Guelph Politico: July 2018

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

MANGEZ! Dine Safe Guide for July 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.

Ford Decision on Regional Chairs Doesn't Let Waterloo Off the Hook

On Friday, Premier Doug Ford announced that the Ontario government was cancelling the elections for regional chair in York, Peel, Niagara, and Muskoka. But wait a minute, there are already regional chairs established in Halton, Durham, and one more... Where was that regional chair, again? Oh yeah, Waterloo!

ELECTION 2018: The Final Ballot of Mayor, Council, and Trustee

66. After a spurt of new nominees over the last few days, there are 66 people running for mayor, city council, and school board trustee in Guelph. For your convenience, the complete list of candidates is below, incumbents are marked with an [X].

ELECTION 2018: Billings In, Van Hellemond Out

In the final hours of nominations for the 2018 Municipal Election, there was at least one surprise. While Christine Billings finally made official her intention to run for re-election, Andy Van Hellemond withdrew his name for consideration for one of the Ward 2 council seats.

As the nomination period races to a close, at least one city councillor will not be standing for re-election on October 22. Ward 6 Councillor Karl Wettstein has opted to take his leave of council at the end of November as opposed to trying for re-election for another term.

GUELPH POLITICAST #133 - Cathy Downer on AMO

At city council this week, a resolution from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) to support the North America Free Trade Agreement and stand with governments across Canada against Donald Trump's aggression on trade was passed unanimously. You may be asking, "What good does that do?" You may also be asking, "What the heck is AMO again?"

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for July 23, 2018

Plastic bags, police cars, and NAFTA are among the list of topics on this last council meeting bore summer break (and one of the last council meetings for this term). You can click here for the amended 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.

With nominations for the municipal election closing on Friday, Mayor Cam Guthrie had just over four days left before being acclaimed as the head of Guelph's city council for another four years. On Monday morning though, one candidate came forward to say "Not so fast", and she made it clear that she's not going to let you hold her youth and inexperience against her.

Xinyi, Police Cars and NAFTA Added to Monday's Meeting Agenda

This Monday will be the last meeting of council before the traditional summer break, and while it looked to be mostly low key, with only the Plastic Free Guelph presentation being the main point of discussion, there are a couple of interesting additions on the amended agenda.

She came within a quarter of a per cent of taking second place in Guelph's provincial election race, but it sounds like she's not prepared to settle for second this fall by running in the municipal election. Aggie Mlynarz has announced that she intends to run for Mayor of Guelph against the incumbent Cam Guthrie on October 22.

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for July 16, 2018

The next phase of the Baker District redevelopment will be presented and debated at this special session of city council. You can click here for the amended 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.

MANGEZ! Dine Safe Guide for July 1-15, 2018

ELECTION UPDATE: No Mayoral Competition Yet, and 3 Incumbents Yet to Announce

It's now less than two weeks till nominations close for 2018 municipal election candidates, so it seems like a good time to review the field, and look at the trends. Will the mayor run unchallenged? Might the entire council we have now be re-elected? And who might stand in the way of making that happening?

City Council Preview - What's on the Agenda for the July 23 Meeting?

In the last council meeting before the summer break, and the penultimate meeting of this council before the election, we've got one word for you: plastics.

GUELPH POLITICAST #132 - Plastic Free Guelph

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean there's a big floating mass of plastic that's roughly three times the size of France. While it's true that much of that plastic is fishing equipment, and about two-fifths of it comes from just five countries in southeast Asia, it's making us all think about our wasteful ways, especially when it comes to plastic.

City Council Preview - What's on the Agenda for the July 16 Meeting?

If was about one year ago that council decided it was full speed ahead on Baker Street redevelopment, and over half-a-year since council approved a business plan for the a new main library. The next phase of both these actions happens Monday in a special meeting of city council.

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for July 9, 2018

Council takes care of some unfinished planning business in this final planning meeting before the summer break. You can click here for the amended 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.

Now You Can Call Him "MPP Schreiner"

The election is long done, the work of preparing to govern has begun, but today history was official sealed with the swearing in of Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner as MPP of Guelph.

City Council Preview - What's on the Agenda for the July 9 Meeting?

Council's going to take care of some unfinished business before the summer break at this month's planning meeting. Brownfields, commercial space, and a brand new planning advisory committee are all topics for conversation.