NOTE: Because there’s no council meeting this week, there will be no Thursday newsletter.

Planning Meeting of City Council – Wednesday September 9, 2026 at 4:30 pm.

Council will clear out the last planning decisions of the term, some new heritage designations and at least one rejection (?!). You can see the agenda on the City’s website here, and you have until Friday at 10 am to delegate or write a correspondence on any of those agenda items.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday September 15, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday September 3.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday November 3, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday October 22.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

Opioid deaths were cut by two-thirds, from 21 in 2024 to just seven in 2025.

Another 32 full-time faculty members at Conestoga College have been laid off, which brings the total number of layoffs since 2025 close to 600; the union is resigned that there are “no guarantees” about job protection.

Guelph Police are looking for people who may have been assaulted by a suspect who identified himself as an off-duty police officer to victims. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old Guelph boy nearly fell victim to a “sextortion” scam.

Region of Waterloo workers represented by CUPE have voted in favour of job action as new contract negotiations stall.

Why is the Hazel McCallion LRT four years behind schedule? According to documents obtained by Global News it’s liquidity concerns, design problems and trouble obtaining the necessary work permits.

The Ontario is seeking tenders to begin the removal of offending bike lanes in Toronto starting with the ones in Etobicoke, the premier’s hometown.

Cash bail in Ontario is on hold after a judge granted an injunction brought by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Criminal Lawyers’ Association.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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About $5,000 in copper wire stolen from Fergus construction site sometime early Sunday morning. Police are looking for a red Ford F-150 that was observed at the scene.

Wellington County OPP arrested a Waterloo man for impaired, dangerous driving and fleeing the scene. The big difference here? This was on Conestogo Lake in Mapleton. A passenger was airlifted to a trauma centre with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

OPP stopped a Kitchener driver doing 220 kilometres per hour in the westbound lanes of Highway 401 at Cambridge.

A specially trained dog who humanely scares geese is credited with keeping an Acton park fowl-free.

A Kitchener tech company is unveiling a system that can tell you if you’re going to beat the next red light, or not.

More friction in Wilmot as there are apparently some misunderstandings between the intentions and the actual plan for re-establishing the Prime Minister’s Path.

City of Vaughan staff are in hot water after they expensed tens of thousands of dollars to city hall, including more than $1,700 in Ubers, during a 10-day trade mission to Italy.

Ontario’s Transportation Minister says cutbacks to weekend service on several GO Train lines is, like, totally temporary, guys!

Cost of giant “Lake Ontario” sign: $25,000. Cost of a pointless stunt: priceless.

It was a clean sweep for the Liberals in three federal by-elections on Monday, securing again the Mark Carney majority. Next, three by-elections in Ontario tomorrow, where early voter turnout was down in two of the races.

Case closed. Duane Keith Davis has been found guilty of the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, Scotty Hertz and I will talk to five of the people running for city council as the show kicks off it’s municipal election coverage! We will do quick interviews with five of the people running for Guelph city council, and we will do that once a week until either we run out of candidates or we run out of time!! Tune in and see who we’re featuring this week.

Tune in to Open Sources Guelph Thursday at 5 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm!

Listen to Open Sources Guelph, as well as the Guelph Politicast and End Credits, any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple and Spotify.

Guelph Royals (IBL): The Royals split the last two games of the regular season, beating the London Majors 6-4 and then falling to the Hamilton Cardinals 5-8. Two games on Tuesday night would determine the fate of certain teams for the playoffs: A game between Welland and the Majors that was suspended due to rain on Sunday August 23 after four innings resumed last night in London while the Baycats played in Guelph in a wildcard game.

Guelph Storm (OHL): One pre-season game is not indicative of a whole season, but the Storm fell in their first home game of the year, and the first pre-season game of the season against the Petes, 2-3. You may recall that 2026 first round pick Declan McNally didn’t show for training camp last week, and to follow up it’s since been announced that McNally has been traded to the Barrie Colts for six future draft picks across the 2027 to 2030 seasons. The Bulldogs are in town tonight and the Storm will have back-to-back matches against the Steelheads as the pre-season rolls on.

Guelph Gryphons (OUA): While most new Gryphons are moving in this weekend, varsity athletes are already back at work. Excitement over the return of Gryphon football last weekend was somewhat stifled by a tough 33-28 loss to the Laurier Goldenhawks, who only managed to jump out front in the fourth quarter. There was glory to be had in the other football, soccer, where the women beat Algoma 9-0 while the men took their game against the Thunderbirds 5-1. Ambrose Tinmouth and last year’s U SPORTS Women’s Soccer Player of the Year Olivia Rizakos get the distinction of being the first Gryphon Athletes of the Week for 2026/27 and Rizakos got a further distinction as an OUA Athlete of the Week for her first half hat-trick.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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Downtown businesses are big mad about the current construction signs; the City of Guelph is promising better ones.

After several years of complaints, Centre Wellington Township is looking to move parking enforcement services in-house in order to provide more consistency, especially during tourism season.

In a move just as dumb as the original sin, Doug Ford unveiled a massive new Lake Ontario sign in Hamilton on the weekend. Meanwhile, Google Maps naked capitulation to the American administration has tainted maps on Metrolinx, HydroOne, and the LCBO.

According to government documents, Career Colleges Ontario started warning Queen’s Park about possible “suspicious” student financial aid activity at five career college campuses.

The top judge in federal court says that staff are being overworked and forced to give up weekends and holidays in order to keep up with the caseloads on immigration matters and refugee claims.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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Here’s last week’s Police Notes entry.

A camera meant to monitor illegal heavy vehicle activity in Puslinch was cut down last week “in an apparent act of vandalism.”

Centre Wellington is running a survey on the future of housing in township as part of the development of their own Housing Action Plan.

A grassroots group is rallying against a suddenly embiggened development situated between Fergus and Belwood that was originally going to be 118 homes but now is set for 446.

Daniel Kilby, a 30-year-old game designer from Mount Forest, is going to be one of the titular survivors on the coming season of the reality show.

Today is by-election day in three federal ridings!

Rural Engagement and Advocacy for Community Housing (REACH) Wellington will host the first mayoral debate in Centre Wellington on September 23 at 6 pm at the Jefferson Elora Community Centre.

Updates from the WDG Public Health website is unavailable for the season.

OUTBREAKS: Nothing respiratory is presently affecting regional hospital and institutions, but there’s a Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) outbreak on the 5 West inpatient unit of Guelph General Hospital. VRE are a type of bacteria present in the gastrointestinal tract and there are four positive inpatients that have been identified as part of this outbreak.

Transit Detours/Notices:

REMINDER #1: Routes #3 Westmount, #10 Paisley, #11 Silvercreek, #12 Delhi, #13 Eastview, and #20 Northwest Industrial will be detoured away from their stops in St. George’s Square due to construction for the foreseeable future.

REMINDER #2: Routes #1 Edinburgh College, #2 College Edinburgh and #15 College will be detoured from some stops on College and McGilvray starting until sometime in October.

