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.
Guelphites spent at least part of their Earth Day weekend hanging out in front of city hall to talk about their concerns with the current state of climate action.
Environmental folks in Puslinch are going to have to gear up for a new fight as CBM Aggregates is looking to open another gravel pit in the area.
Umar Zameer was found not guilty of killing a police officer in the summer of 2021 after he hit the officer with his car in the underground garage at Toronto City Hall.
The Ontario government is coming to the aid of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation by demanding that an area chemical plant take action to address the growing rates of cancer and illness.
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 shows just 16 new cases of COVID-19 around the region this week, and while the 7-day moving rate of confirmed cases has been cut nearly in half and now sits at 4.97 per 100,000, there has been an uptick in the wastewater signal, which now sits at 0.25 in Guelph and 0.2 in Orangeville. Fortunately, there have been no new COVID fatalities in the last week, and it remains unchanged at 238.
Vaccination Rates: As of this week now 68 per cent of people over 80 are up-to-date on their shots, followed by 42.2 per cent of people between 60 and 79, 12.8 per cent of people between 40 and 59, and 6.3 per cent of those between 18 and 39.
OUTBREAKS: There’s been a big change in the outbreak picture locally with now just three institutional outbreaks region wide. Two of those outbreaks are in Guelph, a COVID-19 outbreak in Homewood Health Centre and a respiratory outbreak in 3N at St. Jospeh’s Health Centre. There’s also a COVID-19 outbreak at the Lord Dufferin Retirement Home in Orangeville.
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Here’s last week’s Police Notes entry.
Kate Johnston is the new executive director of the Hillside Festival.
Guelph Transit got just over $3 million in the annual allocation from the gas tax.
A 15-year-old Toronto teen is in life-threatening condition at hospital after trying to train surf on a GO Train heading eastbound out of Union Station just after midnight on Saturday.
Someone in Toronto is now $70 million richer after winning the Lotto Max jackpot this weekend.
The U.S. House of Representatives finally passed an aid package to both Ukraine and Israel, but that may have come with the cost of finally approving their TikTok ban too.
Coming up this week on the Guelph Politicast, we will be joined by Sarah Neath and Janice Folk-Dawson, two representatives from the Guelph & District Labour Council. If it’s the end of April then you know it’s time for the National Day of Mourning for people who are killed on the job, and often these are people doing work in places that are not especially dangerous. In advance of Sunday’s commemoration, we will talk about the issues that lead to dead workers, and how we can, and should, fix them.
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 look to the startling and immediate future as envisioned by Alex Garland as we tackle Civil War and the very particular discourse it’s inspired. That movie is the biggest release yet from A24, the little upstart studio that’s become the pre-eminent name in film snobbery in the last 10 years. We will talk about some of A24’s overlooked gems.
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.
Check out The Story of Plastic, an Earth Day moving presentation and Q&A tonight at 7 pm at the Bookshelf Cinema.
The next meeting of the Tourism Advisory Committee is on Wednesday April 24 at 4 pm at city hall.
The annual general meeting of the Friends of the Guelph Public Library is on Wednesday April 24 at 7 pm at the main library on Norfolk.
The Guelph Museums Advisory Committee will be on Thursday April 25 at 5:30 pm in the meeting room of the Guelph Civic Museum. (The agenda will be posted soon on the City’s website.)
The Ward Night Market is back in business on Thursday April 25 from 6-10 pm at the St. Mary’s Ukrainian Church.
The next meeting of the Grand River Conservation Authority membership is on Friday April 26 at 9:30 am online and at their admin centre.
The 14th annual GAIN Fest will take place at various times and locations from Friday April 26 to Sunday April 28.
Preceding Doors Open, you can celebrate Doors Open After Dark at the Guelph Civic Museum on Friday April 26 from 5 pm to midnight.
Doors Open Guelph will throw open a dozen well-known Guelph landmarks on Saturday April 27 from 10 am to 4 pm.
Not enough Earth Day? Check out the Guelph Tree Planting and Environmental Fair at 335 Laird Road from 9 am to 2 pm on Saturday April 27.
The next Repair Café hosted by the Guelph Tool Library is their Old Quebec Street office on Saturday April 27 from 11 am to 3 pm.
The next meeting of the Economic Development Advisory Committee is on Tuesday April 30 at 3 pm at the Marg MacKinnon meeting room at City Hall. (The agenda will be posted soon on the City’s website.)
The next hybrid meeting of the Natural Heritage Advisory Committee is on Tuesday April 30 at 6:30 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!