and Climate Change at the City of Guelph. He will talk to us about the limits of what the City can do to affect our climate change goals, and the ways that they can rally the community to take care of the other 97 per cent. He will also talk about the progress made so far, what’s coming up in 2023, and the one thing he wishes everyone knew about the City of Guelph’s fight against climate change.
So let's talking about fighting climate change at the city level on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about the City of Guelph’s energy and climate change plans as well as the 2021 Environmental and Sustainability Report here. It seems appropriate here to remind everyone that Guelph’s ban on select single-use plastics including shopping bags, ring containers, and polystyrene foam containers and cups will be starting on January 1.
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 #403 - December 1, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we catch up with old friends. Dinner with friends has gotten the former U.S. President into trouble again, and being a little too quick with the proverbial hickory stick has made a lot of people in China mad at their president-for-life. Guess we'll just have to make some new friends, and that's what we do this week as we interview another one of Guelph's new councillors.
This Thursday, December 1, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Yeezy Does It. On the weekend, Donald Trump entertained some diner guests at his fake-White House/country club in Florida, rapper Kayne West and his new friend the white supremacist hate monger Nick Fuentes. Naturally, Trump claims to have no idea how West and Fuentes ended up having dinner with him, but how will this further escalate the growing anti-Semitic sentiment in the U.S. and North America?
The Zero Effect. A fire at a residential building in northwest China sparked a string of nation-wide protests not seen in the Xi Jinping era, and likely not seen since the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989. Why? The "COVID Zero" policies that seem to have prevented firefighters from saving lives in the fire because after three years, the policy is as harsh as it ever was. How did China let their COVID fight go so wrong?
Saved By Michele. As we continue our formal introduction to the new Guelph city councillors, we come around to Ward 3 and it's interesting to note that this ward replaced their outgoing female councillor with the one female candidate who was running in the ward? We will also Michele Richardson about those great expectations, the new realities of Bill 23 and what to expect at her first planning meeting next week.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #274 - November 30, 2022 (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery)

This week on End Credits we return to the hole in the donut hole. If you know what that references, then you're going to have a good time as we tackle the new mysteries and intricacies in the Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion. And since we're in the mood for sequels, we will talk about some the sequels we will never see because they never got made in the first place.
This Wednesday, November 30, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
The NeverEnding Stories. In our modern era of non-stop franchises, it's nice to remember that not all stories get a next chapter, even when they should, and even if they go to great pains to set it up. Before we dig into the Knives Out sequel, we will make a list of all the movies that could have, or should have, gotten a sequel including a certain Martin Scorsese crime story and a Guillermo del Toro series about the spawn of Hell.
REVIEW: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022). In 2019,  Rian Johnson followed up his Star Wars adventure with a subversive whodunnit and ended up falling into a whole new franchise. Benoit Blanc, the world famous detective, breaks his pandemic pod to head to a Greek Island with a bunch of rich pricks to solve a mystery, but not the one you think. With a couple of days left in its theatrical run, and a few weeks before it debut on Netflix, we will talk about Glass Onion without tipping off any of the details, spoilers or reveals.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #350 - December 6 Thoughts

Tuesday marks the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, and it's the 33rd anniversary of what’s typically referred to as the Montreal Massacre. In terms of public displays of gender-based violence, it’s yet to be matched, but at least one woman is still killed every six days by an intimate partner. So how far have we come since December 6, 1989?
That stat above was produced in the annual report by Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice & Accountability, who also says that there’s been a 26 per cent increase in the number of women killed since before the pandemic. Why the increase? It’s a lot of the same pressures we’ve all been facing: pandemic stressors, economic uncertainty, and housing affordability. It’s become easier to ask for help, but it’s also become harder to give help.
So as we approach the 33rd anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, many community and advocacy organizations are looking for ways to turn the tide. Many groups are looking at ways to activate the community, and the White Ribbon campaign is focusing on men by asking them to look inward at toxic behaviours normalized in our society. This podcast? We're talking to Cindy McMann, the new public educator for Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis.
McMann joins us to talk about the lessons of the Montreal Massacre, and whether we’ve yet to develop the language to talk about acts of mass gender-based violence. She will also talk about the local factors that make a big difference, and how a perfect storm of issues are putting real pressure on services like Women in Crisis. And finally, McMann will discuss the need to focus on gender-based violence that happens in private, and what everyone, especially men, can do to make a safer world for everyone.
So let's talk about all of our December 6 thoughts on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
You can learn all about Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis and their services at their website. Follow Women in Crisis @gwwic on social media to take part in the “16 Days 16 Voices” campaign. To mark December 6 locally, you can go to the University of Guelph's ceremony at the Adams Atrium in the Thornbrough building at 2:30 pm,  while Women in Crisis will host a vigil at Marianne’s Park at 6:30 pm.
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 #402 - November 24, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're going to play the beautiful game: Amateur political punditry! In that context, we're also going to talk about all the issues around that other game being played on the world stage this week, and we're also going to talk about the national stage and the latest moves at a certain inquiry, plus the local stage with another new city councillor who'll talk about a very big first meeting.
This Thursday, November 24, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
It's All Been Leading to This. It's the last week of testimony for the public inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act, and it's probably the most consequential one. All your favourite cabinet ministers will be testifying - Bill Blair, Marco Mendicino, Dominic LeBlanc, David Lametti, Anita Anand, Omar Alghabra, Chrystia Freeland, and then on Friday, "Mr. Big" himself, Justin Trudeau. We'll talk about the latest developments.
¡FIFA la Revolución! The FIFA world Cup has begun in Qatar, but the first several days have been marked with completely predictable scandals: They promised beer, but there was no beer served. They promised to let up on some of their anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, but a man in a rainbow t-shirt was barred from entering a stadium. Even the ticket app crashed on one point this week. So why are we indulging this thing?
hiCarly! The first real city council meeting happened this week, and it had a some consequential implications about what the City of Guelph can do for the next four year. But it was nothing that council did, it was about the Government of Ontario's Bill 23. This week, we're joined by new Ward 2 Councillor Carly Klassen who will talk about her reaction to the implications of Bill 23 and other council business.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #273 - November 23, 2022 (A Christmas Story Christmas)

