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.
Over 6,000 homes and businesses were affected by a city-wide power outage on Saturday afternoon.
Only about 150 students in the region are suspended for not being up-to-date on their immunization records.
Two unions at Conestoga College are calling on their school’s president, John Tibbits, to retire after a couple of different questionable comments last week.
A McMaster University report says that when proper masking and vaccination programs were in place, Ontario schools were not a major source of COVID-19 transmission.
No more exemptions, but Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon did announce this weekend that the federal carbon tax is getting rebranded.
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 showed only 20 new cases, which meant that the total number of confirmed cases is 1,379. That’s a slight increase from last week, but the 7-day moving rate tool a big fall from 14.61 per 100,000 to 6.22 per 100,000. The regional wastewater signal has also come down and now sits at 0.15 points as opposed to 0.19 points last week, while the number of COVID fatalities remains unchanged from last week at 237.
Vaccination Rates: As of this week now 66.8 per cent of people over 80 are up-to-date on their shots, followed by 41.4 per cent of people between 60 and 79, 12.5 per cent of people between 40 and 59, and 6.1 per cent of those between 18 and 39.
OUTBREAKS: The number of outbreaks in the region have gone down again. Although St. Jospeh’s Health Centre looked clear, COVID came back on Friday in the 3E unit of the long-term care home, plus there’s still COVID at Chartwell Royal on Gordon and the Village of Riverside Glen. Respiratory? Still got that too at Riverside Glen, as well as Strathcona in Mount Forest.
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Here’s last week’s Police Notes entry.
Wellington County has received 48 requests to expand the urban boundary, which all add up to about three times the amount of land they originally thought they would need.
Wellington North needs to upgrade their water treatment facility, but they have a number of options to look at how best to pay for it.
An Erin man was killed in a head-on snowmobile crash in Georgian Bay Township on Friday.
A group of cyclists in Kitchener held a “ghost ride” in honour of cyclists killed on area roads.
The federal government is late filing a response to the 56 recommendations from the inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act in 2022.
A Saskatchewan court has said that a constitutional challenge to that province’s pronoun consent law can proceed.
A strike is expected to shut down access to the Eiffel Tower today. Workers claim that the city government is low balling maintenance costs as they’re pressured to get work done in advance of this summer’s Olympic games.
Congratulations to The Wellington Advertiser for being named one of the top three community newspapers in its circulation class at the Ontario Community Newspapers Association Awards.
Coming up this week on the Guelph Politicast, we’re joined by Guelph MPP and Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner, who’s about to go back to Queen’s Park to get rallied up to lead a debate about his own bill next week. Scheiner’s bill, the Homes You Can Afford in Communities You Love Act, aims to super charge housing by encouraging density, but as the Ontario government seems stymied on the issue, might the time have finally arrived for them to adopt an opposition motion?
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, Tim Phillips co-hosts as we dive into the Oscar race and discuss one of the non-Barbenheimer nominees and Bradley Cooper’s latest attempt to get golden. We’re reviewing Netflix’s Maestro, and we’re going to keep foots tapping by marking the 40th birthday of everyone’s favourite movie about dancing as a form or progressive protest, Footloose!
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 Curiosity Carnival, a family-friendly event that promotes interest in STEM fields finishes today at the MacKinnon building at the U of G.
Knights Fest, a Medieval Family Day Festival, is Monday February 19 from 10 am to 3 pm at the Guelph Youth Music Centre.
There will be a Family Day “Crafternoon” at the Art Gallery of Guelph on Monday February 19 from 1 to 4 pm.
The next hybrid meeting of the Accessibility Advisory Committee is on Tuesday February 20 at 3 pm inside City Hall and online. (See the Politico preview here.)
The City of Guelph will be hosting an open house on the Downtown Guelph Heritage Conservation District Study on Tuesday February 20 at 4:30 pm in the Marg Mackinnon Room at City Hall.
The Guelph Coalition for Active Transportation AGM, with special guests Mayor Cam Guthrie and Transportation Planning Manager Jennifer Juste, will be at Royal City Brewing on Tuesday February 20 at 7 pm.
The Guelph Museums Advisory Committee will next get together on Thursday February 22 at 5:30 pm in the meeting room of the Guelph Civic Museum.
Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis will be hosting a Human Trafficking Awareness Day movie screening and discussion on February 22 at 6:30 pm.
The next meeting of the Grand River Conservation Authority Board is on the GRCA YouTube channel on Friday February 23 at 9:30 am.
The next meeting of the Economic Development Advisory Committee is on Tuesday February 27 at 4:30 pm in the Marg Mackinnon Room at City Hall. (The agenda will be posted soon on the City’s website.)
The next edition of the Repair Café is on Saturday February 24 at 11 am at Knox Presbyterian Church on Devere Drive.
The Rock / Paper / Scissors Book + Print Fair is next weekend, Saturday February 24 and Sunday February 25 at PS Guelph and the Art Gallery of Guelph.
The Guelph Black Heritage Society will be hosting an open house at Heritage Hall on Saturday February 24 from 1 to 3 pm.
The next Guelph Video Game Swap is at the Legion on Watson Parkway South on Sunday February 25 at 10 am.
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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!