Chystia-Mas Comes Early
Or is that Chrysti-Exit?
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.
Publisher’s Note: The Tip Sheet will be going on holiday break starting after this coming Friday’s edition. We’ll return to a regular schedule on Monday January 5, 2025.
REMINDER: There will be no Thursday newsletter this week because there’s no council meeting.
Committee of the Whole Meeting – Tuesday January 14, 2025 at 2 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday January 2.
Planning Meeting of City Council – Tuesday January 21, 2025 at 6 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday January 9.
Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday January 28, 2025 at 6 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday January 16.
For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.
It was an absolutely normal one in Ottawa on Monday. Nothing to see at all. /s
The Ontario Trillium Foundation has granted funds to Royal City Mission for a new boiler, while Guelph’s Salvation Army says this year’s Kettle Campaign is coming up “critically” short.
Fire’s been a big problem in Wellington County with one fire whose causes remain undetermined destroying a 19th century barn on 4th Line in Centre Wellington, and the explicit arson of an old train car in Lions Heritage Park in Palmerston.
The University of Waterloo says that twin sisters who were going to attend the school as PhD candidates were killed in an air strike in Gaza on December 5.
Ontario’s Financial Accountability Office have dropped another bombshell, reporting that it would cost the province $31.4 billion over 10 years to fix Ontario’s school repair backlog.
Even though the rent is still too damn high, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) annual rental market report says rent went up higher at a slower rate in 2024 than it did in 2023.
As you may have heard, the Canada Post strike is over, but it’s going to take a while to get back to business as usual.
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Guelph ranks 11 out of 20 of the most generous communities in Canada according to GoFundMe.
Speaking of generosity, Holiday Angels are looking for help handing out Christmas baskets on December 23.
A retired Edmonton cop has a Guelph obsession: relics from the old Raymond sewing machine company.
A provincial inquest has found that when Mathias Bunyan was shot four times by a Wellington OPP officer in Fergus in 2021, it was, in fact, a homicide.
Outlander star Charles Vandervaart an the Bay City Rollers (who are apparently Scottish) will be among the special guests for the 80th anniversary Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games.
A Cambridge woman says that one of the dogs that attacked her this past summer is now up for adoption at the Cambridge District Humane Society and no one is talking about its past behaviour.
There were three different collisions with the ION light rail in a 24-hour period this week.
In the wake of a possible 51 per cent levy for next year, Wilmot Township says they’ll release 13 years of financial statements to show why in the new year.
Northern Ontario mayors are saying big cuts to immigration targets are going to affect their ability to sustain their local workforces.
A report released about the Cité-des-Prairies rehabilitation centre alleges the sexual abuse of residents by several employees who work there, including two who have already been fired.
Terry Fox is coming… to the $5 bill.
This week on Open Sources Guelph, Scotty Hertz and I are going to talk about the absolute calamity Monday on Parliament Hill after Chrystia Freeland resigned from cabinet and Justin Trudeau started wondering if maybe the writing’s on the wall. We will also have an interview with Remegius Cheeke, President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 546 to talk about the Guelph view of the postal strike and what comes next.
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): Well, we will always have the Frontenacs. The Storm’s 4-3 shoot-out victory against Kingston was the only good news last week as the Storm sneak up on the Christmas break in the conference basement (only the Petes are worse in the league). The Owen Sound Attack has managed to get ahead of the Storm on points after beating Guelph 4-6 last Wednesday, and the Spirit literally got one over on them home team to win 6-7. In other news, the Storm finalized a deal with the Steelheads, trading forward Vilmer Alriksson for three draft picks, while Cam Allen is going to London in exchange for Noah Jenken and six draft picks over four years. The Storm have also acquired Justin Bottineau from the Rangers for a draft pick in 2028. The Storm will be in Windsor to face the Spitfires tomorrow night, and then the Greyhounds will be in down on Friday for the last game before the holiday break. But there won’t be much of a break for Jett Luchnko, who is one of 14 OHL players who will be taking part in the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships in Ottawa starting on Boxing Day.
Guelph Gryphons (OUA): Gryphon Varsity Athletics are presently on their holiday break, but Jaime Magoffin, a forward with the women’s hockey team, probably isn’t going to get much of a break because she’s got to train for the 2025 FISU Winter World University Games, which will take place from January 13 to 23 in Italy. Magoffin, who leads the Gryphon women in scoring with two goals and seven assists in 14 games, is one of six OUA players to me named to Team Canada, who will defend their gold medal win in last year’s FISU Games.
Guelph Royals (IBL): The schedule for the 2025 season has been announced! Royals baseball will commence again on Friday May 16 in London to face the Majors, while the home opener will take place at Hastings on Sunday May 18 at 2 pm with the Royals hosting the Brantford Red Sox. In terms of baseball business news, the Kitchener Panthers and basketball’s KW Titans now have one owner in common.
#Trivia
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!