Niki Ashton Promotes Pride for Being Left in Guelph

Niki Ashton came to Guelph Sunday evening. The Churchill—Keewatinook Aski became the latest NDP Member of Parliament to pass through Guelph lately, and the second NDP leadership candidate to visit the Royal City in the last couple of weeks. Ashton's message Sunday evening at the Red Papaya in Old Quebec Street was that the best way forward for the national New Democrats was to be themselves.

GUELPH POLITICAST #76 - Charlie Angus in the Green Room with a Story

This time next month, the federal Conservative leadership race will be concluded, and we will know who the new leader of the Opposition is going to be. But when that race is over, there's still one more left to go, the competition for the leadership of the NDP, and there's a 1-in-5 chance that Charlie Angus will get the job.

VIDEO: Justin Trudeau at Linamar. He Sees Stuff, Talks to People

The prime minister coming to town is big news, but does Justin Trudeau make any news when he comes to Guelph other than the fact that he was here? Today, as it was this time last year, the answer is no, but he made the day of a lot of the working folk at Linamar's Innovation Centre in a tour of the plant floor that saw no press questions, and no PM answers (not that we would be able to hear ourselves anyway). We do, however, have the following video of his visit.

GUELPH POLITICAST #41 - Fair Vote Guelph on Electoral Reform

You might have heard a lot of discussion in the news about electoral reform, but what is it, what are we reforming, and what are we reforming it into? All good questions that also have the virtue of not being easy ones to answer as well. This is the podcast that, at least initially, aimed to answer those questions, but if you're not sure where to begin on electoral reform, then this is as good a place as any to start.

Longfield Says There's Reason to be Positive About Federal Budget's Impact on Guelph

On Tuesday, the Federal government dropped the first budget under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The big message from the national coverage has been the nearly $30 billion in deficit spending and the billions of dollars in new spending on infrastructure in the hopes to spur economic growth, but since this is a Guelph-specific political site, the question should be asked: how does the Federal budget impact the Royal City?

Charlie Angus Coming to Guelph to Warm Up Local NDP

A lot of the local news for the upcoming Federal Election has been in regards to the very busy race for the Liberal nomination, but what of other opposition parties? The NDP hopes to make their presence felt in the suddenly vacant Royal City riding by bringing in a trusted representative to rile up the base. Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus will be at the Bullring at the University of Guelph on Sunday February 22 to do a fundraising concert to “build momentum” for the 2015 election.

Politics, Comic Books and Coins

The intermittent silence on Politico over the weekend stemmed from my time covering the National Fan Expo in Toronto for one of the culture vulture websites I get paid to write for. For those unfamiliar with Fan Expo, I basically describe it to the less nerdy as Canada's Comic Con, an expansive event for all things nerdy including science fiction, horror, comic books, and video games. But since synergy is synergy, the occasion offered a compelling opportunity, for politics and nerdery to mix.

By-Elections: Low Turnout Yields Predictable Results

Prime Minster Stephen Harper's gambit to hold four by-elections on the day before Canada seems to have yield the results he wanted: low turnout and predictable returns on all four ridings. However, a closer look at the numbers may given pause to the leader, at least for the moment, that Justin Trudeau's Liberals still have the momentum with the electorate as we barrel into the 2015 general election.

209 Problems But Approval Ain't One

All week, as environmentally concerned Canadians have been stewing about the greenlight given to Enbridge for the Northern Gateway pipeline. Still, as noted in many media sources, the governmental go-ahead came with conditions, a set of 209 caveats that Enbridge needs to meet in the interest of safety and environmental stewardship. But what are these 209 conditions. All the media reports have noted the conditions and that there are 209 of them, but for the full list, you have to go the Report of the Joint Review Panel for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project itself to get them. It's an appendix that you have to scan to the bottom of the over 400 page document to get, so in the interest of time and information, I thought I would post them here.

Busy News Day in Review

Our 24/7 news cycle sometimes makes it seem like more is going on than what really is, but yesterday was one of those news days where it seemed like everything was happening at once. In case you missed anything, I decided to put together this helpful recap of the day's events because the news of the day on April 10, 2014 was breaking over itself to get broken....