REMINDER #3: Routes #3 Westmount, #4 York, #8 Janefield, #9 Waterloo, #10 Paisley, #11 Silvercreek, #12 Delhi, #20 Northwest Industrial and #99 Mainline are all being re-routed downtown while the intersection of Wyndham and Macdonell is closed between now and August 16.

REMINDER #4: Route #10 Imperial will be re-routed around stops along Paisley between Alma and Silvercreek until today.

Upcoming Construction:

There will be lane reductions for road repaving on Cathcart Street between Stevenson Street North to Knightswood Boulevard for the next three to five weeks.

Coming up this week on the Guelph Politicast, we will talk to two other people running for city council in this fall’s election as we continue our countdown to October 26! On this edition, we head to Ward 5, which will definitely elect at one new city councillor in over a decade. We are going to talk to two of the challengers who think they have what it takes to represent this very big, and very important area that’s home to the University of Guelph!

Get the latest edition of the Guelph Politicast on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, tune in to CFRU at 3 pm for another episode of End Credits. This week, Peter Salmon co-hosts as we hold on to summer vacation by following a girl to Provincetown and finding our destiny in the culinary arts in the Anthony Bourdain bio-pic Tony, which you can see in a theatre near you. And with fall almost here, we will talk about some of the fall movies we’re looking forward to the most!

Listen to all these shows any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The next meeting of the Wellington Dufferin Guelph Board of Health is on Wednesday September 2 at 2 pm at their Chancellors Way office in Guelph.

The September meeting of the Heritage Advisory Committee will be held on Thursday September 3 at 12 pm.

Tea ‘n’ Tales with the Guelph Guild of Storytellers happens again on Friday September 4 from 10 to 11:30 am at Riverside Park.

Cinema in the City will screen the Pixar classic Cars at the Guelph Civic Museum on Friday September 4 at 8 pm.

Welcoming Week in Guelph and Wellington County will be from September 10 to 19.

The Guelph & District Labour Council will be hosting the 129th annual Labour Day Picnic at the red pavilion of Riverside Park on Monday September 7 from 11 am to 2 pm.

The Economic Development and Tourism Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday September 8 at city hall and online at 3 pm. (The agenda will be posted soon on the City’s website.)

The meeting of Committee of Adjustment will be on Thursday September 10 in the council chambers and online at 4 pm.

The Arts and Culture Advisory Committee will hold their September meeting on Thursday September 10 at 5 pm in the committee rooms at city hall and online. (The agenda will be posted soon on the City’s website.)

Take Back the Night will take place this year on Thursday September 17 at 6:30 pm starting at Marianne’s Park.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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Yesterday’s Drug Poisoning Awareness Day saw the dedication of a new memorial to the people who have died in the drug poisoning crisis.

A new aggregate pit just across the street from CRH Aberfoyle is a little too close to residential areas for the comfort of some Puslinch councillors.

Centre Wellington is looking for partners to turn a proposed affordable housing project in downtown Fergus into reality.

The trade war is good for one thing and that’s Doug Ford’s poll numbers. But at the same time, it’s (more) bad news for the Ontario Line as retaliatory tariffs will bump up with the cost of the actual trains, which are being built in the U.S.

After complaints from the mayor, police and community activists, the white nationalist group the Dominion Society has decided to move their planned conference this weekend out of Hamilton.

Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, has been ordered to pay $18 billion as part of a settlement to a lawsuit accusing them of getting children addicted to their apps and violating their safety.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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There are fond local memories for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which has beneficiaries in Guelph and the surrounding area.

A 35-year-old Guelph man was arrested on weapons charges after pulling a knife on people trying to keep him from yelling at some kids playing outside an apartment building Tuesday.

Hydro One is planning two public meetings about their proposed plan to install a new transformer station and transmission line in Puslinch.

Look for new gateway signage outside Aberfoyle, Morriston and Arkell soon.

In stark contrast to just about anywhere else in North America, Cambridge council approved a motion to direct staff to look at possible data centre locations.

Waterloo Regional Council unanimously endorsed Doug Craig’s motion to keep a mayor from serving as regional chair at the same time.

Fare evasion fines on GO Transit and UP Express will be quadrupling after Labour Day.

Two belugas and four dolphins from Marineland have been moved to an aquarium in Spain, but another Marineland beluga moved to an aquarium in Chicago died just weeks after it arrived.

Two legal groups are challenging Ontario’s new cash bail system citing Charter violations.

Retraumatizing a generation, Peter Cullen – the voice of Optimum Prime – has passed away.

The Guelph Chamber of Commerce has set the time and location for their mayoral candidates’ debate. It’s Wednesday October 7 at 6 pm at the Guelph Estate on Woodlawn Road.

Planning Meeting of City Council – Wednesday September 9, 2026 at 4:30 pm.

Council will clear out the last planning decisions of the term, some new heritage designations and at least one rejection (?!). You can see the agenda on the City’s website here, and you have until next Friday at 10 am to delegate or write a correspondence on any of those agenda items.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday September 15, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday September 3.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday November 3, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday October 22.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

Despite concerns, the City of Guelph has maintained its AAA credit rating for the fifth consecutive year.

Guelph Transit will undergo some changes on September 6 including the return of the “U” routes, plus a new #99 express running between downtown and the U of G, some schedule tweaks on the #20 Industrial, the movement of the #11 Silvercreek to 20-minute service throughout the day every weekday, and MOAR!

Dr. Matthew Cornacchia has joined the Guelph General Hospital team as a general surgeon with a subspeciality in colorectal conditions.

Got Duck Guelph is looking for volunteers to help out with this year’s Duck Race on Sunday at Ribfest.

New student registration for the 2026-27 school year is September 1-4 at all Upper Grand District School Board elementary schools.

Welcoming Week in Guelph and Wellington County will be from September 10 to 19.

Transit Action Alliance of Guelph and Guelph Community for Active Transportation will be hosting the Guelph Transportation Summit 2026 on Saturday October 3.

A portion of Alumni Walk outside the J.D. MacLachlan Building has been closed until winter 2027 due to the expansion of that building and the erection of construction site fencing.

Alectra Utilities has given $25,000 to Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold to help residents manage the immediate impacts of last weekend’s flooding.

Titan, a retired police dog, passed away at the age of seven.

Bookmark for later: Here are the operator hours for the City of Guelph on the Labour Day weekend. Goods Exchange Weekend will also take place next weekend on curbs around the city.

Current “Have Your Say” opportunities: Downtown Infrastructure Renewal Program; Parkland Dedication Bylaw Update and Parkland Acquisition Strategy; and Traffic Calming Projects.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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NOTE: Because there’s no council meeting this week, there will be no Thursday newsletter.

Planning Meeting of City Council – Wednesday September 9, 2026 at 4:30 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday August 27.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday September 15, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday September 3.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday November 3, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday October 22.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

Guelph and Wellington County are two of five communities still waiting for reimbursement from the provincial government’s sudden changes to the Greenbelt and equally sudden reversal.

Stepping Stone is in urgent need of clean sheets and towels.

Centre Wellington is looking at imposing a one-year moratorium on the development of A.I. data centres in the township.

Centre Wellington council also heard about the issues with paid parking in a closed meeting, but Mayor Shawn Watters promised that everyone will learn more in “short order”.

