Guelph Politicast

Open Sources Guelph #385 - July 14, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're throwing ourselves out of the party. It's a busy week for Conservative leadership drama between recent developments here in Canada, and on the other side of the pond in the United Kingdom. In between all this drama, we will talk about the challenges facing our healthcare system, and that thing that happened last Friday, which reminded everyone that we're much more connected online than we think...
This Thursday, July 14, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Rogers Rabbited. It's hard to find anyone that wasn't touched by the nation-wide Rogers service outage, even if you weren't a Rogers customer. So what now? Rogers' proposed merger with Shaw seems less likely to happen now, but despite that, we still live in a country where three companies control 90 per cent of the access points to the internet for some of the most expensive prices in the free world. Will the Rogers outage finally prompt the Federal government to step in and break the monopoly?
Falling Brown. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown was supposed to be the Red Tory hope for a future free of the populist impulse control of Pierre Poilievre, but those hopes were dashed when some creative accounting resulted in Brown getting bounced from the race last week. Brown thinks he can make a comeback, but even in his safe space inside Brampton City Hall the knives are out over spending scandals and the inability to fill a vacant council seat, so is this officially the end of Brown's comeback?
Care Game. Canada's first ministers met in British Columbia this week and they all agreed that the nation's healthcare system is on the brink of collapse. We see it all around our area, from the line-up of ambulances at Guelph General Hospital to this weekend's overnight closure of the ER in Mount Forest, it's clear that there are some very big challenges in healthcare, but what there's not is anything resembling an innovative solution. What will it take to break the healthcare log jam?
Hard Core Bojo. He finally did it! Boris Johnson finally generated a scandal so big that his caucus had to force him out as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It would be wrong to say that Johnson is out because of the Pincher affair alone, but rather it's the cumulative effect of numerous scandals from "party-gate" to the fumbling of the post-Brexit plan, and after months of trying, Johnson is now finally almost gone. Good job! But where does the U.K.'s venerable Tory party go from here?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #256 - July 13, 2022 (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent)

This week on End Credits, we will summon our shamanic instincts to better understand our movie of the week. That's a joke from The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, a new movie where Nic Cage plays Nic Cage in a Nic Cage movie inside a Nic Cage movie. If that isn't confusing enough, we will spend the other part of the show talking about other Nic Cage movies.
This Wednesday, July 13, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Cage Match. This week's movie review deals with Nicolas Cage, his career, his well-documented ticks and his out-sized persona. True, while Cage is genuine Hollywood character, he's also a genuinely gifted actor with a long and varied 40-year resume in the film business. Before getting into his new movie, we will talk about some of our favourite Cage roles including vampire yuppies, corrupt cops, and a neurotic screenwriter plus his twin brother.
REVIEW: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022). What if actor Nicolas Cage was out just living his life and a full-on Nicolas Cage action movie decided to break out? That's the conceit of this movie with an unnecessary long title: Nicolas Cage, frustrated with acting and deeply in debt, is forced to take a gig appearing at some Spanish billionaire's birthday party. That's where the fun begins. Cage teams up with The Mandelorian Pedro Pascal as they find themselves in the next, great Nic Cage movie but with real (?) bullets. Does it work though?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #332 - Rookies No More!

While every city council term brings its own unique challenges, it’s safe to say that no one's seen challenges quite as unique as the ones experienced over the last two-and-a-half years. As we head into summer break for council, and as we head toward the final month of nominations to run in the October 24 municipal election, we're sitting down with Guelph’s newest city councillors to talk about their experiences.
The Strategic Plan, the Community Plan, COVID-19, homelessness, mental health and addiction, the South End Community Centre, the Baker Street Redevelopment, the new main library, multi-year budgeting, the ward boundary and council compensation review, the comprehensive zoning bylaw review, the Official Plan review, the Clair-Maltby Secondary Plan… Those are just a handful of the initiatives tackled by city council in the last term, and that’s not small potatoes.
Even without COVID and the issues created by it, this was going to be a highly consequential four years on council. When you look at all that’s been accomplished, it’s no wonder that so many long-serving members of council have decided to tap out, but there were two members of council for whom this was a baptism by fire. Ward 2 City Councillor Rodrigo Goller and Ward 6 City Councillor Dominique O’Rourke are the guests this week for a look back at a term unlike any other.
On this week's podcast, O'Rourke and Goller will talk about the last four years, whether the experience was everything they hoped it would be, and how they feel the pandemic tested their leadership skills. We will also ask Goller about his community engagement efforts and how his game has changed running in the new Ward 2, and we will ask O’Rourke managing short-term and long-term endeavours and whether Guelph’s south end is better represented now than it was when she ran in 2018. 
So let's talk about the last four years on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
Dominique O’Rourke and Rodrigo Goller are both running for re-election, and you can see the complete list of candidates here. You can get in touch with O’Rourke through her campaign email address at orourke_ward6 [at] rogers.com, and you can find Goller’s campaign website here. You can also reach them on Twitter @orourke_ward6 and @ward2rodrigo.
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 #384 - July 7, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're going back to the swamp. It's been a pretty consequential week for anyone that wants to see You-Know-Who held to account, and speaking of losers, we will talk about all the ways that some people are making life harder for all our LGBTQ2+ friends. In the second half of the show, we will go out into Wellington County to make new friends... who will soon retire from politics.
This Thursday, July 7, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Donald, Take the Wheel. By far, Donald Trump's attempted carjacking of his own presidential limo was the most famous anecdote to come out of last week's special session of the January 6th commission, but there were more darkly disturbing details about witness intimidation, the frantic race for pardons, and Trump's seeming fore knowledge that there were armed insurrections in his corner. We'll talk about the latest.
Pride and Prejudice. We just finished Pride Month, but the rising tide of homophobic and transphobic sentiment looks likely to continue for the rest of the year. From legislative attacks like "Don't Say Gay" in Florida to Proud Boys invading a Drag Queen Story Hour at a California library, there are some serious smudges on the old rainbow flag, and this is not a uniquely American phenomenon. We'll air those concerns.
Kelly's Laurels. This week, we go to the final frontier: Wellington County! Wellington County Warden and Centre Wellington Mayor Kelly Linton joins us this week to talk about his past eight years in politics. Linton is retiring in the fall, so he will share with us his insights in running two levels of government, managing his municipality through the pandemic, and why Guelph still needs Wellington County and vice versa.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #255 - July 6, 2022 (Elvis)

