Guelph Politicast

Open Sources Guelph #406 - December 22, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph, it's holiday time and you know what that means. For the last seven years, we've dedicated the last episode before Christmas to some of our favourite political movies, and year eight will be no different. Before you are four titles for your consideration, some of them are recent, some of them are very recent, and at least one title is from the tumultuous Sixties. Shall we stream?
This Thursday, December 22, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Scotty’s Pick #1: Judas and the Black Messiah (2021). "Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton." Directed by Shaka King. Starring LaKeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons and Daniel Kaluuya. You can now stream Judas and the Black Messiah on Netflix or rent it on VOD.
Adam’s Pick #1: In the Heat of the Night (1967). "A black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case." Directed by Norman Jewinson. Starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. You can now stream In the Heat of the Night on Super Channel or rent it on VOD.
Scotty’s Pick #2: Freelancer on the Front Lines (2016). "This fast-paced documentary follows Canadian freelance reporter Jesse Rosenfeld’s journey across the Middle East. Having made the region his focus, Rosenfeld shows us the thorny geopolitical realities on the ground and explores how journalism practices have changed in the age of the Internet." Directed by Santiago Bertolino. You can now stream Freelancer... on the NFB app.
Adam’s Pick #2: The Purge: Anarchy (2014). "Three groups of people intertwine and are left stranded in the streets on Purge Night, trying to survive the chaos and violence that occurs." Written and directed by James DeMonaco. Starring Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo and Zach Gilford. You can now stream The Purge: Anarchy on Starz or rent it on VOD.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits Holiday Special - December 21, 2022

This week on End Credits, we're on holiday break. While we're out there shopping, and celebrating, and making things merry and bright, our voices will still ring out across the airwaves along with some of your favourite Christmas songs that will remind you about your favourite Christmas movies. In case you forgot what we did last year at Christmas, we're doing it again!
This Wednesday, December 21, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Sounds of the Season. If it's the week before Christmas, then it's time for our annual Christmas movie music show. In a way, we've kind of been building up to his with recent feature reviews of A Christmas Story Christmas and Spirited, but those aren't the classics. This episode is about the classics, or rather music from the classics. Are you dreaming of White Christmas? Is the fire so delightful? Ready for a little Jungle Bell Rock? Well, this is the episode you've been waiting for because it means that Christmas is almost here! Tune in, drop out, and bring on the egg nog!
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #353 – Christmas With Lloyd

For the last couple of years, we’ve used the Christmas week episode of the podcast to sit down with an influential Guelphite and talk a little more broadly about life and politics while looking back at some of the year’s highlights. This week’s podcast interview comes to you via a Zoom call from the hallways of Parliament Hill, which was the site of what the Canadian Press calls the Biggest Story of the Year.
Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way: 2022 was the year of the Freedom Convoy. No question. For three weeks earlier this, Downtown Ottawa was ground to a standstill as hundreds of people and dozens of trucks set up residence to protest, well, pick your cause. Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield was one of the members who voted in favour of invoking the Emergencies Act, so how does he feel about that now?
Closer to home, Longfield is one of the members of Mayor Cam Guthrie’s special downtown advisory group, which was set up to find immediate to long-term solutions to homelessness and mental health issues in the core. Now, some major supportive housing projects in Guelph currently under construction have benefited from Federal investment, but just how much can the Federal government do about very local circumstances?
We’ll ask Longfield those and some other questions on this holiday edition of the pod. He will talk about his takeaways from the year that’s coming to an end and his personal experience with the Freedom Convoy earlier this year. He will also talk about working on Guelph issues and getting a new deal for Canada’s cities. Plus we will discuss what’s coming issues-wise in 2023, and what his Chamber of Commerce experience is telling him about the economic outlook in the next year. 
So let's tuck in for Christmas with our local MP on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
You can reach out to our area MP at his website, or on social media @lloydlongfield on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, or @lloyd.longfield on Facebook. Look for Longfield around town over the next month as the House of Commons will not sit again until January 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 #405 - December 15, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we start wrapping up the year in the same way we started it: political rancour and insurrection! We will briefly pause to consider the potential ramifications of the Federal Liberals winning a Liberal riding in a by-election, and then we will dive into the plot to overthrow Germany. In the back half of the show, we will talk to a fired up Green politician who has some end of the year thoughts.
This Thursday, December 15, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Mississauga Learning. The ballots are counted and to absolutely no one's surprise, former Ontario Minister of Finance Charles Sousa was elected the new Liberal MP of Mississauga-Lakeshore. One could make a story of Pierre Poilievre's first test of leadership , but isn't the more interesting story the fact that 40 people all ran for this seat. What are we to make of this rare two page ballot in this weirdly timed by-election?
They Coup Too Much. Out of Germany is the perhaps the worst instance of online misinformation leading to an attempted government coup since January 6, 2021. A group made up of German aristocracy, QAnon adherents, and (sigh) neo-Nazis were arrested for plotting to remove the German government and they were driven by very specious rationales. How worried should we be about these delusional attacks?
Mike Out. At the end of a very busy, and very consequential session at the Ontario Legislature, we're once again joined by Guelph MPP and Green Party leader Mike Schreiner. From misusing the Constitution to stop education workers from striking, to the move on the Greenbelt, to the changes to the municipal democratic order, there's a lot to talk about and Schreiner is definitely going to have a lot to say.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #276 - December 14, 2022 (Bros)