Ishtiaque Tuniom, who recently worked to complete the Gordie Howe International Bridge, is now taking on a perhaps bigger project: being the Region of Waterloo’s a new commissioner of water and wastewater services.

With the trade war in full swing, the City of Kitchener is resurrecting its Tariff and Trade Task Force.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced $20 billion in retaliatory tariffs Tuesday including 50 per cent tariffs on steel, aluminum, furniture and clothing. You can see the full list of 700 retaliatory tariffs here.

The federal Conservative are demanding that the federal government release the contents of the trade deal they walked away from.

Having a perfectly normal reaction to Canada’s defiance, Donald Trump threatened to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” on his busted ass Twitter (aka: Truth Social). Premier Doug Ford meanwhile told Trump Monday to “kiss his ass” among other things.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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Heated Rivalry may be returning this fall to film at the Sleeman Centre.

Guelph Police not only found a stolen car in the south end Saturday morning, but they also found a wanted man sleeping inside it.

A new nurse practitioner-led clinic will open in the Fergus Walmart this fall.

Two people broke into a prison on Saturday night, although it’s the Guelph Correctional Centre we’re talking about.

Speaking of having a normal one, a delivery driver vandalized a Waterloo home by writing the house number on the external brick to apparently avoid future confusion.

Kitchener City Council notes that provincial legislation is not helping them from feeling the squeeze when it comes to demand for new parkland.

A box of puppies no more than two days old were found in Brantford Monday morning. Authorities are trying to find out where they come from, and where the mother is.

There’s a cause for concern along trails in Grey Highlands after two ATV riders found blue twine strung between two gates.

The number of Ontario youths struggling with mental health issues appears to have returned to pre-COVID levels according to a survey from Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

“Demonstrably meritless” was how a district court judge framed Ghislaine Maxwell’s attempt to get her sex trafficking conviction thrown out.

Dolly Parton passed away at the age of 80.

It’s only a mayor election in Wellesley Township this year! All council positions were filled after only one candidate filed.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, Scotty Hertz and I will talk about the fallout from the dumb trade war and whether Mark Carney ever really had what it takes to deal with Donald Trump. We’re also going to talk about how the municipal election is lining up in Guelph and other cities across Ontario, and from Spider-Man to Gandalf to Fight Ford, we will talk about the state of the resistance.

Tune in to Open Sources Guelph Thursday at 5 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm!

Listen to Open Sources Guelph, as well as the Guelph Politicast and End Credits, any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple and Spotify.

Guelph Royals (IBL): Although the Royals were stormed by the Barnstormers last Tuesday 9-14, it was mostly good news for the rest of the week. Guelph went to Barrie and mauled the Baycats 6-3 and then they slipped by the Cardinals in Hamilton 8-6, but unfortunately Saturday’s game against the Majors was called on account of the deluge. After last night’s game in Brantford, the Royals will play one more regular season game at home this Saturday against Hamilton before the playoffs.

Guelph Storm (OHL): Today is Day #3 of training camp, which continues tomorrow and Saturday as well. Members of the public are welcome to come by and check out the team, but you have to enter Sleeman Centre through Gate 6 on the upper level of the Old Quebec Street Mall *only*. One person not showing up for training camp though it the Storm’s first round pick Declan McNally, whose representatives say there’s too much talent on defence for their guy to stand out. The Storm are looking at next steps. The first pre-season game will this Friday night as the Peterborough Petes come to town.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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Public Health has their eyes on small, shallow lakes in the region as warmer weather, low water levels, and waterfowl congregating around the shore creates a perfect storm for poor water quality.

Drug Poisoning Awareness Day in downtown Mount Forest last week reminded everyone that this is not just an urban issue.

Unpaid property taxes has now surpassed $38 million in Cambridge.

Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward says that the OLT’s decision to allow the expansion of the Mount Nemo quarry is “shocking”, “devasting for the community” and “not necessary”.

Unifor announced on the weekend to a tentative agreement with GM which they say will cover workers at auto plants in Oshawa, Ingersoll, St. Catharines and Woodstock.

Mark Carney says the Canadian government will retaliate “dollar for dollar“ after trade negotiations tanked in the 11th hour because of what Carney called “a bad deal”.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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Here’s last week’s Police Notes entry.

Cooper Sleeman is in search of remains from this great-great-grandfather’s famous streetcar system.

A new Hampton Inn is coming to the site of an old KFC on Highway 6 in Fergus.

Mapleton has instituted new rules for food trucks that will require both an annual permit and a daily licensing fee.

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre popped by Victoria Park in Kitchener to call for harsher penalties for drug traffickers.

Joe Gesualdi of London is pushing an empty wheelchair to Queen’s Park to raise awareness about the difficulty getting his daughter treatment for a post-car collision neck injury.

Vic Fedeli is the latest Ontario cabinet minister to have expensing issues, charging his riding association for public meals and other expenses on trips as trade minister instead of charging the government.

Timea’s Market is a collection of personal hygiene products with QR codes. Their purpose: to raise awareness about human trafficking and help victims identify when they may be in danger.

A 61-year-old Windsor woman was arrested for attacking two local kids selling lemonade.

ICYMI: Here’s the special edition of the newsletter to mark the official start to the municipal election campaign including the full list of candidates.

In Wellington County, over 116 candidates are running in the various races, with six out of the seven mayor races being competitive. Only Minto Mayor Dave Turton will be acclaimed after no one signed up to try and replace him.

Updates from the WDG Public Health website is unavailable for the season.

OUTBREAKS: That unknown respiratory virus at Dufferin Oaks? Still there, and it’s persisted for over a month now. The Enterovirus/Rhinovirus outbreak at the Village of Riverside Glen also continues, but while the parainfluenza outbreak at St. Joseph’s Health Centre is over, there’s now a new unknown respiratory outbreak in the 2H unit there.

Transit Detours/Notices:

REMINDER #1: Routes #3 Westmount, #10 Paisley, #11 Silvercreek, #12 Delhi, #13 Eastview, and #20 Northwest Industrial will be detoured away from their stops in St. George’s Square due to construction for the foreseeable future.

REMINDER #2: Routes #1 Edinburgh College, #2 College Edinburgh and #15 College will be detoured from some stops on College and McGilvray starting until sometime in October.

REMINDER #3: Routes #3 Westmount, #4 York, #8 Janefield, #9 Waterloo, #10 Paisley, #11 Silvercreek, #12 Delhi, #20 Northwest Industrial and #99 Mainline are all being re-routed downtown while the intersection of Wyndham and Macdonell is closed between now and August 16.

Route #10 Imperial will be re-routed around stops along Paisley between Alma and Silvercreek until next Monday, August 31.

Route #12 Delhi will be re-routed around the Waverley Drive and Knightswood Boulevard intersection, which will be closed today (Monday August 24) through Wednesday.

Upcoming Construction:

Audrey Avenue, from York Road to end, and Lawrence Avenue, from York Road to Florence Lane, will be repaved starting today (Monday August 24). The work will take four to six weeks to complete.

The intersection at York Road and Watson Road will be closed for two weeks starting today (Monday August 24) for the installation of new storm sewer infrastructure.