This week on End Credits we're going to drop the needle. Even though we're a movie show, our focus this week is music, or rather movies about music. We talk about the now in theatres story about the one and only Elvis, and to match it, we're going to spend the first part of the show talking about movies we like where music and musicians are the star.
This Wednesday, July 6, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Sing for the Movie. Since the addition of recorded sound to movies, there's been a long-time, mutual benefit agreement between movie makers and musicians; they provide the sounds, and they later provide their life story as inspiration for other movies. Before getting into the big screen recap of Presley's life, we will talk about some of our favourite musician bio-pics, from other icons of the 50s to punk rockers in the 80s and a couple of points in-between.
REVIEW: Elvis (2022). Elvis Presley was the King of Rock 'n' Roll, so it is probably appropriate that the movie that bears his name is out-sized, over the top, and larger than life. Directed by Baz Luhrmann, his first film in nearly 10 years, Elvis covers Presley's career from state fairs to the Vegas stage, and all under the watchful eye of Col. Parker who is not what he seems. Anchored by Austin Butler as Elvis and Tom Hanks as Parker, Luhrmann's trip through music's past is infinitely fascinating, but is the movie as good as the music that spawned it?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #331 – The Edinburgh Conundrum

The rail crossing on Edinburgh Road has been the site of some controversy lately. The City of Guelph initiated the study of seven different street level rail crossings along the Metrolinx line across town, and they determined that there was one crossing that they had to look at a lot more closely. The implications could be big, so this week, we're going to sit down and talk things out.
Back in 2020, just a couple of weeks before you-know-what, the City of Guelph announced that they were closing the intersection at the Metrolinx train tracks near Kent Street along Dublin. The surrounding neighbourhood was angry about such a sweeping decision, but the issue was safety; the increased frequency of two-way GO trains through Guelph, and the increased speeds by which they travel, required a more cautious approach across the whole line.
That’s why the City’s transportation department started that public engagement on the seven crossings earlier this year, and why they wanted to take a closer look at Edinburgh Road. The potential options range from “do nothing” to constructing an overpass or underpass, which would mean properties in the area might have to be expropriated. That’s when the proverbial stuff hit the fan. People are concerned about their homes and businesses in the area, and they're not sure what to think about any of this.
That's where this week's podcast comes in. Jennifer Juste, Transportation Planning Manager at City Of Guelph, is the guest, and she's going to tell us step-by-step how we got here, and where we go next. She will talk about the all the players' roles, the changes coming to the Metrolinx line because of the expansion of service, and why the focus has landed on Edinburgh Road. She will also explain why this is the beginning of the process, not the end, and how you can stay informed as things develop.
So let's explain what's happening on Edinburgh on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can stay up to date about the Environmental Assessment of the train tracks on Edinburgh by visiting the City's Have Your Say site. It’s too late to provide comments, but you can still subscribe to receive updates about the project. If you want to stay in touch with the Metrolinx side of things, they put out a monthly newsletter about the latest developments in Guelph and area.
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 #383 - June 30, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we end the month by catching up with the news, and boy there was a lot of it. From the United States will talk about the inevitable and closer to home we will talk about the new front bench at Queen's Park. In the second half of the show, we'll look at the UCP leadership race out west before tracing our way back home and the potential reprise of everyone's favourite convoy.
This Thursday, June 30, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Roe Out. They finally did it. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, voted to overturn Roe V. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that made abortion a constitutionally protected right. As a result, a patchwork of laws around abortion have taken effect across the United States, some places have completely outlawed abortion, and in others it's much, much more complicated. So what happens next and why should we care?
All in the Family. Premier Doug Ford announced his new cabinet last week, and it was mostly made up of returning favourites in the roles they played before the election. But one of the new faces is none other than Michael Ford, who is the new Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, and he says he definitely didn't get the job because his uncle's the premier. We'll talk about this and other developments.
Eight is Enough. Oh yeah, there's a leadership race happening in Alberta right now. Since Premier Jason Kenney announced his intention to step down last month, there have been eight different people who have stepped up to succeed him, and while they all agree that Kenney has to go, and that the NDP can't win in 2023, they all have some very different ideas about Alberta's future, but are any of them a winner?
Convoy BeBack. This weekend is Canada Day, and the perfect way to celebrate is to demand the end of government tyranny caused by mandates that no longer exist. The Freedom Convoy and its supporters, are planning a return to Parliament Hill on Friday, but they may find a less tolerant Ottawa Police. Still, organizers met with Conservative MPs last week, so this ain't over and we must talk about it. Did we mention that Tamara Lich was also re-arrested?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #254 - June 29, 2022 (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

