It's Ocho de Mayo!
The pre-weekend local news dump.
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.
The Ontario government has appointed an administrator to oversee operations at Conestoga College after “evidence of serious financial and governance mismanagement” was allegedly found.
Puslinch residents came out to oppose the Danby request to get an MZO for to build their headquarters.
In the effort to get development going, Mapleton is now going to defer development charges for industrial and commercial projects for up to five years.
A group of concerned citizens in Erin are accusing town council of approving the remediation plan for the Hillsburgh gravel pit without a lot of transparency.
The Region of Waterloo has created a “bucket” policy that will allow some development to get going again.
Brantford Police says that there were at least 65 drug poisonings and four deaths in the month of April.
One year later, the Ontario government is still delaying the release of the findings from the audits into provincial child welfare agencies ordered by the premier.
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Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph is seeing an increase in compliance by those selling tobacco and vape products. Meanwhile, disposable vapes are becoming a scourge to our landfills.
A documentary screening brought out the mayor and others to discuss why we don’t need to depend on the market to create more affordable housing.
The Office of the Ontario Ombudsman says that there’s nothing left to investigate when it comes to the source of that rotten vegetable smell in some private wells in Puslinch a few years ago.
There will be 64 new childcare spaces at St. Martin of Tours Catholic School in Drayton when it opens next fall.
The Petro Canada station on King Street near Sportsworld Crossing Road in Kitchener had to be evacuated after a suspicious device was found on one of the gas pumps.
After two terms, Sue Foxton has announced that she will not seek re-election as the Mayor of the Township of North Dumfries.
At least nine schools in Halton Region received bomb threats, which is a near repeat of an incident earlier this week where several Toronto schools received identical bomb threats.
The Barrie Colts were fined $15,000 for a bizarre post game press conference where the coach and captain answered every question with the line, “No one cares, work harder”.
A third investigation has been launched into the leak of Alberta’s list of electors now that Elections Alberta believes at least 23 people got full copies and 545 others accessed it through a searchable database on The Centurian Project’s website.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is warning people in the Asian Canadian community about scammers posing as authorities from China and Hong Kong trying to extort people by falsely accusing them of criminal activity.
A poll from Leger finds that two-thirds of Canadians want social media and AI chatbots banned for children under 16.
There’s only been one new name added in the last two days, and it’s Daniel Kaufmann. The Renoviction Kingslayer is running in Ward 1.
See the full list of nominees so far here.
Planning Meeting of City Council – Tuesday May 12, 2026 at 4 pm.
More heritage designations, a decision on the first two GID block plans, and return of the Watson Parkway project deferred last month are on the agenda for May’s planning meeting, plus the return of a possible bylaw allowing five plus units as-of-right. You can see the agenda on the City’s website here, and you have until today at 10 am to delegate or write a correspondence on any of those agenda items.
Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday May 26, 2026 at 6 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday May 14.
For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.
Up to $25,000 in seed funding is being made available from the City of Guelph to start an affordable housing project.
Dr. Mazyar Fallah has been named the new vice-president (research and innovation) at the University of Guelph.
The Guelph Tool Library is launching a new Living on Less program aimed at seniors.
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has some new guidance about how to deal with ticks as we start spending more time outside.
You can now book the program room at the Guelph Public Library’s east end branch yourself through an online porthole.
Alectra is asking everyone to build their own 72-hour emergency kit to mark this Emergency Preparedness Week.
Changes to the Outside Water Use Program are coming in June.
Nearly $35,000 was raised for Hospice Wellington at the 43rd Annual Norma Owen Memorial Golf Tournament.
Wellington County is reopening its Tourism Experience Development Programme offering grants of up to $3,000 to help tourism businesses, organizations, and event organizers.
The Grand River Conservation Authority and the Grand River Conservation Foundation have launched the Trails to Wellness campaign, with the goal of raising $50,000 to support trail and land maintenance.
There will be free fishing across Ontario for Mother’s Day weekend.
The Friends of the Guelph Public Library will hold their annual general meeting on Thursday May 21 at 7 pm at the main library’s programming room.
The YMCA of Three Rivers is hosting a Parenting Resource Fair at their Hanson Avenue location in Kitchener on Tuesday May 26 from 4 to 7 pm.
The May meeting of Wellington County council will now take place at hour earlier at 9 am on Thursday May 28.
The City of Guelph will initiate their annual employment survey starting on Monday May 11.
Wellington County Council has approved the launch of the Green Development Programme, which encourages sustainable residential development without delaying development approvals or adding regulatory requirements.
Bookmark for later: The Victoria Day holiday weekend hours for the City of Guelph.
Current “Have Your Say” opportunities: Affordable Housing projects (including the vacant home tax); Downtown Infrastructure Renewal Program; Victoria Road, Stone Road and McQuillan’s Bridge EA Study; and the Ward Heritage Conservation District Plan.
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!