The closure of Wyndham Street North will be extended from Carden Street to Woolwich Street, excluding the Macdonell Street intersection, starting on Tuesday September 8 as part of the downtown renewal project.

Coming up this week on the Guelph Politicast, we will talk to two more council candidates, one of them is an incumbent running for re-election, and the other is an incumbent candidate running for the first time. Now that nominations are closed and the list of candidates is set, the campaign starts for real even though its already started on the previous edition of the podcast!

Get the latest edition of the Guelph Politicast on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, tune in to CFRU at 3 pm for another episode of End Credits. This week, Tim Phillips co-hosts as we come back from summer vacation to family drama and dinosaur danger in the new adventure film The End of Oak Street, which you can now see in a theatre near you. And speaking of summer vacation, we will talk about some of the stuff we were watching for fun during our time off!

Listen to all these shows any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Mayoral candidate Leanne Caron will be hosting a town hall to discuss her affordability plan on Tuesday August 25 at 7 pm.

Drug Poisoning Awareness Day will double for the unveiling of the Pathways to Remembering Memorial at Royal City Park on Thursday August 27.

The August meeting of Seniors for Climate Action Now will discuss climate change and the municipal election with eMERGE’s Even Ferrari at the meeting room of Goodness Me! On Thursday August 27 at 2:30 pm.

Hot Summer Nights will conclude on Thursday August 27 at 6:30 pm in Oak Street Park.

The next meeting of the Grand River Conservation Authority board at the administration centre and on YouTube on Friday August 28 at 9:30 pm.

Tea ‘n’ Tales with the Guelph Guild of Storytellers happens again on Friday August 28 from 10 to 11:30 am at Riverside Park.

Guelph’s Rotary Ribfest in happening again in Riverside Park on the weekend of August 28 and 30.

Nora Joy will perform for this Fourth Friday at the Civic Museum on Friday August 28 at 7 pm.

Cinema in the City will screen the Pixar classic Cars at the Guelph Civic Museum on Friday September 2 at 8 pm.

The Guelph & District Labour Council will be hosting the 129th annual Labour Day Picnic at the red pavilion of Riverside Park on Monday September 7 from 11 am to 2 pm.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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By the time nominations closed at 2 pm on Friday, there were nearly 50 Guelphites who had made the leap to run for either mayor or city councillor.

Across the seven categories, there are 49 candidates compared to 46 in 2022.

Only seven of those candidates are incumbents running for re-election compared to nine in the last election although there are two current members of council vying for mayor.

The ward with the most number of candidate running is Ward 5 with 10 while Ward 3 and Ward 4 are both tied for the least number of candidates with five each.

Like last election, there are six people running for mayor, including John Edward Krusky who previously ran for mayor in 2022. Current city councillors Lenne Caron and Ken Yee Chew are probably the leading contenders, but there’s also “sign guy” Ryan Meunier, Indigenous activist Evaristo Ramos, Jr., and area realtor Rajee Sinha all vying for Guelph’s top job and succeed Cam Guthrie.

Guthrie himself appeared on social media before the deadline to “Rick Roll” the people who’ve long suspected an 11th hour August surprise from the current mayor...

Instead, one of the biggest surprises of the day was Ward 4 Councillor Christine Billings’ decision to not run for re-election. Billings filed her papers on deadline day in 2022, so there was a reasonable expectation that she would do that again, but on the other hand Billings has been a city councillor since 1997 with the exception of breaks during the 2000-2003 and 2010-2014 terms.

The other big surprise was Michele Richardson’s decision to run for re-election after all. Earlier this year, Richardson told Guelph Politico that it was her intention to seek new challenges as she retires from her job at Wellington County. In 2022, Richardson won the second seat in Ward 3 by a 65-vote difference between her and community activist Kevin Bowman, who announced his campaign to run in this year’s election back in May.

In the school board races, there are a few open seats. Luke Weiler and Laurie Whyte both opted not to run for re-election in Wards 5, 1 and Wards 2, 3, 4 respectively in the Upper Grand School Board, while Sebastian Dal Bo and Joe Tersigni have both decided that they wouldn’t stand for re-election in the Wellington Catholic District School Board though current chair and vice-chair Vikki Dupuis and Marino Gazzola are both running again.

Aside from the two seats in the French school boards, there will be no acclaimed races in Guelph this election, which is not the case everywhere in the immediate area. Wellington County councillors David Anderson (Ward 1), Earl Campbell (Ward 2), Mary Lloyd (Ward 5), Diane Ballantyne (Ward 6), Matthew Bulmer (Ward 7), Doug Breen (Ward 8), Jeff Duncan (Ward 9) all ended up unopposed though the two Wellington North councillors Campbell Cork (Ward 2) and Stephen O’Neill (Ward 4) are facing challenges from Dan Yake and Allan Tota respectively.

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The municipal election is on October 26 and polls will be open from 10 am to 8 pm. Early voting will take place at City Hall on from October 10-15, and then additional locations will be added on the weekend of October 16-18.

You will be able to update your voter information starting on September 1 either by visiting City Hall in person or by going to the City of Guelph’s election website at guelph.ca/vote.

If you’re interested in working for the City of Guelph during the election, you can get more information about those opportunities here.

See the full list of mayor, city council and school board candidates below:

MAYOR

• Leanne Caron

• Ken Yee Chew

• John Edward Krusky

• Ryan Meunier

• Evaristo Ramos, Jr.

• Rajee Sinha

WARD 1

• Tammy Corbin

• Dan Gibson

• Daniel Kaufmann

• Marcel Dion Lambert

• Owen Martens

• Evan Silva

• Dave Williams

• Mustafa Zuberi

WARD 2

• Michael Barber

• Michelle Bowman

• Tory Bridgeman

• Greg Cox

• Morgan Dandie

• Kim Fry

• Rodrigo Goller

• Barbara Mann

• Alec Purves

WARD 3

• Phil Allt

• Kevin Bowman

• Annika Maldonado

• Michele Richardson

• Marty Williams

WARD 4

• Linda Busuttil

• Brendan Clark

• Jesse Guite

• Ali Malik

• Derak McCaughan

WARD 5

• Michael Agueci

• Xandine Arnott

• Greg Cawsey

• Dakota Cherry

• Jon Christensen

• James Doran

• Cathy Downer

• Wesley Harris

• Danny Lui

• Dylan White

WARD 6

• Rebecca Adam

• Shane Coulis

• Luke Devos

• Katherine Hauser

• Helen Liu

• Laura McQuillen

Upper Grand District School Board - Wards 5, 1

• Aaron Blair

• Bill Foster

• Martha MacNeil

Upper Grand District School Board - Wards 2, 3, 4

• Dan Atkinson

• Randy Freese

• Lange Frosst

• Raif Mesenbrink

Upper Grand District School Board - Ward 6, Puslinch

• Pallavi Ramchandani

• Kyle Reaburn

Wellington Catholic District School Board

• Natalia Crewson

• Vikki Dupuis

• Marino Gazzola

• Valerie Fayer

• Holly Sabara

Conseil Scolaire Viamonde

• Rachid Barrima

Conseil Scolaire Catholique Monavenir

• Genevieve Grenier

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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Mattamy thinks that they paid too much in development charges for a new project on Poppy Drive and are seeking a refund. In the meantime, the City of Guelph reached a deal with pair of developers opposing the downtown community planning permit system (CPPS).

