Q&A with Liberal Candidate Sly Castaldi

Sly Castaldi has spent the last decade and a half as the executive director of Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis, but now she wants to make the leap to a much larger world. Castaldi is the one that will be asking Guelph to stay red and allow her to succeed Liz Sandals as the Liberal MPP of this riding. For today though, Castaldi answers some questions from Guelph Politico about why she wanted to run for higher office, what she's looking forward to, and most importantly, having a Twitter presence where her predecessor did not...

Election Moves: Schreiner's Weekend. New Liberal Named. Elliott Coming to Guelph?

The provincial election is about 100 days away, but that hasn't stopped what's been a very busy Friday on the Queen's Park beat so far as Guelph is concerned.

SHOCKER: Sandals Will Not Run for Re-Election in 2018.

In a surprise announcement today, Guelph MPP and President of the Treasury Board, Liz Sandals, announced that she will not seek re-election in 2018. "After a summer of discussion with my husband and children, I have made the difficult decision to retire – and so I will not be running in the next provincial election," she said in a statement.

Feds Kicking in Nearly $10 Million for Guelph Transit Upgrades

March has been a big month for transit news in the Royal City, so it's apropos that it goes out like a lamb for city transit nerds with an announcement that the Federal government will be investing nearly $9.7 million in Guelph Transit improvements including new vehicles, new fair boxes, new shelters, and upgrades to traffic signalling.

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?

Trudeau #First100: Reasons for Optimism; Challenges Ahead, Says Panel

Friday marked the end of the first 100 days in office for the 42nd Parliament and the government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. The October 19th election last fall saw not just a change in government, but the beginning of a highly ambitious agenda of grand promises and firm deadlines along with the day-to-day priorities of governing. So, 100 days later, a panel of experts gathered at the University of Guelph to talk about how it's going so far.

Here's what Lloyd Longfield Said in his First Speech in the House

Although he didn't get one of your fancy cabinet seats, Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield is still taking care of business in the House of Commons. In his first address in said House, Longfield rose to salute a Guelphite who's doing his part on the preeminent human rights issue of our time, assisting Syrian refugees.

GUELPH POLITICAST #26 - Lloyd Longfield, MP-Elect

After nine years in the cold of the Opposition bench, Guelph has a seat in government again, and it will be filled by former Chamber of Commerce president Lloyd Longfield. The newly elected Libeal Member of Parliament for Guelph sat down with the Guelph Politicast this past week for his first, full-length post-election interview.

Wynne Announces New Funding in Guelph for Ontario's Sexual Assault Centres

One in three women will experience sexual assault in her lifetime. A statistic like that is one of the many reasons that Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne came to Guelph today to announce $1.75 million in new funding for the province's 42 sexual assault centres. The funding will be in addition to the $14.6 million that those centres already receive, and constitutes an ongoing financial commitment to the base funding that allows services like Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis (WIC) to help the survivors of sexual violence who need their assistance.

Longfield to Carry Liberal Banner for Guelph in Fall Election

They may not have been first, but many eyes were on the Liberal Party's Guelph membership to see who they would be nominating to succeed Frank Valeriote as their nominee in Guelph. Three people submitted their names for the chance to run for the Liberals in this fall's federal election. By the time it was all said and done, former Guelph Chamber of Commerce President Lloyd Longfield came out on top, but if there was a unifying tone amongst all the potential Liberal nominees it was that they're very convinced that Stephen Harper is going down this October. 

Burcher to Official Launch Liberal Nomination Bid

Forget the Federal Election coming - eventually - later this year, the real contest is going on now is the race to see who will become the new Liberal candidate in Guelph after Frank Valeriote announced his retirement last fall. Former Ward 5 councillor Lise Burcher will officially launch her campaign tonight at the Green Room at the Bookshelf. In an already busy campaign for the Liberal nom, Burcher is banking that it's not to late to make her case.

2015 Federal Election: Busy Race for Grits Vs Tory Troubles?

Since the announcement that Frank Valeriote had decided not to run for re-election last fall, it seems that local Liberals have been in non-stop campaign mode. Former Guelph Chamber of Commerce President Lloyd Longfield threw his hat into the ring fairly early, and was swiftly followed by scientist and author Wendy Powell. But if the local race for the Liberal nomination is big enough for two people, is it big enough for three? Or four? And what of the other parties? Is anyone else having election thoughts with the general election still over nine months away?

