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 now on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.
Perhaps it was the weather, but there seemed to be no St. Patrick’s Day street parties in Guelph, and the turn out in the Ezra Avenue area of Waterloo was relatively quiet too.
A Guelph developer has decided to take city council’s heritage designation of an old farmhouse on Clair Road to the Ontario Land Tribunal after their appeal to the City failed.
It wasn’t a suspicious fire, but it was a tragic one nonetheless as 22 dachshunds were the casualty at a kennel fire in Moorefield on Friday.
Only 20 per cent of kids registered for autism therapy in Ontario got the help they needed in 2023.
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.
In this week’s update to the WDG Public Health COVID-19 dashboard the number of active COVID-19 cases went up again, but only by another 11 cases so there are now 1,479 around the region. The 7-day moving rate is now at 3.73 per 100,000 and the rate of new infections generally hasn’t been this low since September, but the waterwater signal is relatively unchanged at 0.21. There were also no new fatalities from COVID in the last week, and that number remains at 238 since the start of the pandemic.
Vaccination Rates: As of this week now 67.5 per cent of people over 80 are up-to-date on their shots, followed by 41.9 per cent of people between 60 and 79, 12.7 per cent of people between 40 and 59, and 6.2 per cent of those between 18 and 39.
OUTBREAKS: There are now just three outbreaks in the region now, one of them is COVID-19 and the others are respiratory. The COVID outbreak is at the Village of Arbour Trails, where COVID’s been an issue since February 25. As for the respiratory outbreaks, they’re also both in Guelph, one’s at Stone Lodge and the other’s at the Village of Riverside Glen.
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Here’s last week’s Police Notes entry.
Fashion Lighting is putting the lights out after 47 years in business as the current owner of the family-run shop is heading into retirement.
The recent passing of Ted Ford is another reminder that the number of veterans that gather at the Guelph Legion branch is getting smaller.
The emergency department at Louise Marshall Hospital in Mount Forest was closed again overnight on Friday, which is the ninth time this has happened since July for those of you keeping score.
Several former employees of a Kitchener grocery store have alleged that they’re owed outstanding wages, in additional to several vendors and businesses who say that they’re also owed money.
French President Emmanuel Macron wants a ceasefire from Russia in Ukraine during the Olympics this summer, which will, not coincidentally, take place in Paris.
Iceland is under a state of emergency after a volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula erupted for the fourth time in the last three months.
On Wednesday, tune in to CFRU at 3 pm for another episode of End Credits. This week, Peter Salmon co-hosts as we take in criminality, body building and true love in the neo-noir romantic thriller Love Lies Bleeding, which you can now see in a theatre near you. Also, we will talk about the career of the movie’s star, Kristen Stewart, and some of her hall of fame performances from her 25-year career in Hollywood.
Listen to all these shows any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
The next meeting of the Waste Resource Innovation Centre Public Liaison Committee in online on Monday March 18 at 6:30 pm.
The monthly Guelph Police Services Board is this Thursday, February 21, at 2:30 pm. You can see the agenda here, and then tune in to the meeting on the Guelph Police YouTube page.
The next meeting of the Transit Advisory Committee is on Thursday March 21 at 5:30 pm both online and in the committee rooms at City Hall.
There’s an open house about the next phase of improvements on York Road (the portion from Brockville to Victoria) on Tuesday March 19 from 6 to 8 pm at City Hall.
There’s an open house for the business cases to build a rail line connecting Union Station and Cambridge through Guelph on Thursday March 21 from 6 to 8 pm at City Hall. (There’s a virtual meeting on Tuesday March 19 too.)
The next meeting of the Grand River Conservation Authority membership is on Friday March 22 at 9:30 am. You will be able to watch the meeting on the GRCA YouTube channel.
The next hybrid meeting of the Natural Heritage Advisory Committee is on Monday March 23 at 6:30 pm.
Comedy Sketch Town Presents See You in the Simulation on Saturday March 23 at 8 pm in Silence.
The Economic Development Advisory Committee will meet again in Marg MacKinnon room at City Hall on Tuesday March 26 at 3 pm. (The agenda will be posted soon on the City’s website.)
#Puntastic
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!