This week on End Credits, we get into the holiday spirit! Let us officially begin the celebration of the pre-Christmas (and pre-Black Friday) season with a review of a movie that's a sequel to one of the all-time classic Christmas flcks. We're going to check out A Christmas Story Christmas, but we're also going to make a list, and check it twice, of all the new movies we hope are nice.
This Wednesday, November 23, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
The Must Sees to See. This show marks the start of a one-month countdown to the usual two-week slate of year end shows, including our annual Top 5 lists. There are always a lot of movies to see at the end of the year because that's when a lot of good ones are typically released, so we will spend the first part of this week's show looking forward to the movies we want to see before making those year-end lists, from bio-pics to Oscar-winning (?) comebacks.
REVIEW: A Christmas Story Christmas (2022). In 1983, the Canadian director of Black Christmas went another way with a new movie about the holiday. Based on a book by Jean Shepherd, A Christmas Story followed the lead character's remembrances of a particularly memorable Christmas when he was 9 years old. Forty years later, Peter Billingsley returns to Ralphie in another steaming legacy sequel that dares to capture the magic of a decades-old success (or at least capture the nostalgia). Can a second Story make this holiday bright?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #349 - What’s Next? Part 3: The Candidates

While the 13 members of the new city council will have the next four years to refine their ideas about the issues facing Guelph, it feels like we just forget the people who also ran for office just as soon as the results are called. In 2022, nearly 40 people felt like they had the right stuff to be one of Guelph’s civic leaders, so we’re dedicating this episode to the people that didn’t win.
There’s a lot of commentary about politics as blood sport, and we accept it as just part of the experience of running for office. Is that the way we should be thinking about politics?  Maybe there should be some formal debrief post-election as some candidates might be traumatized by the experience when exposed to the very modern gauntlet of hate and vitriol during an election campaign.
You’re going to hear about that on this week's podcast, and you will hear about how our election system has remained the same even though the demographics of our community has changed remarkably in the last 20 years. Insights will come from mayoral candidate Danny Drew, Ward 1 candidate Chidi Nwene and Ward 2 candidate Morgan Dandie. These three candidates are going to share their election experiences, and you might find them pretty valuable even though they didn’t win.
Our panel will discuss in detail the lessons they learned on the campaign trail, and how the actual experience was different from their best laid plans. We will also talk about the role that money plays in a campaigning, the value of volunteers and support teams, and the pieces of advice they wish they had gotten in the beginning. Finally, they will talk about next moves, what they would tell other people interested in running for office, and whether they might consider running for office again.
So let's talk to the people who ran, but didn't quite make it, on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can follow Chidi Nwene on Twitter @chidex35, you can follow Danny on Instagram @for_a_socialist_guelph, and you follow Morgan on Instagram @morgan.dandie and check out the weekly Breezy Breakfast live on Thursday at 8 pm or on CFRU Mondays at 9 am.
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 #401 - November 17, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph we're going to undermine the show we've put so much time and energy into. All the kids are doing self-destruction these days, whether that's governments failing on climate action, or a certain billionaire failing with business management. We're going to talk about that, and then we'll talk to someone who isn't failing, one of the new Guelph city councillors.
This Thursday, November 17, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Little COP of Horrors. On the same week that the Earth crossed the 8 billion people mark (and just 12 years after we crossed 7 billion), world leaders gathered in Egypt for the annual conference to talk about the current state of the fight against climate change. There was a twist this time with a number of poorer countries demanding that richer ones pay for climate solutions, but is there any reason to expect real action?
Elon with the Wind. The biggest story in media right now involves the world's richest man buying one of the most influential social media platforms and essentially setting fire to it. Musk's exorbitant $44 billion purchase of Twitter resulted in numerous fumbles in his first few weeks of ownership, and some people are questioning whether Twitter will survive the experience. Is there a viable future for Musk?
Caton of the Union. The new city council was sworn in to office this week, and on this 401st episode of the show, we will talk to the new councillor from Guelph's first ward. Erin Caton joins us to talk about her first few days as a city councillor, the orientation experience, and making her agenda a reality. Plus, we will talk about the first piece of serious business for council: a unified City response to the Ontario government's Bill 23.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.