Young Liberals Endorse Longfield

I'm really not trying to turn this into the Liberal nomination blog. Seriously, I'm not. But they do seem to be the most fired up in the efforts to get a nominee for the upcoming Federal Election. To wit, I received a press release this morning from Lily Gamble, President of the Guelph Young Liberals, announcing that group's unanimous endorsement of former Guelph Chamber of Commerce President Lloyd Longfield as the successor to Frank Valeriote for Royal City Grits. There's no date yet for the nomination meeting, and Longfield does have competition for the nom in the form of author, life coach and federal scientist Wendy Powell, but one would be remiss to not point out that Longfield is the presumptive frontrunner. 

Press Release - Longfield to Official Make Move for Liberal Nom

Lloyd Longfield has spent the last couple of weeks letting the people tell him if he should run for the Liberal Party of Canada, and it appears that the opinion is an affirmative. Longfield intends to make his entry into federal politics official tomorrow night, kicking off the race to succeed Frank Valeriote as the Liberal nominee and, hopefully, Guelph's Member of Parliament. Below is the press release announcing the former President of the Chamber of Commerce's intention to run. 

Former Chamber Boss Longfield Looking at Federal Run

Well that didn't take long. Less than two weeks after Guelph MP and presumptive Liberal candidate for the 2015 Federal Election Frank Valeriote announced that he was not going to seek a third term, one well-known member of the Royal City community is exploring the possibility of filling Valeriote's shoes. Although the concept of an exploratory committee is largely an American political phenomenon, former Guelph Chamber of Commerce President Lloyd Longfield is hoping to crowd source some feedback as to whether or not he should step up for local Liberals leading in to next year's election.

VIDEO - Valeriote Will Not Seek Re-Election as Guelph's MP

"Representing the people of Guelph is a great privilege. Service is an honour, but family is paramount. Indeed, fatherhood is a greater honour. It is for that reason that while I will continue to represent Guelph as its Member of Parliament until the next election is called, I will not be seeking re-election."

With those words, Frank Valeriote, the Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Guelph, laid out the new political reality for the Federal Election here in Guelph next year. It is now an open race with no incumbent running in the Royal City, as Valeriote in an emotional address shared with the media his desire to re-focus his attention to his family and find new ways to serve the Guelph community here are home.

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.

Schreiner Says Thanks and Offers Final Thoughts

One of the disappointments for historically minded politicos was that Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner didn't get the breakthrough he wanted here in Guelph last night. Schreiner secured a healthy third place and nearly 20 per cent of the vote, but still getting less than half the popular vote that rewarded Liberal Liz Sandals with her four-peat. Schreiner and his team were probably, understandably disappointed this morning, and that sort of comes out in their below press release, which offers some thanks to his volunteers, and some consideration as to why he didn't do better in a campaign he banked so much on.

#ONelxn14 - Everything in its Right Place?

Huh. Well, that was weird. Any reasonable estimate of last night's election results foretold another minority government, it was just a question of under who and how much of a majority. Nope. The Liberals, who we were all supposed to be sick and tired of, now return to Queen's Park with a majority government, beating all reasonable expectations about the election's outcome with Kathleen Wynne now the Premier of a political secure government. Tim Hudak, leader of the Progressive Conservatives, is stepping down after the complete and utter failure in his own mandate to unseat a besieged and unpopular government. And Andrea Horwath, despite her bold and risky campaign strategy, managed to come out quits with the same number of seats coming out as she had going in. But was it all worth it? And what happens now?

2014 Provincial Election - Last Call

As the last day before the 2014 provincial election heads off into the sunset, it seems timely to leave you with a reminder to get out tomorrow and exercise your democratic franchise. But no, there's just too much bat $#!% craziness happening on the campaign trail right now. This last full day of the campaign was filled with shenanigans from all sides; misleading letters, bad taste in Photoshop, and enough sign vandalism to shake a stick at, and then use that stick to vandalize some election signs. Ladies and gentleman, this was your last day of Decision 2014. The day decorum died.