This week on End Credits, we're going to believe in love again. Or, at the very least, we will believe that you can rediscover interesting movies on VOD even though they're not successful at the box office. Speaking of which, we're going to review the queer rom-com Bros, and we're also going to talk about movies that might be a success (or failure) in the new year.
This Wednesday, December 14, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
2023 and Me. It's almost the end of the year, and you know what that means? Yes, that means end of the year Best-of lists, and we'll get there in a couple of weeks, but for now we will do the other thing and look ahead to 2023. There are a lot of interesting movies in the proverbial oven being baked for the next 12 months including the return of a great boxer and a film about one of the world's most famous toys, plus a reprise by the world's great archaeologist/adventurer.
REVIEW: Bros (2022). Did someone actually tried to make the great American gay romantic comedy? That seemed to be the goal of Bros, a production of Judd Apatow from the director of Neighbours and The Five-Year Engagement. Billy Eichner, who co-wrote the script, stars as Bobby, a commitment-phobic gay man who doesn't believe in true love until he meets Aaron, a lawyer who's also emotionally unavailable. Can these two crazy kids get their act together and then get together? I'm sure you already know the answer, and we'll share our thoughts about it.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #352 - The Long Arms of the Roe Decision

It was a big year for abortion after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June ended the universal right to a legal abortion in the United States. But why do we care up here in Canada? Protests in the U.S. this summer were echoed by ones here in Canada, including a gathering here in Guelph, and the reason why is pretty obvious: We have our own issues with abortion access.
If you’re a woman or pregnant person in Guelph and you want to get an abortion for whatever reason, what do you do? Where do you go? Is there anywhere inside the city limits of Guelph you can seek a surgical abortion? The answer is no, and that’s one of the reasons why the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court hit so close to home. Even though abortion laws are drastically different in Canada, we have many of the same problems of access.
You see, abortion services tend to be close to big cities, and our big cities tend to be concentrated in the southern most areas of the county. Getting to these cities is an issue because our regional and national transit networks are lacking, and what if you need more than a couple of hours of care, or time off work, or childcare? Phrased this way, you can understand why women’s rights and health advocates are worried and how restricting abortion access anywhere can impact us here in Canada.
On this week's podcast we're joined by TK Pritchard, who is the executive director of the SHORE Centre in Kitchener to about those impacts. They will tell us about what options people have accessing family planning services locally, and why not all options should be considered equal. They will also talk about how the U.S. Supreme Court embolden anti-choice actors here in Canada, and why we need to make abortion a part of the total healthcare conversation. And finally, Pritchard will talk about why family planning is about more than just abortion.
So let's talk about why issues of abortion access are a Canadian issue too on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about the SHORE Centre in Kitchener including a list of their services and how you can access them at their website, and follow Pritchard on social media @TKPritchard. If you’re interested in advocacy to increase abortion access in Guelph and Canada, you can seek out the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, or the National Abortion Federation Canada.
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 #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.