A nice day in Elora Gorge ended with a trip to the hospital after a grandfather who was assaulted by a man armed with two knives.

Centre Wellington has purchased a property in downtown Fergus for new affordable housing, which will be a four-storey, mixed-use building with 36 residential units and one ground-floor commercial unit.

Nearly 500 jobs at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) across 10 communities – including Guelph – have been declared redundant, and more job cuts are likely by the end of the year.

Education Minister Paul Calandrea is super “optimistic” that there will be no labour disruptions as teachers negotiate while the kids go back to school.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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Wellington OPP are seeking fresh leads in the case of Tammy Eileen Penner, a B.C. woman who was found dead in Rockwood in the summer of 2005.

Just under the wire, a second person has signed up to run for Wellington North mayor. Meanwhile, numerous races in Waterloo Region look uncontested the day before deadline.

Wellington North approved new policies for the removal, inspection and maintenance of municipal trees in the area.

A shed fire off Highway 6 in Mapleton outside of Arthur on Wednesday night may have been caused by a charging issue with an old lithium-ion battery.

A cross-border skirmish between Puslinch and Cambridge can be sourced back to a private dam structure that was opened to be cleared out, which sent extra water downstream.

Waterloo Regional Police report a serious increase in the number of e-scooter collisions in the area this year when compared to last year.

An animal shelter based in St. Thomas is facing a nearly $200.000 tab from the provincial government for some unknown complaint.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says that Mark Carney all but begged premiers to put American booze back on store shelves in order to get a trade deal. Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston pretty much confirmed it.

Two more people jumped into the mayor’s race on the second to last day for nominations; John Edward Krusky who ran for mayor in 2022 is trying again this fall while local realtor Rajee Sinha is going to try her hand for the first time.

In the council races, Ross Jennings has withdrawn from Ward 3 leaving only four candidates there, and we’re still waiting to see if Christine Billings, the lone incumbent who hasn’t made a move yet, will submit her papers before deadline.

Someone named Lange Frosst is running for Ward 2,3 and 4 in the Upper Grand School Board while Holly Sabara became the fifth person to run in the Wellington Catholic Board, which means there will be an election for those four seats.

Nominations are open till 2 pm today.

See the full list of nominees so far here.

Planning Meeting of City Council – Wednesday September 9, 2026 at 4:30 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday August 27.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday September 15, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday September 3.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday November 3, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday October 22.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

Applications are now open for the Advisory Committees of Council. The deadline to apply is October 2.

Wellington County Councillor Diane Ballantyne was re-elected to the AMO Board of Directors’ county caucus for the next two years.

The United Way has announced this year’s recipients of the Top 7 Over 70.

Wellington County won the gold level award of excellence from the International Economic Development Council for its farm succession guide.

Justice for Workers 5th Annual Potluck Picnic is this Sunday in Royal City Park at 12 pm.

Drug Poisoning Awareness Day will double for the unveiling of the Pathways to Remembering Memorial at Royal City Park on Thursday August 27.

Ed Video is offering a filmmaking program for kids in grades 9 to 12 that will teach them the fine art of creating a documentary.

The Art Gallery of Guelph will launch their fall season with a celebration on Thursday September 17.

REMINDER: You can start dropping off donations for the Big Book Sale on Tuesday September 1 at the Main Library, East Side, and Westminster Square branches.

The University of Guelph has been granted a noise exemption September 5 and 6 for Orientation Week celebrations including two free outdoor shows on Johnston Green off Gordon Street.

Wellington County has launched a new and improved version of the Explore Wellington online mapping system.

Current “Have Your Say” opportunities: Downtown Infrastructure Renewal Program; Parkland Dedication Bylaw Update and Parkland Acquisition Strategy; and Traffic Calming Projects.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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NOTE: Because there’s no council meeting this week, there will be no Thursday newsletter.

Planning Meeting of City Council – Wednesday September 9, 2026 at 4:30 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday August 27.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday September 15, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday September 3.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday November 3, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday October 22.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

A sudden watermain break on Tuesday morning forced residents and businesses around Douglas Street downtown to go without water for a number of hours.

The Special Investigations Unit has opened two new investigations after separate incidents in Wellington County this week, one on Sunday and one on Monday.

The City of Brantford and Six Nations of the Grand River have reached a deal to govern the future development of boundary lands.

Hamilton Police have released an image of the suspect who left racist and neo-Nazi stickers at a local business back in June.

The Ontario government is giving out another $10 million from the Skills Development Fund despite an integrity commission investigation into how previous funds were spent.

“[T]he province doesn’t accept dissent, and you are punished for it” is one of the many insights from municipal officials and how they related to the provincial government in a new expose.

In terms of other interactions with the premier, it turns out Doug Ford met with the CEO of Loblaw one day after his government killed a private member’s bill to regulate grocery pricing.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu launched the new Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Alliance in Guelph on Monday.

The controversial eight-hectares of agricultural land on Niska Road deemed surplus by the Grand River Conservation Authority is now for sale.

University of Guelph researchers have used artificial intelligence to develop a “super bean”.

Help Protect Puslinch has launched a billboard to share their opposition to the Danby request for an MZO. You can see it along Gordon on the border of Guelph and Puslinch.

The five people running for Mayor of Centre Wellington will debate on Wednesday September 23 at the Jefferson Elora Community Centre.

Recent flooding in the Niagara Region could mean higher prices for peaches and plums next year.

As nominations come to close, some people have noticed gaps in the number of people who’ve signed up to run for school boards around Ontario.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is launching a Charter challenge to the recently enacted new bail regulations in Ontario.

United Kingdom PM Andy Burnham was trading texts with a fake aide to Donald Trump. Apparently, he’s not embarrassed.

The packed Ward 5 race got a new candidate Monday in the form of Danny Liu, a retired pharmacist who has made a side career of helping homeless people in encampments with health services, wile Valerie Fryer is the fourth person to join the trustee race in the Wellington Catholic Board. If no other nominees sign up, the four will be acclaimed for the four at-large seats.

See the full list of candidates who’ve filed so far here.

We’re also now hearing about the first events planned for the election. The Guelph Wellington Coalition for Social Justice has announced the date for their mayoral townhall, which will take place on Thursday September 24 at 7 pm. Mayoral candidate Leanne Caron will be hosting her own town hall, a virtual discussion about her affordability plan that will take place on Tuesday August 25 at 7 pm.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, Scotty Hertz and I will talk about the news we missed over the last couple of weeks. Out of Queen’s Park, Doug Ford introduced the A.I. playbook but knows nothing about his party’s spies following Bonnie Crombie to Jamaica. At the federal level, while we’re trying to get a new trade deal done with the U.S., another whisper campaign has begun about Pierre Poilievre’s long odds to becoming prime minister. And finally, Trump’s been Trumping when it comes to Iran.

