The Unofficial End of Summer
Let's get back into the familiar September routine, with a new twice-weekly tradition
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.
Before the long weekend, it was revealed that the brick-and-mortar retailer that was coming to downtown Guelph this October, well, isn’t. The person that won the application in the ACGO lottery missed the deadline to file the appropriate paperwork to get the license, and as a result, there’s no pot shop coming downtown. But might there still be one *elsewhere* in the city. You should read the Politico news story here.
In other news of provincial interest, you probably noticed the carbon pricing stickers on your neighbourhood gas pump. Well, last Friday was the deadline to stick them up, lest gas stations incur a financial penalty. On top of the retail politics though, there were some actual politics in the form of the Ontario government’s announcement that they are moving forward with a Supreme Court of Canada appeal of the federal carbon tax. It gets a bit weirder, so read the Politico story here for more info.
Monday was Labour Day, but it was also the Labour Day Picnic in Riverside Park. Along with the usual hot dogs and solidarity, there was the announcement of two new campaigns, #UniteAgainstRacism and the Decent Work Project, plus the threat of some rancor in the ranks of the public school teachers now that they’re working without a contract. Get all the details from the Politico story, including some feedback from the Federal candidates about what they think the most pressing issues facing labour are.
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…
Here’s some good news concerning Provincial government funding and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, they’re getting up to $869,100 in additional funding for the 2019-2020 fiscal year to support the new dental program for low income seniors. Health Minister Christine Elliott sent a letter to Board chair George Bridge confirming the new funding, which will be discussed at the board meeting on Wednesday.
According to a media release from the Guelph Police Service, a 20-year-old woman was stopped in the early hours of Monday morning along Victoria Rd S going 129 kilometres per hour in a 50 kilometre per hour zone, you know, almost three-times as fast as lawfully allowed. She lost her car and her license… for seven days.
The Happy Making Pianos are back in the downtown core this week. Check them out at some of the usual haunts.
First, the Politico Tip Sheet is now 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 Mangez! is out, Guelph Politico’s twice-a-month dine safe guide of newly inspected restaurants, stores, and eateries in the Royal City. See the latest results here.
And while you’re at it, check out the first edition of Plastic Free News, Guelph Politico’s weekly round up of environmental and climate change news here.
The Guelph location of the Beat Goes On reopens today at it’s Wellington St location after renovation and expansion. Who says that physical media is dead?!
Guelph Police wants you to know that you can’t pee outdoors. This should be pretty apparent, but I guess it’s not.
Keep in mind that Project Safe Semester will be in effect this week, and for the next couple of weekends until September 28. Taxi stands will be set up, roads will be closed, and there will be no parking allowed in the area around the Macdonall/Wyndham intersection. There will also be a bigger than normal police presence in the core too.
September 3 – Committee of the Whole. This meeting will take place at 2 pm TODAY, and you will be able to follow along on Twitter at adamadonaldson, or on the live-blog page on Guelph Politico.
For the full breakdown of the agenda for this month’s Committee of the Whole, click here.
September 9 – Planning Meeting. The agenda for the first planning meeting of the fall has been released, and it will look at a couple of compelling issues. City council will be asked for a final decision on the rezoning of 51-53 College Avenue West, will hear the statutory public meeting for the rezoning of 167 Alice Street, and will be asked to consider brownfield and heritage protect grants for a couple of projects.
The other agenda item is the first pass at Official Planning Amendment #69 (seriously, you’re still laughing…), which will enshrine in the Official Plan the preferred framework of the Commercial Policy Review.
Get the full details on the planning meeting from the Guelph Politico preview 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 6.
Also coming up at City Council:
September 16 – Special Council Meeting. Council will be holding a special council meeting to discuss the recent developments on the Baker Street Redevelopment starting at 6 pm. You can catch up on those developments by clicking here and here. This agenda will be released on Thursday.
September 23 – Regular Council Meeting.
October 7 – Committee of the Whole. Items from the Infrastructure, Development and Enterprise agenda will be discussed.
The incumbent Member of Parliament for Guelph, Liberal Lloyd Longfield, will be opening his campaign office this Saturday at 11:30 am at 249 Edinburgh Rd N. Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains will be the special guest.
The first non-partisan election event has been announced! The regular social justice debate hosted by the Guelph-Wellington Coalition on Social Justice will be held on Thursday September 26 at the Italian Canadian Club.
Maude Barlow will also be making her annual stop in Guelph on October 1. Details to follow.
Guelph is having another Green New Deal Town Hall on September 19 at 6 pm in Peter Clark Hall at the University Centre. This is a follow up to the town hall held in June at the Italian Canadian Club, and will be co-sponsored by the Central Student Association. Learn more at the Facebook events page here.
The Eden Mills Writers Festival is this weekend. Get your write on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at various events, and to learn more go to the website here.
Coming up this week on the GuelphPoliticast, we go back to the fun and frivolity of Move-In Day at the University of Guelph. You’ll be able to hear the chit chat between me and my live broadcast co-host Abdul-Rahim Abdulai from the CFRU show FoodFarm Talk, and in-between you will hear some “streeters” I did with O-Week volunteers, first year students and their parents.
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 it’s the last repeat before all new episodes, as Tim Phillips joins in to talk about the ninth film by Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in …Hollywood.
Then, Thursday at 5 pm on CFRU, it’s another all-new edition of Open Sources Guelph. Scotty Hertz and I will discuss the court challenges to the carbon tax, the problem of Trump fatigue, and an update on Brexit and the Hong Kong protests. Like you, we’re waiting for the start of the Federal Election, and we’ll start hosting the local candidates.
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.
In case you missed it above, the agenda for the special council meeting on the Baker District Redevelopment comes out on Thursday. This will be the meeting about the plan to re-size the in-development new main branch of the library, so it will likely be very busy, and very contentious. Stay tuned for the Politico Preview later this week.
When will the election start? Good question, and here’s a tip: the Manitoba Provincial Election is next Tuesday, September 10, and in order to make the October 21 pre-schedule Election Day the writ has to be drawn up by September 15. So the safe bet is, if you’re a betting person, September 13. It’s a Friday, which will give candidates a weekend to get the jump on campaigning.
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!