Guelph Politicast

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.

End Credits #272 - November 16, 2022 (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)

This week on End Credits, we get excited to remember. The long anticipated sequel to Black Panther arrives in theatres, and it carries with it a hint of sadness because of the death of its star. While a new Panther arises in Wakanda Forever, we will first talk about some of the latest film news that has gotten chins wagging recently around streaming issues and Oscar buzz.
This Wednesday, November 16, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
Streaming of Consciousness. This week, we go back to our regular movie news segment to talk about some of the latest issues in the movie business. Is a holographic Tom Cruise the future of the movie business? Is Steven Spielberg flexible on what goes to theatres, and what goes to streaming? And are some of the best animated movies of the year eligible for the Oscar for technical reasons? For the first time in a long time, we cover The News!
REVIEW: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). The untimely death of Chadwick Boseman affected many people, including fans of his his boundary breaking superhero alterego, the Black Panther. How would the Marvel sequel address the loss of its star? By acknowledging it. Wakanda Forever begins with the loss of its king and protector, and seques into the introduction of a major new Marvel character who represents a major threat to everyone's favourite high-tech African kingdom. So is this new Black Panther able to deliver on the promise of the original?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #348 – What’s Next? Part 2: The Next Election

Last week, we covered the transition from the previous council to the new, and this week, we look far-ish into the future to the next election, the one in October 2026. You will hear in this podcast that planning for the next election begins almost immediately after the one that’s just completed, because there are a lot of complicated questions that need to be answered before the time comes to vote again.
Now you may not be really in a mood to think about voting again; we’ve had three elections in the last 13 months, but elections don’t grow on trees, so to speak. Thousands of  hours go into planning, setting up, and executing an election, and in the case of municipal elections, it’s just one of the functions of the City department responsible for overseeing and executing the public meetings of council and committees. 
There's a lot to consider before the next election, and only some of it is under the clerks' control. They're probably going to talk about internet voting as a way of encouraging anemic voter turnout, in addition to being a way to make the election generally more accessible. By the 2026 election, the list of electors should be moved from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation to Elections Ontario, so that's one problem solved, but what are the other issues?
Stephen O’Brien, who is the City Clerk for the City of Guelph, joins us again to answer that question and more. He will talk about internet voting, and the arguments for and against. O'Brien will also discuss how his staff examines the potential voting methods, and whether increasing voter turnout should be a consideration in decisions made by his office. And finally, he will talk about updating campaign rules, and the effect of misinformation and conspiracies on his job.
So let's talk about the 2026 election on this 2022 edition of the Guelph Politicast!
The Have Your Say survey for post-election feedback is now closed, but you can still get in touch with the clerks office at clerks [at] guelph.ca. The next council meeting is Tuesday November 22 at 10 am to discuss the City response to Bill 23, and that report will be posted on the City’s council calendar page on Friday. You can still sign up to delegate for that meeting any time before this Friday at 10 am by clicking here.
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 #400 - November 10, 2022

 
This week on Open Sources Guelph we turn 400! The above image was posted with the very first show notes page for our very first episode, so get ready to enter the time capsule as we re-examine eight years and 399 episodes worth of material. At the same time, we will look at the months and years to come with our special 400th guest, the once and future mayor of the Royal City!
This Thursday, November 10, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
The 400 Shows. They said we wouldn't make it to one hundred episodes! Actually, they never said that. But now we're here, 399 episodes from where we started from when the show began in January 2015. We will spend the first half of this very special episode talking about where we've been, how things have changed, and maybe even where things are going next. Spoiler Alert: The future is scary.
Guthrie in a Row. In the recent election, Mayor Cam Guthrie won handily with over 70 per cent support, which can be seen as a big vote of confidence from the general public about his last eight years as the head of council. But now the real work begins. Guthrie joins us to set the table for the new term by talking about how he'll work with the new council to answer the immediate and long-term challenges to Guelph.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #271 - November 9, 2022 (The Stranger)

This week on End Credits, we're going to Netflix and chill. Well, we're going to Netflix anyway. The streamer has been through the maelstrom lately, so this week we will offer some Netflix appreciation by reviewing their latest underrated acquisition, the Australian crime thriller The Stronger. And speaking of Netflix's hidden gems, we'll find you some more.
This Wednesday, November 9, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Unglut Gems. There's a lot of stuff on Netflix. A lot of stuff. The model of Netflix is essentially to flood the zone with so much stuff that you never know what to pick, but what if someone told you where you can dig for gold? That's the goal for the first part of this show. We will talk about six overlooked flicks now available on Netflix that you should see including a tale of love and loss in Africa to a tale of love and loss in Australia, but with zombies!
REVIEW: The Stranger (2022). In 2002, a young boy went missing in the northeastern part of Australia and 10 years later the case was still unsolved. The police decided to throw a Hail Mary pass by running an undercover op on their prime suspect in order to illicit a confession, and it was successful, but at what cost? A true-life crime story is dramatized into a two-hander with Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris where the deserts and forests of the Australian wilderness become a foreboding neo-noir setting. Is The Stranger worth digging through your queue for?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.