Tune in to Open Sources Guelph Thursday at 5 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm!

Listen to Open Sources Guelph, as well as the Guelph Politicast and End Credits, any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple and Spotify.

Guelph Royals (IBL): Heading into the last week and a half of the regular season, the Royals have secured a playoff spot, and sit comfortably in fourth place in the league. The team has won seven of the last 10 games including a 14-4 dunking of the Barnstormers in Chatham-Kent on Friday, which was followed by 10-7 win at home against the Red Sox the next day. The Barnstormers were in town last night, and next the Royals will stop by Barrie and Hamilton before coming home to face London this Saturday evening. Meanwhile, in the office, Ryan Eakin has been promoted to general manager.

Guelph United FC (League1 Ontario): During the Civic Holiday weekend, both United teams enjoyed victory in the last doubleheader of the season. The women easily defeated Waterloo with a 3-0 shutout thanks to two goals from Elise Bell, and a third one from Olivia Brown who secured her eighth goal in 10 games. Then, despite the rain, the men beat Inter Toronto II 4-1 thanks to three goals in the second half. While the women’s season is done the men have a few more games to go including last Sunday’s match against Hamilton, and while they did end up losing, they do look likely to avoid a last place finish for the season.

Guelph Gryphons (OUA): The University of Guelph will host the U SPORTS Women’s Rugby Championships from November 4 to 8 this fall, and tickets are now on sale!

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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As Doug Ford announced the new data centre playbook for Ontario in Guelph last week, a Waterloo company has confirmed that they’re moving forward with an A.I. data centre for the old Wolverine Tube plant in North Fergus.

Unsurprisingly, having no more automated speed enforcement cameras has seen an increase in speeding in school zones.

The old Elora Business Improvement Area has been found by the Ontario Ombudsman to have contravened the Municipal Act four times holding meetings in 2024 and 2025.

A new “Borderless Response Agreement” between Mapleton, Minto and Wellington North will help assure that fires in the region get responded to faster.

A 58-year-old woman from Sudbury died Wednesday at the Grand Valley Institution for Women.

Shortly after pediatric doctors in Canada started raising the alarm about the increasing deaths and injuries among children riding e-scooters and e-bikes, an e-scooter rider was caught driving down Highway 7/8 through Kitchener.

The cost of constructing the Ontario Line has more than tripled to $34 billion with the CEO of Metrolinx suggesting that the costs could increase some more.

Meanwhile, the Ontario Court of Appeal says the provincial government can legislate the removal of bike lanes from key Toronto streets.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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Here’s last week’s Police Notes entry.

St. David Street North has reopened in Fergus after over two years of work.

Erin Mayor Michael Dehn has announced that he’s seeking re-election.

An Arthur man has created a new app with will allow people to better track their utility payments and avoid late fees.

Waterloo Regional Police are investigating another instance of payments made to an area business being re-routed to a scammer.

After five years, work has begun to re-install the Prime Minister’s Path in Wilmot.

According to Unifor, Stellantis is “strongly considering” closing an assembly plant in Brampton.

Just before the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference is about to begin, the federal and provincial governments have announced $1 billion for municipalities that don’t levy development charges.

Reports have revealed that operatives of the PC Party followed Bonnie Crombie to Jamaica where she was vacationing after winning the Ontario Liberal leadership, but Doug Ford says its cool because “it’s politics”.

Nominations close this Friday, so it’s the last call for candidates. Tammy Corbin has joined the race in Ward 1 to bring the number of candidates there up to eight, Jesse Guite and Derek McCaughan made things more competitive in Ward 4 and Helen Liu is the latest to run in Ward 6. The real motion is now happening the school board races where Aaron Blair and Bill Foster are now running in Ward 1 and 5 for the Upper Grand School Board, Dan Atkinson has signed up for Ward 2,3, 4, and incumbent Marino Gazzola and former Ward 3 candidate Natalia Crewson are the second and third nominees for the Wellington Catholic Board seats.

See the full list of nominees so far here.

Updates from the WDG Public Health website is unavailable for the season.

OUTBREAKS: An unknown respiratory virus persists at Dufferin Oaks, now in the Mono/Mulmur unit of the long-term care home; this outbreak began on July 16. A parainfluenza outbreak at St. Joseph’s Health Centre just wrapped up on Friday, while an Enterovirus/Rhinovirus outbreak at the Village of Riverside Glen continues for a third week.

Transit Detours/Notices:

REMINDER #1: Routes #3 Westmount, #10 Paisley, #11 Silvercreek, #12 Delhi, #13 Eastview, and #20 Northwest Industrial will be detoured away from their stops in St. George’s Square due to construction for the foreseeable future.

REMINDER #2: Routes #1 Edinburgh College, #2 College Edinburgh and #15 College will be detoured from some stops on College and McGilvray starting until sometime in October.

REMINDER #3: Routes #3 Westmount, #4 York, #8 Janefield, #9 Waterloo, #10 Paisley, #11 Silvercreek, #12 Delhi, #20 Northwest Industrial and #99 Mainline are all being re-routed downtown while the intersection of Wyndham and Macdonell is closed between now and August 16.

Upcoming Construction:

Nothing to report.

Coming up this week on the Guelph Politicast, we will kick off our municipal election coverage with conversations featuring two council candidates. Up first, two people who have never run for council before, one of them will probably be pretty familiar to listeners and the other will be brand new. Who are they? Well, you will just have to tune in and see…

This month’s Downtown Infrastructure Renewal café is on Thursday August 20 at The Cornerstone.

Hot Summer Nights continues on Thursday August 20 at 6:30 pm in Margaret Green Park.

Tea ‘n’ Tales with the Guelph Guild of Storytellers happens again on Friday August 21 from 10 to 11:30 am at Riverside Park.

The Guelph.Beer Bus will ride again on Saturday August 22.

The Tragically Hip 10th Anniversary final concert viewing party is on Saturday August 22 in Market Square starting at 5:45 pm.

The August meeting of Seniors for Climate Action Now will discuss climate change and the municipal election with eMERGE’s Even Ferrari at the meeting room of Goodness Me! On Thursday August 27 at 2:30 pm.

Guelph’s Rotary Ribfest in happening again in Riverside Park on the weekend of August 29 through 31.

The Guelph & District Labour Council will be hosting the 129th annual Labour Day Picnic at the red pavilion of Riverside Park on Monday September 7 from 11 am to 2 pm.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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Special Meeting of Council – August 12, 2026

For the third time in four years, council held an August meeting, and once again timing was an important factor when it came to the reason why we were having one.

On Wednesday, most of council got together to talk about the Development Charges Reduction Program. Announced by both the federal and provincial governments earlier this year, the DCRP makes millions of dollars available for housing enabling infrastructure in exchange for cuts to development charges somewhere between 30 and 50 per cent for three years. City of Guelph staff proposed a relatively conservative 30 per cent cut and in exchange they want nearly $74 million for three big water and wastewater projects. The hope is that between the infrastructure investments and the DC cuts, Guelph might “unlock” 5,600 of the 7,000-plus units that have been approved by council but are waiting for the developer to apply for a building permit.

