GUELPH POLITICAST #131 - Back With the Back-Grounder

News is the art of delivering the day's information in an organized and coherent way, but stories don't just happen with a beginning, middle and end all in one day. Some of the biggest stories, including the most important stories, trace their roots back many years. In the news, there's an important function to not just understand the day's events, but the events that led to the day's events.

The Politico Calendar for April 2016

It's April already, and in that first full month of spring there is a whole new sense of promise and opportunity. In the next couple of weeks there will be all sorts of festivals and special events, along with the usual meetings and information nights. Many of them are here connected in this month's Politico calendar.

The Politico Calendar for March 2016

I'd say welcome to spring, but at least 10 out of the last 29 days could have been clarified as "spring-like." So why not celebrate that time of year for getting outside, by getting in to some of these great Guelph events.

GUELPH POLITICAST #29 - Sebastian Silva/ Joan Jylanne/ Lloyd Longfield

On this edition of the Guelph Politicast, we experiment with the form by have three separate short interviews: robocall investigation enthusiast Sebastian Silva, senior policy planner with the City of Guelph Joan Jylanne, and Guelph Member of Parliament Lloyd Longfield.

The Politico Calendar for February 2016

Looking for something to do, or a way to engage or get engaged in the shortest month of the year? Here's the events, meetings, and information nights to keep an eye out for this February.

The Politico Calendar for January 2016

If you come to Guelph Politico looking for dates and times and locations for various political events  and going on in the city - Good News! - I have initiated a new monthly feature to be called (for the lack of creativity) the "Politico Calendar."

New Name, New Look, Half the Gang - New Current Events Show on CFRU

It was a sad development for the end of the year, the announcement that Gang of Four would be no more. It was a reverse Christmas present, something that was being taken away not just from me, but from the hundreds of people that like the show, and like getting a different perspective on politics and current affairs. Change is inevitable, and change is never one thing, which is why while The Gang of Four is no more, Open Sources Guelph now lives.

Be Advised - Big Line-ups at the Polls

So much for apathy. The City of Guelph is reporting that some polling stations throughout the city are experiencing - wait for it! - a higher than expected voter turnout. Translation: long lines. If, like me, you left voting till today, then you, like me, might encounter a bit of a wait when you get to the polling station. Another part of the problem is technical (surprise.) as updates to voter lists have been slow to sync up between the main database and computers at polling stations. But on the upside, apparently a lot of us decided to get off our butts and vote!

Leanne Piper (Ward 5) - Candidate Questionnaire

Leanne Piper has been a city coucillor for Ward 5 since 2006, and is the only incumbent from that ward running for re-election. Starting her political career as a Trustee on the Upper Grand District School Board, Piper splits her time working on council, working as the Manager in Admissions and Marketing in the department of Student Housing Services at the University of Guelph, and being a masters student at the U of G pursuing her MA Leadership. Among her committee and board work, Piper has worked with several including the Guelph Junction Railway, Guelph Police Services, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Board of Health, Guelph Historical Society, Family and Children’s Services, Career Education Council, and the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario. She's currently the chair of the Planning, Building, Engineering and Environment committee and sits as a member on the Operations, Transit and Emergency Services committee. And if all that isn't already enough, she also owns her own book publishing business called Log Cabin Press, which has published books on local history including Fingerprints Through Time: History of Guelph Police (authors Bob Rutter, John D’Alton and Leanne Piper), and Barns and Coach Houses of Guelph (by Evelyn Bird). Piper certainly hopes that Ward 5 voters won't be closing the book on her time on council, and has taken the time to answer Politico's candidate questionnaire.

Guelph's New MedCannAccess Solution Centre Welcomed with Open Arms

It was just four years ago that the Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph was shuttered following a police raid that saw many of its staff arrested and its clientele forced to look elsewhere for their medication. Today though, for the opening of the new Guelph office of the MedCannAccess Solution Centres, the tone was quite different.  

Several local politicians including Ward 3 Councillor Maggie Laidlaw, Ward 2 candidates James Gordon and Sian Matwey, Ward 6 candidate Keith Poore, and Guelph Member of Parliament Frank Valeriote, were all on hand to welcome the opening of this third MedCannAccess Centre in Ontario with open arms. The Centre's goal: to provide a one-stop shop for consultation, information and referral for patients seeking medicinal marijuana options to treat what ails them.

