Guelph Politicast

Climate change, despite the inference, is not a hot topic, politically speaking. We had two big elections this year and you can probably count on one hand how many times the environment came up in conversation. Perhaps the time has come for a re-examination of our priorities: Can Guelph still be a climate leader in a political time when no one wants to talk about climate change? Back in May, City of Guelph staff presented to council the “Guelph’s Community Call to Climate Action.” It was not a good news story.  According to this report, the City of Guelph has made “moderate” progress in its greenhouse gas goals, so staff opted to lay out a way that they could engage the broader community to join the effort; from building more energy efficient low carbon buildings to using more sustainable transportation options. Then, September’s “Draw the Line” protest tried to centre climate action along with peace and poverty as the crises of our time, and the Community Climate Forum 2025 next week will try to follow up on

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're thankful that dysfunction is a national phenomenon. We will head out west where there is inter-party friction in British Columbia's official opposition, and then we will look at a dispute between teachers and a provincial government in an entirely different part of the country. In even more serious news, we will mark the second anniversary of a devastating war by talking about the people covering it. This Thursday, October 9, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: West Coast Debenture. There is some interesting things happening in the B.C. legislature. While Premier David Eby is fighting trade wars and Alberta's desire for a pipeline to the coast, the new BC Conservative Party is fighting, well, each other. Despite almost winning power one year ago, John Rustad's insurgent party is now experiencing growing pains. Meanwhile, the Green Party has elected a 25-year-old to lead them at this critical time. We'll get into the wild west. Wildrose Lessons. Ri

This week on End Credits we're ready to rock! Of perhaps we should say we're ready to Kpop. You know it, and maybe you love it, but this week we will finally catch up on the phenomenon called KPop Demon Hunters, which you can now watch on Netflix in regular and sing-along versions. Also, we will talk about other great animated movies you should see.  This Wednesday, October 8, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss: Animation Domination. This week we're re-entering the realm of animation, which is a filmmaking style we do occasionally get into, but perhaps not as often as we like. So in honour of the movie we're reviewing, we're going to talk about some of our favourite underappreciated animated movies, from the best of Don Bluth to maybe the most accessible movie from an upstate New York underground animator. Not quite Disney-free, but close... REVIEW: KPop Demon Hunters (2025). It is the biggest phenomenon of the year! It's topped the box office charts, the streaming charts, and the musi

It seemed like we had turned a corner on making cycling a true equal partner when it comes to road share, but like a lot of progressive policy now we’re in the midst of a blowback. The Ontario government voted to tear out bike lanes last year, and now they have their sights set on pulling down all automated speed enforcement cameras. Perhaps, the time is right for the a new kind of Guelph mayor... A Bicycle Mayor! Just a few weeks ago there was another cycling fatality on the roads of Guelph, a 37-year-old man had been riding his bike near Elmira and Massey when he was killed after being struck by a garbage truck. It’s getting dangerous out there, and while we have the City of Guelph’s Vision Zero initiative trying to make an impact, people are still being killed and injured on our streets in vehicle collisions. Perhaps then this is the perfect time for a Bicycle Mayor! Andrea Bidgood has been a part of  various community building initiatives, and now, as the Bicycle Mayor, she will next take part in the Guel

This week's Open Sources Guelph is going to the birds! Both of our main topics this week intersects with the Supreme Court of Canada, which is presently tackling the extent of federal and provincial separation of powers and whether or not food inspectors can do their job when it comes to animal control and infectious disease. In non-court news, we will talk to a city councillor about planning in Guelph, and whether that's going to the birds... This Thursday, October 2, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: 33 and Me. The Notwithstanding Clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was a necessary compromise in getting the Constitution approved in 1982, but is there a chance that it's being abused by provincial governments who don't want the bother and hassle of judicial oversight? That is the question the federal government wants answered after they entered the chat with a factum in the case over Quebec's Bill 21, but is this a question we need answered? The Birds. There were a lot of eyes

