Welcome to the Guelph Politico Tip Sheet, a twice-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 Tuesdays and Fridays.
It’s 11:45 on Monday, I just got home from City Council, I’ve had six Red Bulls, and I’m pretty sure my shoes are haunted…
Okay, so long story short, council passed the original recommendation of staff by a vote of 9 to 4. The plan to build a new main library for a max. budget of $67.1 million is now moving on to the next step. The full recap is below in the City Council section.
As a preface to Monday’s debate, there was a Ward 2 Town Hall with Councillors James Gordon and Rodrigo Goller at Brant Ave Public School on Saturday. Half of the two-hour meeting was taken up with library discussion, but other infrastructure matters were discussed too along with the doings in Goldie Mill Park, and dog walking concerns. New Ward 2 resident Mayor Cam Guthrie was also in attendance. Read the full recap here.
The “complete streets” pop-up on Woolwich is still in business for a couple of more days. Jennifer Juste, Program Manager for Sustainable Transportation, talked to Guelph Politico about it at the official launch.
Paul Taylor told Guelph Politico that he will not be running in this election after the None of the Above Party failed to get recognition as an official Federal party in time for the October 21 vote. Read more about that decision, and what’s next for NOTA candidates here.
In features, I wrote up a primer on the issues facing regional transit, and the barricades in getting more of it even in the midst of this election season. It might play into something I discuss below.
Remember, there’s an election coming. For all the latest coverage of the 2019 Federal Election from the Guelph angle, you can go directly to that Politico page by clicking here.
Also in the News…
This year’s Terry Fox Run crossed the $1 million mark in total lifetime donations over the event’s 39 years, as revealed by GuelphToday.com.
No more splashing. The splash pad in Market Square will be closed for another year this Sunday, which works out good because it’s going to feel like summer again by the weekend with temperatures in the high 20s.
In silly election news, a controversy in the riding of Kitchener Centre has Conservative candidate Stephen Woodworth (re-)using election signs that says, “Re-Elect Stephen Woodworth.” Although technically correct – if the people of Kitchener-Centre elect Woodworth in this election, they will be re-electing him since he was MP from 2008-2015 – he is not, in fact, the incumbent. Meanwhile, the current incumbent Raj Saini of the Liberals is re-using his own election signs that don’t use the word “Re-elect” on them since he was only elected for the first time in 2015. Will voters get confused? CTV Kitchener has the story here.
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:
The latest edition of Guelph Politico’s Dine Safe Guide Mangez! is now readable, even if it isn’t edible.
Happy Birthday to Guelph Speaks scrawler Gerry Barker! And speaking of birthdays, World War II veteran and Guelph resident Pacifico Valeriote celebrated hitting three digits on Sunday with a 100th birthday party with family and friends at the Italian Canadian Club. CJOY’s Matt Carty was invited too.
September 16 – Special Council Meeting.
The night started with a presentation by staff and a dozen delegates, and then came the fireworks.
Councillors tested staff on the numbers, about the change in price tag from the original $50 million, to the proposed cut to $34 million in July, and then the new $67.1 million amount quoted. Staff was poked and prodded about their numbers, and their fiscal prudence, but they seemed unshaken from their report that although the project may push the City up its debt ceiling, it would not break through the tile with proper management.
A marathon in-camera session was called, where council talked to the City solicitor for 25 minutes. What all was discussed is unknown due to the confidentiality of in-camera, but Councillor Bob Bell asked about what mechanisms the City could use to stall the project, and the City’s co-developer Windmill, until after it’s revealed if the City is getting Federal infrastructure money. From the tone of CAO Scott Stewart, it seems like this was asked and answered in-camera.
Councillor Mike Salisbury tried to broker peace with a proposal to approve a $50 million cap on the project with an option to approve another $17 million, but the measure failed 4-9.
The other attempt to amend was Councillor Mark MacKinnon’s motion to just straight up cap the project at $50 million in total. His argument was that there were too many known unknowns with the project: What will the regulations be about the Community Benefit Charge? What will the caps be? What happens to other projects if the City has to reshuffle? Councillor Dan Gibson joined him in skepticism, while Councillor Cathy Downer made a passionate argument that the main library has had to jump through more hoops than any other project.