This Municipal Election Year is an Animal Farm

From CTV Kitchener

 George Orwell's 1945 political satire Animal Farm was about a group of animals who take over their farm from the drunk and inept Mr. Jones and enjoy success until the pigs that led the revolution become corrupt and human-like. Orwell was commenting on the Russian Revolution, but Animal Farm may be somewhat prescient in terms of the way the municipal election is shaking out in some quarters. You see, the animals are making a play to take over.

Farbridge Gambles on Another Term as Mayor

Today at City Hall, the woman who currently holds the keys to the Mayor's office made her bid to hold on those keys by announcing her intention to run for another term. If successful, this would be Farbride's third consecutive term, fourth overall, but arguably she will have much stiffer competition this year than she did in 2010.

Upcoming "Beyond the Ballot Box" Specials for the Holidays

As per usual with the end of the year, the Gang of Four and Beyond the Ballot Box will be doing some special episodes for the last few weeks of 2013. 

Political Laughs Coming to Guelph

Politics can be a source of tremendous humour. In fact, people might say that humour is about the only thing our modern political culture is good for now. A Guelph event next week is going to prove that all over again as Riotwire.com will be putting on their comedy show tour in Royal City at Ed Video Media Arts Centre.

Maple Leaf Politics

Professional hockey is back, and so is the idea that being Canadian and being a hockey fan are the exact same thing, synonymous and inseparable. This time last year though, there was no pro-hockey, and no one had any idea when there might be hockey. People were ticked, but that anger went away pretty quick when the millionaire athletes they both loved and hated finally took to the ice.

No place was that more true than a few miles down the road in Toronto, where Maple Leaf worship is devote and absolute, yet with far fewer miracles required to placate the faithful. In fact, Toronto is coming up on nearly half a century without a championship, and as teams in the United States, some of whom are recent champions, struggle to fill arenas, the Leafs remain the NHL's most profitable team. Actually, they're a quarter of a billion dollars more profitable than the number two team, the New York Rangers.

So what does any of this have to do with politics? Well, I would argue that fans of the Maple Leafs don't get a lot of return on their annual investment of $1 billion; no Stanley Cup in 46 years, one playoff bearth in 10, and even then they were put it out in the first round. It seems that if you're a Maple Leafs fan, you've not only come to expect a lot of disappoint, but you've become comfortable with the fact that you're going to get it. It sort of reminds me a lot of politics.

Partisan Posts Linked Back to Fantino

The pitcher of political scandal on the federal scene has been rather full lately thanks to the ongoing senate expense controversy and the almost daily developments on that front ("minister without a portfolio," really Mike Duffy?) so one could understand how other scandals might end up under the rug, but here we go anyway.

You'll recall earlier this year a story that accused International Development Minister Julian Fantino in having a pair of partisan op-eds posted on the website for the Canadian International Development Agency. Fantino claimed to know nothing about two letters with the headings, “Liberals make promises, Conservatives get results”, which originally appeared in the National Post, and “Dear NDP: CIDA does not need your economic advice,” but there have since been developments that say that he did know all along.

Guelph Politico 3.0

This is the end. No wait, that's wrong. This is actually a new beginning. 

BC Goes to the Polls

An election has been called in British Columbia, and why should we care, you may be asking. Fair enough. The provincial politics of B.C. don't have much of an impact on us here in Ontario, but for open-minded politicos there are a couple of things to watch out for when British Columbians go to the polls on May 14. 

The Passing of King Ralph

Anyway you dice it, the legacy of Ralph Klein will be in essence divisive, but on the surface one can't help but admire the man who sadly passed away yesterday at the age 70. He helped usher in a new era of western Canadian leadership and was one of Alberta's strongest and most steadfast spokespeople. That, naturally, sometimes got him into trouble in the short term, but Klein's impact as Calgary mayor, Alberta premier and leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives will be long felt.

Sandals Makes The Cabinet

It's a day of tremendous pride for a little berg as Guelph's Member of Provincial Parliament, Liberal Liz Sandals, was announced yesterday as the province's new Minister of Education under Premier Kathleen Wynne.