This week on End Credits, we recognize that this is only one version of the show. In the unlimited spectrum of the multiverse, we may have reviewed Everything Everywhere All at Once already, or we may not have reviewed it at all. But we did review it this week, and along with that, we will take a look at other movies dealing with multiple realities.
This Wednesday, June 29, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
Altered Slates. There are an infinite number of alternative universes out there, each one created by slight variations from this reality; whenever you zigged instead of zagged, you zagged in at least one other universe. That's the multiverse in a nutshell, which is one kind of alternative reality, and that's what we're talking about this week. From time travel, to virtual reality, to the butterfly effect, we will talk about some movies with a different level of what's real (or not).
REVIEW: Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). There's been a lot of talk about the multiverse lately courtesy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it was always going to be up to the guys who made Swiss Army Man to take the narrative to its illogical conclusion. Michelle Yoeh plays all possible versions of herself in a technobabble-filled sci-fi action movie that's the candy coated shell for a deeply emotional comedy-drama about one immigrant family's struggles in modern day America. Do you dare to press play on something this audacious?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #330 – Still COVID (Series Finale)

It was at the beginning of March 2020 when Dr. Mercer first appeared on the Guelph Politicast to talk about COVID-19: What would happen if, and when, COVID-19 came to Canada? A few weeks later, COVID was here. After that, Dr. Mercer became a regular guest on this podcast, stopping by once every quarter to talk about the pandemic, and now we have arrived at this, the final edition of "Still COVID."
Since the last "Still COVID" in mid-March, we’ve seen a lot of the mandates rolled back, and even holdouts like the University of Guelph have announced that they will be ending their masking mandate on July 1. Still, mask mandates at the Guelph General Hospital remain, and they also remain at most medical settings, which may speak to this current conundrum: Is the pandemic over? Because we’re sure acting like it is.
We’re also not seeing the cases go down as far as we’re used to, there are still around 100 active cases in this region, and we don't have the same testing capacity we did this time last year. Is it because we’re going maskless? Is it because the new COVID strains are so potent? Is it because our vaccines’ potency is waning? Is it all three? And what happens in the fall when we starting going back inside, and hanging out together maskless?
That is one of the questions we will put to Dr. Nicola Mercer this week, along with whether the pandemic is over, and if being the only one in the room wearing a mask really makes a difference. She will also discuss public health’s COVID plans for the fall, rolling out the next phase of vaccines, and the best strategy to avoid getting COVID now. And finally, Dr. Mercer will tell you why you don’t really need to worry too much about monkeypox with some very limited exceptions.
So, for the last time, let's talk about why we're "Still COVID" on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
You can stay up to date with all the latest information concerning the pandemic, as well as the now weekly case count, at the Public Health 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 #382 - June 23, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we consider change. Out of Toronto there was a report about policing that proved the worst case scenario, but will those numbers make a distance? Also, might this be the last session of the Canadian government led by the current prime minister? Some people think it's possible. In the back half? We will work through some change of our own by talking to some local Indigenous voices.
This Thursday, June 23, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Police Story. Last week, the Toronto Police Service released a report into racial discrimination in law enforcement, and to no one's surprise, especially the Black community of Toronto, racialized people are more like to get the harsher end of law enforcement whether that's guns drawn, use of force, and strip searches once in custody. So are the police now finally going to address systemic racism in their ranks?
Tru-done? The latest session of the House of Commons is scheduled to come to an end this week, and not a moment too soon because a lot of pundits are saying that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is checked out, disengaged, and other non-superlatives. Unfortunately, inflation and a new scandal involving the RCMP have captured the media and the opposition's attention, so is this summer going to be Trudeau's big goodbye?
Live, Sort of, From the Park. Tuesday was National Indigenous People's Day across Canada, but the Guelph festivities were in Riverside Park, the first in-person event for this occasion in two years. In lieu of a guest this week, we will play some of the audio from the event along with interviews with an Inuit artist, an Ojibwe drummer and drum maker, and the local president of the Métis Nation of Ontario.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.