Valeriote Adds Veterans Affairs to List of Liberal Duties

Justin Trudeau may be the face of the party, but it seems that Guelph MP Frank Valeriote is doing all the heavy-lifting. Now, along with deputy whip and co-chair of the policy caucus, Valeriote will head up the Liberal Party's criticism on Veteran's Affairs in the Commons. Valeriote's new position in the Liberal caucus was announced Monday. 

Highlights from the 2014 Federal Budget

Booooooooooring. It's called the "Boring Budget," but the 2014 Federal Budget has a great many interesting implications for the nation was he head into an election year in 2015.  

Klevering SCOC Appeal Denied

Since things seem relatively quiet on the election front (for the moment), we can pause to reflect on a story or two that we might have missed over the holidays. For instance, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that they didn't want to hear from Kornelis Klevering on the matter of 2011 Federal Election results in Guelph. The Marijuana Party candidate wanted the election results overturned because of the fraudulent robocalls made to Guelph voters on election day, but SCOC seems satisfied in the constitutionality of the 2011 results.

SCOC Gives the Green Light for Red Light

Christmas came early for Canada's sex workers in a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada that paves the way for a very Dutch-like system of legalized prostitution. It's also a victory for all the social libertarians out there, and it re-inspires the belief that Canada is a haven of progressive ideals. Still, is this situation as entirely cut and dry as it seems? Are we just one short year away from red light districts in every major city, or is our current crime conscious Federal government going to put the kibosh on that idea?

The matter of law, for now, seems rather cut and dry. In a paradoxical fact of legal procedure, actual prostitution, that is to say accepting money in exchange for sex, wasn't illegal. What is, or rather was, illegal are activities associated with prostitution, meaning the operation of bordellos, support services for prostitutes like security and management, as well as communicating the fact that one is a prostitute and available to offer sex for money.

By-Election Polls Show a Red Wave Coming

This coming Monday, four ridings go to the polls to find a replacement for their recently departed Members of Parliament. From Montral's Bourassa and Toronto-Centre to Brandon-Souris and Provencher in Manitoba, voters will determine if it's time for change, or if they will stay the course and stick with the party that's represented them thus far. The NDP is looking to make gains in Quebec and Ontario, while the Conservatives hope that the senate scandal will not affect their chances in Manitoba. But what are the polls saying? Forum Research might have the answer.

Guelph Politicast #2.2 - Frank Valeriote

So it's taken a while to get to episode two, but we're here now for what I hope is the first of a string of regular Guelph Politicasts. In this edition, I talk to our local Member of Parliament Frank Valeriote.

Valeriote Gets Parliamentary Promotion

Parliament may be prorogued, but when it comes back in session in October our local MP Frank Valeriote will be sitting with a new role in the Liberal caucus, Deputy Whip.

Highlights from 2013 Federal Budget

Everybody was expecting the worst. This was going to be an austerity budget: no handouts, no tax breaks and no sugar coating. But instead it seems that there was room for some sugar, or at least the government had the ability to make the budget a little sweet for some.

Federal By-Elections Announced

The first big test to the longevity of the Conservative majority will take place late next month with the announcement of three by-elections in three different ridings across Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement today that the ridings of Victoria (British Columbia), Calgary-Centre and Durham (Ontario) will be going to the polls on Monday November 26. 

But Harper won't be the only one tested on November 26, it will also be Thomas Mulcair's first election as NDP/Opposition leader. The question before us today is can Mulcair capitalize on the NDP wave started in 2011, or is the prospect of Trudeau-Mania just too good to refuse? Or maybe Harper's luck will hold, and he'll take all three seats. But how likely is that?

Fighter Fiasco

Not a great day to be in the market for fighter jets, it seems, as the Federal government has hit another road block in its quest to buy new planes. A report issued today by Auditor-General Michael Ferguson said basically that the entire endeavour to this point has over-budget and less than transparent. The purchase of  65 fifth generation Joint Strike Fighters made to Lockheed Martin has been fraught with Parliamentarians getting misleading information which understated the problems the program was experiencing and provided artificially low cost estimates, according to Reuters.