The last word came to Mayor Cam Guthrie, who said that he was against the new main library before he was for it, and he’s done his best to bring other member of council along. Guthrie said that all he was looking for was a reprieve of a couple of weeks while council and staff looked at the options and get some extra assurances before he then invoked the late Mayor Joe Young, who was against building the River Run Centre in that final vote, but in the end was a champion for the facility.
History repeated itself. All but Guthrie, Gibson, MacKinnon, and Bell voted in favour of proceeding with the main library and the Baker District Redevelopment. Next stop: the application for infrastructure funds due on November 12, and the October 23 presentation of the Capital Budget.
Read the full blow-by-blow of the meeting on Guelph Politico.
September 23 – Regular Council Meeting.
The final meeting of the month will be relatively straightforward with the passage of the agenda from the Committee of the Whole. Staff have also brought forward new memos that address council concerns with the Strategic Plan and the changes to the Procedural Bylaw, which you can read all about in the Politico preview of the meeting here.
If you want to register as a delegate for any of these items on the Council agenda, then you have to get in touch with the City Clerk’s office by 10 am on Friday September 20.
Also coming up at City Council:
October 7 – Committee of the Whole. Items from the Infrastructure, Development and Enterprise agenda will be discussed.
October 16 – Planning Meeting. Special Wednesday meeting because of Thanksgiving.
October 23 – The first meeting for the 2020 Budget. Presentation and Public Delegations for the Capital Budget and Forecast.
There are competing Federal Election events this Friday. Communist Party leader Elizabeth Rowley will be at 25 University Ave E in the basement of CUPE Hall at 5:30 to help support local Communist candidate Juanita Burnett.
Then, the Campaign Office of Conservative candidate Ashish Sachan will host a forum called Project Awareness that promises to address drug addiction, homelessness, mental health, and crime and safety. Guests include Sarnia-Lambton MP Marilyn Gladu, medical detox centre advocate Donny Hay, and executive director of HOPE House Jaya James. Get your [free] tickets here.
The first official election debate will happen next Thursday at the Italian Canadian Club at 7 pm. Get there early because it will likely fill up fast!
Coming up this week on the GuelphPoliticast, I’ll read some of the correspondences that people sent in to support the new main library that were included with the amended agenda. Do these missives ever get read? Are these people ever heard? This week, they will be.
Get the latest edition of the GuelphPoliticast on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, tune in to CFRU at 2 pm for another episode of End Credits. This week Peter Salmon joins as we’re reviewing the based on a true story comedic drama heist movie Hustlers, plus we’ll wrap up this year’s TIFF, what to expect from Joker, the new future of streaming, and James Cameron’s box office dreams.
Then, Thursday at 5 pm on CFRU, it’s another all-new edition of Open Sources Guelph. Scotty Hertz will be doing jury duty, or something, so I will fly solo to interview our first pair of Federal Election candidates: Juanita Burnett of the Communist Party, and Gordon Truscott of the Christian Heritage Party. Got a question for one, or both, of the candidates, let me know.
Listen to all these shows any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify.
I’ll be going to the Transport Futures debate in Toronto tonight to hear Federal candidates discuss transit and transportation issues. It starts at 7 pm at Innis Town Hall on the University of Toronto campus in downtown Toronto, and it will feature Liberal MP Adam Vaughan, NDP candidate Diana Yoon, Green Party candidate Tim Grant and People’s Party candidate Renata Ford.
Climate Action Week (let’s call it ‘CLAW’) starts this Thursday night with the Green New Deal Town Hall sequel at Peter Clark Hall in the basement of the University Centre at 7 pm. Then, at noon on Friday, the Global Climate Strike hits City Hall.
Before signing off, let’s send out best wishes to the couple who were injured in the council chambers just after the meeting. Paramedics responded, including first aid all-star Deputy CAO Colleen Clack, and the couple seemed in good spirits despite the situation. I didn’t catch their names, but let’s wish them the best.
And finally, feel free to reach out to be by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!