This week on End Credits, our plans go awry. Or to put it another way, it's One Battle After Another. We will catch up with Paul Thomas Anderson who's new movie just dropped to rave reviews, but how do we feel about it? You'll learn that in due time after we flashback to 1995 and a wild weekend of strippers and serial killers at the movie theatre! This Wednesday, October 1, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: Showgirls Vs. Seven. On the weekend of September 22, 1995, two very different movies opened wide at the North American box office: one is a stylish film noir about cops searching for a serial killer, and the other is a lavish Las Vegas satire about a dancer trying to climb the ladder to fame and fortune. To start the show, we will talk about the life and legacy of Showgirls and Seven and how these two very different movies launched at the same time. REVIEW: One Battle After Another (2025). One of the most anticipated movies of the year, Paul Thomas Anderson finally teams up with Leo

Sometimes information gathering doesn’t happen in the perfect audio conditions of a studio or the Zoom link, you have to occasionally get out there and find the news. To that end, we will visit a picket line on Speedvale Avenue, attend an annual event that reminds us that there’s still some ways to go when it comes to eliminating gender-based violence, and hear about a program fighting food insecurity in the west end. First up we meet Nisha Jagtap and Will Snyder, two of the hundreds of college support workers on strike and are about to enter their third week on the line. Both sides released statements on Monday saying the other is prolonging the strike, but that’s what is going on at the high level. What’s going on at Conestoga College’s Guelph campus? Jagtap and Snyder will share their thoughts from the picket line, how students are being affected, and what they want from a new contract.  Next, we will rewind to Thursday September 18, which was the annual commemoration of Take Back the Night. Cindy McMann,

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're going to meetings. There's a big one at U.N. headquarters in New York this week, and Canada sent the new kid to dazzle everyone. Meanwhile, closer to home, Ontario's opposition parties have been having meetings and in some cases, they're shaking up the guest list. Even more closer to home, we don't do meetings, we do protests and marches on a Saturday. This Thursday, September 25, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: UNGA for Carney. While another typically unhinged Donald Trump speech seized much of the attention, it seemed like Prime Minister Mark Carney was the proverbial belle of the ball at the United Nations General Assembly this week. Carney seemed to be putting points on the board, from dealing with the Chinese Premier to recognizing the State of Palestine, so is Carney able to do abroad what he's been unable to do at home: Be a uniter? Opposition Research. In the last two weeks, Ontario's two major opposition parties have had leadership re

This week on End Credits, we're making friends. This may be harder that it looks, or at least it seems like it is with this week's movie, which is called Friendship. You can watch that on video-on-demand or by streaming it on Paramount+, and while you're making a watchlist we will talk about other movies featuring a legendary movie star who has sadly passed away. This Wednesday, September 24, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss: Remembering Robert Redford. There are movie stars and then there's Robert Redford! The multi-talented actor, director and activist passed away last week at the age of 89, and he leaves a tremendous legacy of wonderful movies he made both in front of and behind the camera. But beyond his own films, Redford, as founder of the Sundance Film Festival, has fostered the talents of hundreds more. We will talk about Redford's multifaceted legacy. REVIEW: Friendship (2025). What if Fatal Attraction was about a suburban dad who becomes obsessed with his neighbour, the cool

StrategyCorp puts out a report every year called the Ontario Municipal Chief Administrative Officer Survey. The CAOs profiled have some strong feelings about Strong Mayor Powers, intergovernmental relations, housing, growth, financing, and and more, but what’s interesting is not what the CAOs had to say, it's the fact that they said it. What are CAOs thinking when they're given the cloak of anonymity? A retired Brock University professor David Siegel once wrote, “CAOs can make a mayor and council look exceptionally good (or bad). They can be a source of great pride and motivation among the staff of the municipality (or not).” In that context, it’s no wonder that people would want to hear a CAO's unvarnished takes on something like Strong Mayor Powers, which was the one part of this year's CAO Survey that made the most noise. But municipal life is bigger than Strong Mayors, and it’s just one of 14 chapters in the 2025 survey. When you read the report, which features contributions from 32 unnamed CAOs from aro

