Dion and Tanguay Talk Electoral Reform at Hope House

This event was mentioned during the recent Guelph Politicast with Frank Valeriote, but if you're a reader and not a listener, check out the news release from Valeriote's constituency office below.

GrassRoots Guelph Wants to Find the Beef

The new political action group GrassRoots Guelph is hitting the ground running in terms of its advocacy for Guelph voters. A press release sent out earlier this week outlined the group's intent to request a forensic audit of the City of Guelph's finances after 160 people signed a petition from GRG to demand the audit from Ontario's Ministery of Municipal Affairs and Housing. What do they hope to find? Proof that the city's managers are spending like drunken sailors of course.

This Time, David Won

That thud you heard last week was Nestlé Waters giving up its appeal to a decision made last fall by the Ministry of the Environment to grant them permission to take water from a Hillsburgh well with the caveat that their intake be reduced in times of drought. Nestlé's surrender is being seen as a victory by many of the local environmental groups, a capitulation by the industry that the unlimited taking of water from our local fresh water sources is going to be tougher row to hoe from this point on. But will that be the case?

Council to Talk Water Rates and Other Money Matters

As previously reported, the budgeting season has begun and everything that costs anything in the City of Guelph is going to be up for bids. At a meeting at City Hall on October 24, community members are being invited to give input about non-tax supported budget items.

NDP Announces Nomination Meet for October 22

Despite the ongoing controversies, the Ontario Liberals are holding on to power with a vice-like grip. Still, the opposition parties continue to jockey as if an election is in the immediate future, and the local NDP is looking to lock up their candidate in the Royal City.

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.

Dazed and Confused

As the U.S. government enters week two of its shutdown, America's primary source of information, its beloved lat night comedians, have pointed out some of the buffoonery that's driving the debate, specifically in regards of the Affordable Care Act. The ACA, or "Obamacare" if you like, was the lightening rod for the shutdown, with many in Congress demanding that if Barack Obama wanted to keep the government open, then he had to defund/repeal/stall the implementation of his signature piece of legislation.

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.

Editorial - Thinking Outside the Big Box

The recent news that the development of Costco is delayed, and may possibly not open in time for this coming Christmas shopping season,was sad news for a lot of people. Not me. Never me. I've never been to a Costco, I've never had any desire to go to one, so I'm not really the person to celebrate the idea of one opening in Guelph. Although by necessity I do patronize big box stores, but there is something about them that strikes me as unsettling: I've been to a Wal-Mart in Ontario, and I've been to a Wal-Mart in Indiana, and do you know what the aesthetic difference is between the two is? Neither do I.

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.