Vacancy in the Square
One week later, the problem is disappearing.
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 Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.
Workshop Meeting of City Council – Wednesday February 21 at 6 pm.
After getting postponed last September, council will finally do the KAIROS Blanket Exercise. You can see the Politico preview here, but since this is a workshop there will be no delegations.
Regular Meeting of City Council – Wednesday February 27 at 6 pm.
Council will revisit reports from the Committee of the Whole. There’s also the annual report from the integrity commissioner and an update about changes to the County’s social services committee that will increase Guelph representation. You can see the Politico preview here, and you have until Friday at 10 am to register with the clerks office as a delegate or to send a correspondence.
Committee of the Whole Meeting – Tuesday March 5 at 2 pm.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday February 22.
Planning Meeting of City Council – Tuesday February 20 at 10 am.
The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday March 7.
For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.
A fatal fire at a house in the south end Sunday evening was deliberately set, but police are not chasing any suspects.
You may notice that some of the encampments in St. George’s Square are gone. Some people have taken an offer from Wellington County to get a hotel room, others are staying to protest the situation.
The Special Investigations Unit is investigating after Waterloo Regional Police shot and killed a man who was having a mental health crisis.
Health units around Ontario have been told to prepare for “potential outbreaks” of measles following two cases found in the GTA this week.
Now CSIS is warning that extremists could "inspire and encourage" serious violence against the 2SLGBTQI+ community. Then there was news Tuesday that a trans teen was killed in a fight at an Oklahoma high school after months of intense bullying.
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This month’s Accessibility Advisory Committee meeting saw the group make their own motion about downtown encampments, choose a new vice-chair, set a special meeting date, and ran out of time before talking about a final municipal election plan.
A jersey signed by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce snagged $21,000 for the Guelph Wish Fund for Children.
This weekend is the Coldest Night of the Year and HOPE House hopes to raise $200,000 out of it.
In a strange game of musical chairs, the former Mayor of Orangeville is now the CAO of the Town of Erin.
A Waterloo tech company is developing smart glasses that act as a fitness tracker for your brain.
Stratford General Hospital has stopped admissions for the time being while they’re dealing with an outbreak of Influenza A.
This week on Open Sources Guelph, Scotty Hertz and I are talking about international affairs. What does the “sudden death” of Alexei Navalny mean for Russia’s future, and can Israel be stopped before laying siege to Rafah in Gaza? Also, we will preview America’s political malfunctions ahead of the GOP South Carolina primary, and we will also look at the commentary from Conestoga College president John Tibbits about international student issues at Ontario colleges.
Tune in to Open Sources Guelph later today at 5 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm!
Listen to Open Sources Guelph, as well as the Guelph Politicast and End Credits, any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple, Google, and Spotify.
Guelph Storm (OHL): It was another rough weekend for the Storm, but it did start out strong. Although they were able to defeat the Petes in Peterborough with a decisive 4-1 victory on Thursday, they went down at home 2-4 against Erie on Friday and 1-4 against Sudbury on the holiday Monday. Fortunately, the Otters are not doing much better and the Storm remain in third place in the Central Division, but they’re 15 points behind Kitchener and the playoff spots have started to be handed out. They sit in 11th place overall in the league. Up next, the Spitfires are in town on Friday and then the Storm go down to Erie for a rematch on Saturday.
Guelph Gryphons (OUA): Regular seasons are ending, and some Gryphon teams will be moving on to the playoffs. The men’s volleyball finished their season with their record 15th win against TMU, but the women’s hockey team wrapped up their regular season taking a 1-2 dive against the Lancers at home. Speaking of the post-season, Gryphon swimmers participated in the OUA Championships this past weekend with the women finishing in fifth place and the men finishing in sixth. It were the athletes in the gym, not the pool, that took the Gryph's Locker Athletes of the Week honours this week, with Rain Jhaj from women’s basketball and Jonathan Pickett from men’s volleyball getting recognized. Check out the weekend wrap here, and take a deeper dive on post-season action here.
Guelph United FC (League1 Ontario): League1 Ontario has announced the competition structure for the coming season, and, as you may be aware, the United will be playing in the Premier Division. In other news, Kitchener-born centre-back Markus Pusztahegyi is the most recent acquisition for the men’s team.
#Innovation
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!