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we've got news overload. It was a tough call determining what to talk about on the show today, but first and foremost we have to separate the wheat from the chaff on the killing of an American pundit. After that, we're going to dig into more local drama by asking what the recent push against school boards is about and then we're going to talk to the MPP from a neighbouring riding. This Thursday, September 18, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: The Aftermath. Last Wednesday, conservative organizer and provocateur Charlie Kirk was killed on the campus of a Utah college, and what followed was recriminations on political violence, calls to sanction certain left-wing groups on a whim, the cancellation of people who dared to quote Kirk's rhetoric, and the search for a connection to someone in the trans community so that they can take the blame. Can this get any worse? Board to Death. In the last few months, the Ontario government and Minister of Education Pa

This week on End Credits, things get creepy. Again. In the last four weeks, we've reviewed three horror movies and the latest is The Long Walk, the last adaptation from the *King* of horror. That's a dystopia, so we're going to talk about that, and as we're creeping up on October, and our latest Halloween movie draft, we will talk about other movie challenges!  This Wednesday, September 17, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss: The Halloween Challenge. Halloween Month is nearly upon us, but for some people it starts in August. Like Candice. To open this week's show, we will talk about Candice's 100 movies in 92 days challenge, how she chooses the ones she watches, and how you can get started if you're interested in taking up your own movie challenge. Dystopia! Before we dive into this week's movie, we will pause to recognize all the crappy futures we've dwelled in during our movie lives. From living among monsters both literal and figurative, to authoritarian governments and tech gone wi

School kids and teachers aren't the only ones that get a summer vacation. City council, and those that cover them, also get a summer break, at least when it comes to the monthly meeting schedule. We now have a couple of weeks of meetings under our belt since August ended, but for this week's podcast we're going back in time to business at council before summer vacation. We will start in May when council said goodbye to a colleague who got a new job, and then they got into the issue of placing a daytime shelter, and whether or not that should go downtown. Downtown was a pretty big area of interest in the middle three months of meetings this year, from the upcoming big dig on Upper Wyndham and St. George's Square to the possibility of holding the Memorial Cup at the Sleeman Centre in 2027. The biggest story though might have been that council vacancy. There were times that the even number of council representatives caused some difficulties on close votes, including on the vote to appoint a replacement for Domi

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we celebrate old times, and new times. From the past, there's someone we kind of forgot about but who wants to be remembered again, which could also apply to Parliament Hill where the leader of the opposition is back in the House and ready to deliver stinging rebukes to a PM under pressure. More locally, we will talk to one of Guelph city's councillors about some recent big decisions. This Thursday, September 11, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Fall Back. Next week, MPs from across Canada will return to Ottawa for the fall sitting of the House of Commons. This time, Pierre Poilievre will be able to lead Question Period and look Prime Minister Mark Carney in the eye. But while the new PM might be feeling the heat, he's still on that proverbial honeymoon even as he looks down the barrel of mixed expectations, budget austerity and a tricky economic picture. What can we expect from the feds this fall ? What's the Story, Morning Tory? Just when you thoug

This week on End Credits, we're here to make you think about death and stuff. We will perform last rights over the final chapter of a favourite horror franchise with The Conjuring: Last Rites, and we will leap off that ending to talk about some of our favourite final entries in long-running movie franchises, even if those movies were not the last word.  This Wednesday, September 10, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: The End? The Conjuring is the second most successful film franchise in Hollywood history spanning about 10 different movies over the last 12 years, and Last Rites is supposed to be the final chapter. Over the years, there have been a lot of endings to a lot of movie series, and not all of them have been permanent endings. In any event, that is where we will start this week's show, at the end! REVIEW: The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025). Horror is not dead, even if this franchise now might be. The number one movie at the box office last weekend is supposed to be the final entry

