Guelph Politico: January 2018

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

MANGEZ! Dine Safe Guide for January 16-31, 2018

Twice-monthly, Guelph Politico posts the latest inspection results from the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Unit inspection of local restaurants, hotels, cafes, grocery stores and other businesses that handle food. We call it "Mangez!", and this column highlights the latest inspections done by WDGPH, and the results they've posted.

This is a serious time, and there are serious issues to discuss, but there comes a moment when you just have to walk away from the news, put on a costume, and talk about the finer points of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or the last adventures of Doctor Who or the starship Discovery. Don't pretend you don't know what any of that means!

The Politico Calendar for February 2018

February is for lovers, but it's also for busy politicos looking for something fun and informative to do. Here's the Politico Calendar for the second month of the year.

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for January 29, 2018

The Guelph-Wellington 20,000 Homes Annual Report, and the last chance to debate items from this month's committee meeting are on the agenda for tonight's gathering of city council. You can click here for the agenda from City Hall, and you can click here for the Politico preview. For the complete blow-by-blow of tonight's council meeting, you can follow me on Twitter, or follow the tweets below.

Zombie Play Tries to Make a Point About Electoral Reform for MP

One year after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that electoral reform was not going to happen, despite numerous promises to the contrary, a group of Guelph activists said that they're still invested in holding the PM to his word. To do this, some concerned Guelphites decided to put on a little show, one that might appeal to the drama teacher background of the present occupant of the PMO. Watch the "zombies" descend on Lloyd Longfield's constituency office.

Committee of the Whole Preview - What's on the Agenda for the February 5 Meeting?

For February, it's Corporate Services and Public Services month at Committee-of-the-Whole, kicking off what's going to be a very busy month in the council chambers.

U of G Students Would Rather Have O-Week Than a Fall Reading Week

Do students need a longer break in the fall? That's the question that the University of Guelph is trying to get feedback on, but they've been stymied because “What we heard back was all over the map,” according to Ray Darling, the Registrar for the U of G. A town hall on campus Wednesday night drew about 50 students, but no greater clarity in terms of what the majority of campus wants on the matter.

In an interview on the subject, a spokesperson from Fossil Free Guelph said that whatever the outcome of a vote on an ad-hoc committee report at Tuesday's Board of Governors' meeting, "It's not done, until we get divestment." As luck would have it, despite a report that said otherwise, the debate over whether or not the University of Guelph should divest its endowment from fossil fuel companies is not over. Yet.

GUELPH POLITICAST #109 - Sheila Block, Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives

It's not every day that your get raise of over $2 per hour, but that's what happened on January 1 of this year when the Ontario government's mandated minimum wage increase went into effect. All those greedy fry cooks and stock boys will now be driving their sports cars and taking European vacations on the back of the small business owners that drive our economy, right?

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for January 22, 2018

Tonight, council will act as tribunal and hear a matter of misplaced development charges. You can click here for the agenda from City Hall, and you can click here for the Politico preview. For the complete blow-by-blow of tonight's council meeting, you can follow me on Twitter, or follow the tweets below.

This Week in Press Releases - January 15-19, 2018

Every week, the City of Guelph and other groups send out notices to announce new events, imperatives, and information that you need to know. Here is this week in press releases.

Student Group Hopes to Change Minds on Divestment Vote at U of G

On Tuesday, the Board of Governors at the University of Guelph are meeting, as they regularly do. But there's an item on the agenda this month that is quite irregular. The final report of an ad-hoc committee on Special Action Requests is bringing back the results of an investigation into whether or not the U of G should divest from fossil fuel companies, and the people that helped bring the request forward are not going to like the answer.

City Council Preview - What's on the Agenda for the January 29 Meeting?

A straightforward agenda for the first full council meeting of the year, as councillors get a chance to review items from the Committee-of-the-Whole meeting just two weeks earlier.

VIDEO: Waiting for the Bus Can Be Dangerous

Tonight at the University Centre, waiting for the northbound #99 Mainline was a cold and perilous experience. It's hard to say what the problem was - a busy night at the university, a missing bus - but what it was, it created a dangerous situation as hundreds of University of Guelph students waited in front of platform #12 for their ride downtown.

On Monday, it's time for a very special council meeting in which the mayor and city council will be asked to take on a role they don't play every day.

GUELPH POLITICAST #108 - Gibson and MacKinnon on Being a Councillor

Gibson and MacKinnon at the 2014 swearing in of council.

Not to alarm you guys, but there's a municipal election in October. There is certainly anticipation for this event in local democracy, and there's already a working list out there about who on the present council is running and who is still just a maybe. But let's forget the horse race for a moment, and talk about the job itself. More than that let's talk about what the job looks like after doing it for the last three years.

Committee of the Whole Post-view: What Happened at the January 15 Meeting?

It was a contentious and surprisingly lengthy first meeting of the Committee-of-the-Whole for 2018 as topics from Governance and Infrastructure, Development and Enterprise were debated. This is the first of what will be a series of "Post-views" by Politico for council meetings, a recap of the meeting in the similar format of the regular preview post for each meeting.

More Transit Drama as GM Spicer Quits and Heads to Halifax

Two-days shy of exactly 14-months after the announcement of his hire, Guelph Transit GM Mike Spicer has announced that he will be leaving not just the City of Guelph, but the Province of Ontario.

This Week in Press Releases - January 8-12, 2018

Every week, the City of Guelph and other groups send out notices to announce new events, imperatives, and information that you need to know. Here is this week in press releases.

Guelph Labour Activists Help Stand Up to Tim Hortons "Bullies"

It was a rainy night in Guelph. Cold too. So getting some two dozen protestors out at dinner time to wave flags and hoist signs to support workers who earn minimum wage was going to be a challenge, but not a challenge that Guelphites weren't willing to overcome.

So I think many of us feel like the last month went by in a blur, there were a lot of big issues, big discussions, and a lot of consequential decisions made by council. So before diving into a new year with new issues and new decisions, let's revisit what happened in the tired and true format of the clip show.

A Contentious Town Hall About a New Library with People that Want a New Library

This evening, things got heated - but not as heated as they were at the afternoon session apparently - at a town hall about the business case for a new main branch of the Guelph Public Library. The two meetings today were meant to update the public about the pending developments for the construction of the new main branch, but it frequently descended into an inquisition as to whether or not the City and Library are being open and transparent enough about the process.

Gordon Invites Guelphites to Make the LEAP

The new year is the perfect time to start new commitments, and try new things, and Ward 2 City Councillor James Gordon seems to be taking that to heart by starting a Guelph branch of LEAP, and he hopes you will join him.

Committee of the Whole Preview - What's on the Agenda for the January 15 Meeting?

It's back to business as usual (or unusual as the case may be) at city council. The first Committee-of-the-Whole meeting of the year will deal with the city's stock of religious lands, sign bylaws, and promotional expenses.

Keeping Tabs on Lloyd

Travelling down to city council every week to keep tabs on the members of our local government is easy, but what about keeping tabs on Guelph's Member of Parliament from a few hundred kilometres away? It's tricky, but not impossible thanks to online tools. So if you feel like keeping tabs on Lloyd, that is to say, if you want to know what our MP, Lloyd Longfield, is up to in the House of Commons, here's how you can do it.

Mangez: The Best of the Chains

Two times every month, Guelph Politico publishes a dine safe guid called Mangez, which takes the latest results from the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Health Unit and breaks them down according to which local eateries are perfect, which have some issues, and which aren't serving dinner anymore. Now there are a lot of eateries in town that are part of the same brand or chain, and you maybe wondering, which of them is the best when it comes to their twice-annual inspections? Wonder no more.