Behold: The Coming of the Fentanyl Czar!
Plus some sad news...
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 Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.
REMINDER: There will be a Thursday newsletter to cover events from this week’s city council meetings.
Orientation Meeting of City Council – Wednesday February 11 at 6 pm.
Staff will lead council through the Construction Improvement Plan. You can see the agenda on the City’s website here, and but since this is an orientation meeting there will be no opportunity for the public to delegate.
Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday February 25 at 6 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday February 13.
Committee of the Whole Meeting – Tuesday March 4, 2025 at 9:30 am.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday February 20.
Committee of the Whole Meeting – Tuesday March 5, 2025 at 9 am.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday February 20.
Planning Meeting of City Council – Tuesday March 18, 2025 at 10 am.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday March 6.
For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.
If you haven’t had enough winter yet, good news! A special weather statement is in effect for most of southern Ontario, including Guelph, as a winter storm moves in late Wednesday and into Thursday.
The Upper Grand District School Board is looking at seven possible configurations for boundaries to serve the new high school in south end Guelph.
Virginia Gillham, one of the founding members of the Friends of the Guelph Public Library passed away last month at the age of 83.
There will be an Ontario leaders debate (Mike Schreiner included) on Family Day Monday.
According to new Trillium reporting, 10 per cent of Ontarians with aggressive cancers waiting twice the recommended time for surgery.
Former Mountie Kevin Brosseau has been given a promotion to fentanyl czar, whatever that is.
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A 57-year-old Cambridge woman was arrested on charges of criminal negligence causing death, and careless driving causing death in the case of a fatal collision downtown last month.
A $1,000 heist from a Guelph LCBO Sunday is the 20th such incident to take place in the city in the last year.
There will be a community skate and fundraiser in honour of skating rink volunteer Mike Jobb this Saturday at 1 pm at Dovercliffe Park. Jobb passed away last month.
Members are trying to put together the forgotten history of the Red Chevon.
Five speed cameras in Wellington County gave out 9,000 tickets in five days, that’s seven per cent of vehicles that travelled past these cameras.
There will be a pair of debates featuring the candidates running to represent Wellington-Halton Hills whether the PC candidate shows up or not.
Incumbent Perth-Wellington PC candidate Matthew Rae has said that he will be showing up to debates in Palmerston and Stratford.
In the wake of the controversial departure of his predecessor, Scott Miller has been named the new Director of Education for the Waterloo Region District School Board.
More than 2,800 students in Brantford, Brant County and Haldimand-Norfolk are on the brink of suspension because their immunization records are not up to date, which is pretty important since Grand Erie Public Health has confirmed 15 more measles cases in Norfolk County.
Saving the surviving animals at Marineland has actually become an election issue.
This week on Open Sources Guelph, Scotty Hertz and I are talking about the latest issues facing Gaza including the potential end to the ceasefire and more threats from the U.S. administration, plus we will talk about the fiscal crunch at Ontario’s college with now limited numbers of international students. For the election interview this week, we will talk to Guelph NDP candidate Cameron Spence about changing things up locally and provincially by putting an NDP government in Queen’s Park.
Tune in to Open Sources Guelph later today at 5 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm!
Listen to Open Sources Guelph, as well as the Guelph Politicast and End Credits, any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple and Spotify.
Guelph Storm (OHL): There was at least some joy at the Sleeman Centre last weekend as the Storm won the Friday night game. It was a very tight game against the North Bay Battalion as a 4-4 tie in regulation play got pushed to overtime with the Storm’s Max Namestnikov tipping the scale to 5-4 after scoring one-minute into extra period. The next day, it was a high-scoring affair against the visiting Saginaw Spirit, but it was not in the Storm’s favour losing 7-10. Playoff hopes are dimming with the Attack putting two wins on the column last week and now leaving the Storm at the bottom of the Western Conference and three points behind. The Storm will visit the Sting tonight in Sarnia, and then play Oshawa at home Friday before heading to Flint on Sunday. The Timberwolves will be in town for a amily Day game Monday afternoon.
Guelph Gryphons (OUA): Gryphon wrestlers made great gains this week with both Gryph's Locker Athletes of the Week coming from that sport. Brennan Laplante Brady and Kelyn Young were both undefeated in their respective weight classes at the OUA Wrestling Championships last weekend, and Young was so impressive at the tournament that she was also named the OUA Athlete of the Week. The squash finals were also last weekend with the men finishing in fifth and the women in seventh, but the badminton team was shut out of OUA championships while the men’s curling team couldn’t hustle hard enough to make it the quarterfinals. Fortunately, the swimmers put on a good show at their OUA championships with the Women's 4x100m Medley Relay team winning silver, plus a total of five bronze medals, a fourth overall position, and five tickets punched for the national championships in March.
Guelph United FC (League1 Ontario): There were some additional signings on both the men’s and women’s team in recent days. Jack Harrington will be following his old Athlone Town teammate, former captain Amardo Oakley, to join the United as the new goalkeeper. Also, midfielder Lucas Spirkoski from the League2 Ontario club Sudbury Cyclones has joined the team while defenders Axel Koenig-Parris and Pero Bandula have been promoted from the reserve squad. The United women have also secured a new goalkeeper, Leana Claude. Originally from England, she’s represented Switzerland at the U16, U17 and U19 levels, and then played for Memorial University in Newfoundland.
High School Athletics (OFSSA): Twice postponed due to the weather, senior boys’ basketball finally got on with the playoffs this week The quarterfinals went on Tuesday and saw Centennial travelling up the road to Centre Wellington, and St. James going to Orangeville while the other Guelph teams stayed in town to face each other with Ross taking on GCVI and Bishop Mac heading crossing town to meet Lourdes. The semis are Thursday, and the championship game is this Saturday at the Gryphon Athletic Centre. In senior girls’ volleyball, the semifinals go later today with GVCI hosting Centennial and St. James visiting Ross. Those finals will go on Tuesday at the Athletic Centre.
Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!