All Clockwork, No Orange
It's daylight savings again, but we're still waiting to move up the colour ladder.
Welcome to the Guelph Politico Tip Sheet, a thrice-a-week newsletter meant to “tip” you off about some of the important stuff going on in the Royal City. It arrives directly in your inbox on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Yes Virginia, Guelph is still red.
The City of Gulph announced that they’re looking to get millions of dollars to offset transit revenue and operating losses from the Provincial government while getting three quarters of a million dollars from Alectra for cost savings from making the switch to LED streetlights.
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health is standing by the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine despite concerns from Europe, and they’re adding some new restrictions to the mask order to help slow the spread of the variants.
An anti-mask protest is being advertised for Sunday in downtown Guelph, and a who’s who of conspiracy theorists, anti-maskers, and anti-vaxxers are looking to attend.
Another COVID-19 vaccination clinic opens at the University Centre at the U of G on Monday.
Premier Doug Ford says he’s phoned and apologized to MPP Sol Mamakwa for accusing him of jumping the queue in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Ford’s Question Period accusation provoked an emotional reaction from many opposition members, including Guelph’s Mike Schreiner.
The Ontario government is asking people to wait and get a vaccine from their own public health units even though there’s no way for pharmacies in three select areas to verify that the people they’re giving shots to are locals.
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph ends the week still in the orange with the 7-day moving rate of confirmed cases at 33.7 per 100,000 and test positivity at 1.6 per cent. There were just nine new cases in the region on Friday, but the number of active cases continues to fall and now sits at 125. There was one new fatality from COVID-19 on Thursday, to bring the total number of COVID deaths up to 105.
Good news in Guelph and area is mixed news in the rest of the province. Public Health Ontario confirmed 1,371 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, plus 18 new deaths from the virus. For the second time this week, there were no new deaths among residents in long-term care, which is probably owed to the effectiveness of the vaccine rollout. Meanwhile, a little over 30 per cent of all new COVID cases are now attributed to one of the variants.
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On the first anniversary of the declaration of the pandemic by the World Health Organization, Mayor Cam Guthrie released a formal statement thanking Guelph for its perseverance and reminding them to say the course till everyone is vaccinated.
Planning on ice skating downtown today? Sorry, the Market Square rink is closed for the season.
The Government of Ontario will deliver the 2021-22 provincial budget on Wednesday March 24.
The Guelph Mercury Tribune has created a list of annual festivals and events in Guelph, and whether they’re still going to be a thing, a real thing, or a virtual things in 2021.
Immigrant Services Guelph-Wellington is offering information to people about COVID-19 vaccines in a series of workshops co-sponsored by Public Health. Information sessions in Vietnamese, Arabic, Mandarin, Tigrinya, and Nepali starting next week.
Wellington County is seeking to create an Indigenous ceremonial space in Wellington Place behind the Wellington County Museum and Archives.
In what should be a final nail in the coffin, Stratford city council voted 9-2 to ask the Provincial government to remove the Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO) for the proposed Xinyi glass plant that was once rejected by Guelph/Eramosa.
Your new snow plows are: Blizzard of Oz, Flocon, Darth Blader, Sir-Plows-a-Lot, Frost Bite, and L’il Plow Wow.
Special Meeting of City Council – March 22, 6 pm.
This meeting will be dedicated to the Mid-term Governance Review. You can see the agenda and the proposed changes on the City’s website here.
Regular Meeting of City Council – March 29, 6:30 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City of Guelph’s website on Thursday March 18.
Committee of the Whole Meeting – April 6, 2021*, 2 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City of Guelph’s website on Thursday March 25.
*Note the special Tuesday date because of the Easter long weekend.
Planning Meeting of City Council – April 12, 6:30 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City of Guelph’s website on Thursday April 2.
Special Meeting of City Council – April 14, 6 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City of Guelph’s website on Thursday April 2.
For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.
REMINDER: Daylight Savings begins at 2 am on Sunday. Set your clocks one hour ahead before you go to sleep.
A new climate action group called For Our Kids, a collection of Guelph area parents and grand parents that want to fight climate change, is launching with an online party on Tuesday March 16 at 8 pm.
The Shelldale Family Gateway is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with a fundraiser, and you can take part from the comfort of your own home on March 17 at 6 pm.
The Guelph Police Services Board meeting is this Thursday March 18 at 2:30 pm.
The Transit Advisory Committee meets virtually this Thursday, March 18, at 5:30 pm.
College Royal, the University of Guelph’s annual open house, will be taking place online on Saturday March 20.
Guelph Museums’ monthly military talk takes place online on Thursday March 25 at 7 pm. The topic this month is “Hidden Scars: Uncovering the Lived Experience of Shell-Shocked Ex-Servicemen” with Heather Ellis of Western University.
The Guelph District *Virtual* Multicultural Festival comes to a Zoom at your house on the weekend of March 26 starting at 7 pm.
Joking aside…
And finally, feel free to reach out to be by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!