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.
A sessional instructor the University of Guelph has been let go after getting tossed from the University of Waterloo last week for a paper detailing how feminism is “getting out of control.”
Safety concerns about stormwater management in a park heated things up at a Puslinch council meeting when one delegate was asked to leave after threatening a call to the OPP.
At an announcement on Friday, Premier Doug Ford said that he’s not interested in allowing four units as of right, which is another one of those recommendations from the provincial government’s own task force that they’re not doing.
The union representing forest firefighters are saying that the Ontario government’s bonus one-time payment is a “band-aid response.”
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 cases continue to go up even if the indicators continue to go down. There were just 10 new cases last week bring the total up to 1,489 for the 2023-24 COVID season, and the 7-day moving rate is now down to 2.49 per 100,000, which is about as low as the rate has been since last summer, and the wastewater signal is down to just 0.07 points. At least the number of COVID fatalities remains unchanged at 238.
Vaccination Rates: As of this week now 67.6 per cent of people over 80 are up-to-date on their shots, followed by 42 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’s now one solidarity COVID-19 outbreak at area retirement homes and it’s at the Village of Arbour Trails, which has had an outbreak since this time last month. The three other outbreaks are respiratory and keeping that in mind it’s best to be careful if you’re going to Stone Lodge, Village of Riverside Glen and Royal Terrace in Palmerston.
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Here’s last week’s Police Notes entry.
Even though they were still planning on opening Friday night, Onyx night club instead closed for good.
Wellington Water Watchers spent their World Water Day asking for less road salt to be used on Ontario’s roads.
Guelph has been selected as one of 13 festival hubs for this year’s Ontario Culture Days this fall.
Perhaps it’s all the protesting at his office, but Lloyd Longfield wants you know that he voted yea for the NDP motion to promote peace in the Middle East.
The line-up for this year’s Riverfest in Elora has been announced. Look for performances from Corb Lund, Treble Charger and the Violent Femmes.
Much to everyone’s surprise, a small group of people were able to get a free ride on Highway #407 between April and June last year.
A global shortage of cocoa beans may end up making your Easter chocolates more expensive than usual.
Pope Francis skipped the Palm Sundy homily at the Vatican and further adding to concerns about his health.
Coming up this week on the Guelph Politicast, we will chat again with environmental consultant Evan Ferrari from eMERGE Guelph and talk about the local fight against climate change. Are we ever going to see those interim net zero targets from the City of Guelph? Are we able to make progress on the climate targets through the Greener Homes program? What’s the deal with that pipeline motion that’s coming to city council this week? We’ll catch up all things related to climate action.
Get the latest edition of the Guelph Politicast on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, tune in to CFRU at 3 pm for another episode of End Credits. This week, Candice Lepage co-hosts as we’re forced again to ask the question: “Who you gonna call?” with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and then we’re going to flashback to a certain June weekend in 1984 when both the original Ghostbusters and Gremlins opened at the same time. Which one of these supernatural comedy classics has the edge in a head-to-head match 40 years later?
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 Guelph Public Library Board of Directors will meet again on Monday March 25 at 6 pm.
The next hybrid meeting of the Natural Heritage Advisory Committee is on Monday March 25 at 6:30 pm.
The Economic Development Advisory Committee will meet again in Marg MacKinnon room at City Hall on Tuesday March 26 at 3 pm.
The Water Conservation and Efficiency Public Advisory Committee will meet remotely on Tuesday March 26 at 7:30 pm.
Volunteer info sessions for the Guelph Tool Library will take place at their Old Quebec Street office on Wednesday March 27 at 5:30 pm.
The next meeting of the Guelph Museums Advisory Committee will be on Thursday March 28 at 5:30 pm in the meeting room of the Civic Museum. (The agenda will be posted soon on the City’s website.)
If you have a four legged friend, you might be interested in the Easter Egg Hunt for Dogs on Friday March 29 at 10 am at Centennial Park.
Hop into Spring for Easter Fun with the Exhibition Park Neighbourhood Group in Exhibition Park on Sunday March 31 at 2:30 pm.
The Planning Advisory Committee will meet remotely on Tuesday April 2 at 6:30 pm.
The next meeting of the Committee of Management for the Elliott will be in the council chambers on Wednesday April 3 at 9:30 am in the council chambers at city hall.
Gryphcon, the annual local celebration for all things involved with table top gaming, is at the U of G University Centre from April 5 to April 7.
The documentary 2040: Climate Solutions to Act On will b screened at the Bookshelf Cinema on Saturday April 6 at 1:30 pm.
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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!