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GM of Strategic Initiatives and Intergovernmental Services Jodie Sales and GM of Finance and Treasurer Shanna O’Dwyer both cited the quick turnaround of this project. The guidelines came out in early June and City staff had two weeks to put a proposal together, which they did; Sales added that typically these sorts of proposals take eight-to-ten months to put together. Staff were supposed to hear about whether or not the proposal was successfully received by mid-July but as of this meeting, and this recap, the Ontario government has rendered no verdict, and, in fact, with the exception of Toronto, no municipality has heard about the fate of their application, affirmative or otherwise.

With no decision yet rendered, and council about to enter its “lame duck” period when the decisions there allowed to make are restricted leading up to the October election, staff needed direction about what to do when they get a response from the provincial government, hence the necessity of this meeting.

Council had questions about the risk, what happens if they don’t end up building the 5,600 units? What are the risks to DC collection? Why is it taking so long to get a response back? In terms of the risks, O’Dwyer noted that the success of the program is still dependent on builders deciding to build, but if the goals are not met then the penalty is the lost DCs plus 30 per cent, which could result in tax and rate payers being forced to make up the difference, especially if the governments claw back the grant. There’s also no guarantee that the savings will be passed on to the end homebuyer, but staff are cautiously optimistic that this might shake loose some long in the pipeline projects, the vast majority of whom – over 4,300 units – are large apartments.

Mayor Cam Guthrie assured that the savings will be passed on, at least that’s the feeling he’s gotten from conversations he’s had with developers, and he also noted that the sunset clause in 2029 will “light a fire” under developers to take advantage of the cut (although it should be noted that it’s technically a grant worth 30 per cent of the total DCs being charged for a project). Some councillors still voiced doubts in their final comments, but the three main recommendations were approved unanimously.

Council then went in-camera for an hour to talk about three topics including the negotiation over the parameters for the DCRP. After returning to the open session, Guthrie announced that they gave direction to staff and wrapped up the meeting. You may now return to your regularly scheduled summer vacation!

Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.

The next scheduled meeting is the planning meeting of council on Wednesday September 9 at 4:30 pm. You can see the agenda on the City’s website when it’s posted on Thursday August 27.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

The Guelph Politicast is still cranking out new eps while on summer vacation!

In the most recent episode of the Guelph Politicast this week, we talked to former (and future?) Kitchener Centre MP Mike Morrice. Even though he lost last year, Morrice only missed re-election as a Member of Parliament by less than 400 votes, and since many people still see him as the future of the party, he’d decided to embrace that by running for the leadership of the federal Green Party. Is the time ripe for a Green Party resurgence and is Morrice the man to do it? Listen now or watch the video!

In a new edition of End Credits Conversations available now, we will look at Christopher Nolan’s massive hit The Odyssey, which is still in theatres everywhere, by talking to a man who knows the original text like the back of his hand. Dr. John Walsh, director of the School of Languages and Literatures and a professor of classical studies at the University of Guelph, joins us to talk about the source material, how Nolan found the deeper themes, and why he sees The Odyssey everywhere in all kinds of stories!

Listen to all these shows any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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Publisher’s Note: There will be no Politico Tip Sheet for the next two weeks. We will be back with brand new editions on Monday August 17.

Now, over two years after he dies in police custody at the Rockwood detachment, the family of Nathaniel Schofield are suing the OPP in a $3.7 million wrongful death lawsuit.

Guelph Police say that the increase in the crime severity index is being driven by property crimes, but Guelph is still the 12th safest community in Canada, and that ain’t bad!

There’s “no evidence of contaminants of concern” in the case of a substance found in a Cambridge stormwater management pond according to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks. (It was a “bacterial bloom”.)

In Hamilton, there’s renewed concerns about the source of black soot in the east end of the city, and NDP leader Marit Stiles is demanding that the provincial government release the result of tests apparently recently completed.

After tabling legislation to cap prices on the resale of event tickets, Premier Doug Ford took a Sunday meeting at home with Tony Staffieri, the CEO of Rogers.

The Ontario government is threatening to pull support for the feds high-speed rail project as retaliation for the federal government pulling support for the Billy Bishop Airport expansion.

WestJet flight attendants submitted a 72-hour strike notice yesterday; the airline has started cancelling flights.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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Here’s a list of businesses and services that will be available on John Galt Day, aka: holiday Monday!

An old Purolator truck will soon be delivering groceries for the Guelph Food Bank.

A third person’s been charged in connection to that big LCBO theft on Scottsdale last summer.

Welington OPP are looking for leads after copper wire was taken from a telecom box on Highway 7, east of Skyway Drive, in Gueph/Eramosa Township. The costs of lost materials and repairs will be over $5,000.

Less than a month until the deadline for nominations, 19 races in Waterloo Region either have one nominee or no nominee running.

Bounce and Virgin Radio in Kitchener are switching spots on the FM dial Tuesday morning.

The fire destruction of pavilions at the Christie Lake Conservation Area in Flamborough is being investigated as arson.

For some reason, former cabinet minister Chris Alexander is running to be the Mayor of Toronto.

The Government of Ontario reports that more that 80 wildfires have been extinguished in the past few weeks.

In an act that’s extremely on brand, a map of Africa shared by the U.S. State Department at a global AIDS conference this week in Rio de Janeiro mislabelled several countries.

Greg Cox, the owner of a CrossFit gym, is the ninth person to sign up to run in Ward 2, while Xandine Arnott, who works for 10C Shared Space, has signed up to be the eighth person to run in Ward 5. In the school board races, current trustee and former chair Vikki Dupuis submitted her papers making her the first person to run for the four Wellington Catholic District School Board seats in Guelph.

See the full list of nominees so far here.

Planning Meeting of City Council – Wednesday September 9, 2026 at 4:30 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday August 27.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday September 15, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday September 3.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday November 3, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday October 22.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

Here August Civic Holiday weekend hours for City of Guelph facility and services, plus the Guelph Public Library and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

You can watch the animated hit Sing as part of Cinema in the City tonight at dusk in Market Square. On Saturday August 22 there will be viewing party to mark the 10th anniversary of The Tragically Hip’s final concert.

Guelph Fire Department is going door-to-door with their “Knock and Talk” education program so that residents can better understand their responsibilities under the Ontario Fire Code and how to keep their home and family safer.

Wellington County is expanding interim transit service on four different routes as work on their regional transit study continues.

The Guelph Symphony Orchestra will be holding up pop-up concerts and the Riverside Park bandshell, the Shelldale Centre, and more locations between Wednesday August 5 and Monday August 9.

The Guelph Fringe Festival returns next weekend with four days of shows at venues around town.

The Zehr’s on Eramosa Road will be hosting a Back-to-School clothing swap on Saturday August 22 between 10 am and 2 pm.

CMHA Waterloo-Wellington has combined their Family Council and Client Council to become the new Community Advisory Council.

The WB Family Foundation has gifted $1 million to the University of Guelph so that researchers can work towards developing the next generation of sustainable materials.

Current “Have Your Say” opportunities: Downtown Infrastructure Renewal Program; Parkland Dedication Bylaw Update and Parkland Acquisition Strategy; and Traffic Calming Projects.

