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 Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
It’s 11:30 on Election Night (as I’m writing these works right now), and this is where things stand:
*Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives are returned to power with a bigger majority than they won in 2018. The PCs have won at least 82 seats and are leading in one more. Over 1.85 million votes, or 40.8 per cent, were cast for the “Old” Blue.
*The NDP, in turn, lost seats having secured just 29 and leading in another two. Stinging defeats were felt in some key orange strongholds in Windsor and Hamilton, plus party elder Gilles Bisson lost his seat in Timmons after over 30 years of service. Leader Andrea Horwath announced her resignation.
*The Liberals, if they can be considered successful at all, added one more seat to their previous total, but that seat did not belong to Steven Del Duca, who lost to Michael Tibollo in Vaughan-Woodbridge by over 6,700. Del Duca also announced his resignation.
The only party leader other than Ford who had a good night was Mike Schreiner. The Green Party leader was handily re-elected in Guelph with 54.46 per cent and beating his nearest competitor by 18,610 votes. Putting a damper on things though was that he’s still the only Green in Queen’s Park. Despite a valiant effort, Matt Richter still came up 2,114 votes short in Parry Sound-Muskoka.
In an unusual note, there’s now an elected independent MPP in the legislature. Bobbi Ann Brady will represent Haldimand—Norfolk after beating Progressive Conservative Ken Hewitt by 2,000 votes.
In addendum, Ted Arnott was re-elected in Wellington-Halton Hills which is utterly and completely unsurprising to even the most cynical political observer.
Let’s preface these updates with a general word that the official numbers released do not represent the true number of COVID-19 cases, which are likely higher due to limited testing.
The now weekly update of the COVID-19 dashboard in Wellington, Dufferin and Guelph showed 12 new cases and 15 recoveries, which brings the current number of confirmed active cases down to 105, with 63 in Guelph alone. The 7-day moving rate of confirmed cases is now down to yellow at 24.7 per 100,000, while the test positivity is now down to 8.1 per cent.
The current vaccination rates for eligible populations:
Region-wide: 91.4 per cent have one shot, 88.8 per cent have two shots, and 59.4 per cent have a booster.
Guelph: 93.2 per cent have one shot, 90.5 per cent have two shots, and 62.8 per cent have a booster.
In Ontario on Thursday, there were 1,038 new COVID-19 cases, and there were 1,030 new cases on Wednesday, but while things were pretty steady with the new cases, we saw the new daily fatalities go from 23 on Wednesday to just two Thursday. There are just 670 COVID patients now in hospitals, which is a fall from just over 1,000 this time last week. There are now just 119 people in ICU with COVID.
The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:
Outside of the horse race, 27 polls in 19 ridings were late in starting Election Day after computer issues were encountered by election staff.
Voter turnout for Guelph was under 50 per cent, but 13 per cent of us took the opportunity to cast ballots at advanced polls.
(That) James Gordon is on the long list for this year’s Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, and he’s got some stiff competition from Ron James, Mark Critch, Rick Mercer and more!
As the City awaits arbitration with the original contractor on the Guelph Police headquarters project, the building itself is getting slowly closer to completion.
In other police matters, one woman was taken in a Bitcoin scam, this time for $58,000, and another woman was held up in a rare sword-point robbery.
No monkeypox, no problem (locally speaking).
The personal background of both victim and accused was explored in defense testimony at the Tanti manslaughter trail.
Perhaps this is a challenge fit for a new provincial government, a shortage of nurses trained in pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care means no available obstetrics care this summer at Palmerston and District Hospital and Louise Marshall Hospital in Mount Forest.
Committee of the Whole Meeting – June 7, 2 pm.
June’s busy slate of council meetings begins with water plans, the external audit, and a potential increase in cab fares. You can see the Politico preview here, and you have until today at 10 am to register with the clerks office as a delegate or to send a correspondence.
Planning Meeting of City Council – June 13, 6:30 pm.
Two new proposals, plus decisions on some pretty major (though controversial) projects are coming to this month’s planning meeting. You can see the Politico preview here, and you have until next Friday at 10 am to register with the clerks office as a delegate or to send a correspondence.
Shareholder Meeting of City Council for GMHI – June 27, 4 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City of Guelph’s website on Thursday June 16.
Shareholder Meeting of City Council for GJR – June 27, 5 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City of Guelph’s website on Thursday June 16.
Regular Meeting of City Council – June 27, 6:30 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City of Guelph’s website on Thursday June 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.
REMINDER #1: Get ready for this fall’s Municipal Election by making sure that you’re on the voters’ list.
REMINDER #2: Get your tickets now for the second annual Rotary Club duck race to support Food4Kids Guelph.
REMINDER #3: The virtual open house for the heritage district proposal for the Ontario Reformatory lands will take place on Wednesday June 8 at 6:30 pm.
REMINDER #4: The Wellington County OPP Property Auction goes online on June 16 at 8 pm, and runs to June 22.
The City of Guelph is reminding you that summer fun is coming!
Speaking of summer fun, the Rotary Club of Guelph is looking for volunteers to take part in the return of their live, in-person Canada Day festivities in Riverside Park.
Guelph Transit is looking for feedback about the installation of real-time information signs at bus stops. Give them your feedback by June 12!
Wednesday is Clean Air Day, and that means free transit rides all day long!
Metrolinx released a video showing a near-miss on the Humber River overpass where three young people were nearly run over by the Milton GO train as a reminder to everyone to observe safety near train tracks.
The Guelph Humane Society has a new program that offers no-cost boarding services for the pets of older adults in Guelph and Wellington County who require hospitalization but can’t afford to board those pets elsewhere.
The Guelph Public Library is looking for a hand in winning the $20,000 prize in the Canada Helps Great Canadian Giving Challenge!
Starting Monday June 6 and through to the end of July, there will be partial lane closures on different sections of Wyndham and Macdonell Streets to collect information about sewer systems downtown.
Lane reductions begin on June 13 along Speedvale West between Elmira and Imperial for infrastructure improvements and the construction of a multiuse path. Work will continue until mid-July.
Fountain Street will be closed between Gordon and Bristol for three weeks starting on June 13 for the removal and repairing of concrete curbs, the raising manholes and the repaving the road surface.
#WontGetFooledAgain
And 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!