Out of 27 perspective candidates for Ward 6 city councillor it came down between Katherine Hauser and Rebecca Adam, and after a show of hands vote ended in a tie, Hauser got the gig in a literal luck of the draw. It was her name that came out of that big orange box, and it’s now up to Hauser to make as big an impact she can before council rises one year from now for the next municipal election. What does she do now? Now normally we interrogate city councillors on Open Sources Guelph, but we thought that with the tremendous pressures for Councillor Hauser to get the job and then hit the ground running, we would ease her into the world of Guelph politics with a more relaxing Politicast segment than the 22-minute egg-timer on OSG. True, there was the August recess that allowed her to get acclimated, but city council business is a fast moving object. Hauser is, of course, not unfamiliar with the job of representing Ward 6. Her last gig in politics was serving on the Upper Grand District School Board as the truste

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we catch up on our reading. In this all-news edition of the show, we will learn about the current condo crisis in Canada, and while we're learning about alliteration, we will talk about literature. In Alberta, they're taking more lessons from the MAGA movement by making a list of books they hate and checking it twice, and speaking of MAGA, their figurehead may or may not be dead depending on the day. This Thursday, September 4, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: The Long Condo. The condo market in Toronto and Vancouver is crashing, new units built are empty, and units waiting to be built have no buyers. In the midst of a housing crisis, this may be the worst development of all because for years now condos in our biggest cities have been a good place to park investment money for Canadian and foreign interests, but what happens to the market when there are more condos than people who want to buy them, and what do we do now? Book 'Em, Danielle! For the la

This week on End Credits, it's crime time! We will get caught in the movie theatre to see Caught Stealing, but be assured that we have paid for our tickets. It's the last official summer movie we'll review this year though because the next thing on our to do list is to check out the fall movies and on this episode we will preview some of our top picks! This Wednesday, September 3, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillip will discuss: Fall Movie Preview. Although it's technically still summer, in movie terms fall is here! Film festivals in Telluride, Venice and Toronto are rolling out all the flicks that are the basis for our great expectations for cinema in the months ahead, and to begin this week's show we're going to talk about some of our favourites. From the return of PTA and Shakespeare, to the greatness of Eleanor and The Boss, we will look at what's next! REVIEW: Caught Stealing (2025). The year is 1998. Hank is a New York bartender and washed up professional baseball prospect, but when his neighbo

We’ve been told that Artificial Intelligence is coming for all our jobs, that it will create fake news so real looking there will be no room for doubt, and in the worst case scenarios it will supplant human beings as the dominant lifeform on planet Earth. It’s scary stuff, and yet our fate depends on the same tech bros that have turned social media and the internet into a few concentrated monopolies. Is there still time to rein in A.I.? In the movies, artificial intelligence is almost always bad, but here in real life, we’ve seen the best and worst of A.I. development. On the one hand, you have Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health is using A.I. to collate and organize huge data sets, and on the other you have criminals using A.I. videos of real people to rip off victims with elaborate crypto scams involving cryptocurrency, and none of this deals with any of those existential concerns we see in the movies. But there’s at least one person who’s thinking about that future and he’s from Guelph. Christopher Di

This week on Open Sources Guelph, just in time for the last weekend of summer, we're taking a trip. We join our prime minister as he's taking the world by storm, or at least parts of Europe anyway, and then we're heading to Gaza again where nobody is taking a vacation because the war continues and its costing more lives. The stakes aren't as dire closer to home, but there's controversy up the road in Wasaga Beach that we need to discuss. This Thursday, August 28, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Mark Carney Vs. The World. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was touring though Europe this week, and he's been making some news like when he said in Ukraine that troops from Canada could be part of some future peacekeeping force there after the war. Closer to home meanwhile, government reps are trying to get that trade deal with the U.S. even if if means scaling back on retaliatory tariffs. How's the Carney government doing on the world stage? They Bomb Journalists. Oh yes, there's still a