UPCOMING ROAD CONSTRUCTION:

Watson Parkway North is closed at York Road until Friday August 14 for the completion of a new watermain and upgrades to the storm sewer.

Alice Street at Morris Street are closed for the next three weeks to install new sanitary and water services.

There will be temporary road closures at Knightswood Boulevard and Waverley Drive for sanitary sewer system between Tuesday August 4 and Friday August 14.

See you in 2 weeks!

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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NOTE: Because there’s no council meeting this week, there will be no Thursday newsletter.

Planning Meeting of City Council – Wednesday September 9, 2026 at 4:30 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday August 27.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday September 15, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday September 3.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday November 3, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday October 22.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

The Grand River Conservation Authority board on Monday voted in favour of declaring the eight hectares of agricultural land on Niska Road surplus, and to put it up for sale.

New StatsCan data shows that Guelph has the highest rate of human trafficking in the county, which Guelph Police has previously said is due to their proactive response on the issue.

Guelph Police are advising people to check their tires after screws were spilled across the road Monday at Woodlawn and Royal.

Several public health units across southwestern Ontario are trying to raise the alarm about the growing impact of food insecurity on health outcomes across the region.

According to a new survey by the CAA, almost every driver in Ontario knows dangerous driving when they see it, but almost none of them think they’re one of the perpetrators of it.

It looks like Doug Ford took at least four short flights around Ontario on the jet the Ontario government bought and then sold after public outrage.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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A Guelph man had the need for speed getting pulled over at Speedvale and Elmira on Monday night while driving at more than twice the legal speed limit of 60 kilometres per hour.

Kat Florence Elora is suing three people for defamation following some less than flattering Facebook posts last year.

It was a dog day afternoon at Elora Gorge as crews had to rescue a three-year-old Labrador retriever from a 60-foot fall off a cliff.

Wellington OPP are warning residents of the community to be aware of possible grandparent scams after two new victims came forward last week.

Around 50 to 60 volunteer firefighters responded to a large fire at a straw storage shed Sunday night on a property between Howick and Palmerston.

Customers of a Kitchener winemaking shop are worried about lost money, and lost wine, after the business was bought by someone else and then closed.

The University of Waterloo has undertaken a major restructuring, dissolving 15 departments in the Faculty of Arts and creating six new departments.

Halton Regional Police broke the largest human trafficking case in their history securing 85 criminal charges against nine people based on the strength of one survivor’s testimony.

Patrick Brown has filed his papers to run for a mind-boggling third term as the Mayor of Brampton.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has asked the Government of Ontario to return land on Toronto Island for the now paused Billy Bishop expansion. Meanwhile, the Minister of Transportation says that the federal government has given into a “fringe group” with their decision.

Electrical workers for Nova Scotia Power filed a 48-hour strike notice after rejecting their second offer for a tentative agreement.

New studies show that e-scooters are responsible for an increasing number of ER visits for children.

Two new people joined the race on Tuesday! Community journalist and videographer Troy Bridgeman made the list of candidates in Ward 2 longer by becoming the eighth person to join that race while supply management professional Shane Coulis wants to represent Ward 6.

If you can’t wait to vote, you can file your choices for or Guelphmercury.com’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2026 for the best shops, services, and professionals. The deadline to vote is August 21, the same day nominations close for the municipal elections.

See the full list of candidates who’ve filed so far here.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, Scotty Hertz and I will talk about the return of Carney Vs. Trump as the trade war heats up again and the Gordie Howe Bridge opens without any representation from the other side of the border, plus we will talk about new reports that 1 in 10 ER doctors in Canada are ready to walk away. For the interview, we will talk to Ward 3 City Councillor Phil Allt about his thoughts on Guelph business at the start of summer break, and near the end of this term.

Tune in to Open Sources Guelph Thursday at 5 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm!

Listen to Open Sources Guelph, as well as the Guelph Politicast and End Credits, any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple and Spotify.

Guelph Royals (IBL): Just in time for the trade deadline, infielder/pitcher Nathan Ochoa and reliever Owen Newman have been added to the roster. Ochoa comes to Guelph after three seasons with the Washington Nationals farm team and Newman returns to the Royals after spending last year with the team. After trouncing the Maple Leafs last Wednesday 17-4, stops in Welland and Chatham-Kent didn’t go as well; the Jackfish won Thursday 6-10 and the Barnstormers took Friday 1-8. The Royals did rebound though, taking the Saturday game against the Barnstormers here in Guelph 8-4. The team now sits comfortably in fifth place going into the last month of the regular season. London was in town last night, the Baycats are in town tonight, and Kitchener will be here on Saturday. In between on Friday, the Royals will visit the Red Sox in Brantford.

Guelph United FC (League1 Ontario): The United women were already ahead of the game at half-time in last week’s OPL Cup, but they added four more goals in the second half to beat Hamilton United 5-0. This victory not only marks the first time that the women’s team have won this prize, it’s the first time they’ve won any prize. The good news continued for the United women on the weekend when their 2-0 win over the Vaughan Azzurri secured them a place in at least third place for the season. As for the men, they won 3-1 over North Mississauga FC, which has now pushed them three points out of the bottom of the league with four games left for the season.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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After being fired by the Guelph Police for the second time, Corey McArthur wants to roll the dice and appeal again.

The City of Guelph saw a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions year-over-year in 2024, but it didn’t meet the goal that was established for 2024 in terms of total cuts. Also, the per person emission totals increased year-over-year.

The loss of five children at a crash in Mapleton last month will be investigated by the law firm Greg Monforton and Partners, who have now been hired by the Doerksen and Bartsch families.

The federal government has put the kibosh on the plans to expand Billy Bishop Airport; the Ontario government still thinks they can make it happen though.

The Ontario NDP has joined First Nations in calling for a public inquiry into the provincial government’s wildfire response.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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Here’s last week’s Police Notes entry.

Three young people are helping area churches reduce their carbon footprint with assistance from the United Church of Canada’s Climate Motivator program.

Former councillor Stephen Kitras is the fifth person to join the race to be the mayor of Centre Wellington.

The former manager of a Fergus fast-food joint has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two teenage employees in 2021.

Erin council has approved the rezoning that will allow Trafalgar Addiction Treatment Centres to continue operating at its present location.

A 44-year-old man was arrested and charged with possession of stolen property. The property? 191 LEGO sets stolen from a store in Ingersoll.

The Ontario government is expected to call a byelection for September 3 in two Toronto ridings and a third in Hamilton.

Meanwhile, three federal by-elections will be held on August 31 in the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York, Quebec’s Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, and the B.C. riding of North Vancouver-Capilano.

Hotelgate has dragged down Doug Ford’s approval to 24 per cent.

Belgian authorities say that they’ve arrested an intern from Canada on suspicion of spying for another county at NATO headquarters.

Updates from the WDG Public Health website is unavailable for the season.

OUTBREAKS: The outbreak of an unknown respiratory virus in the East Luther Grand Valley unit of the Dufferin Oaks long term care home that began on July 16 persists.

Transit Detours/Notices:

REMINDER #1: Routes #3 Westmount, #10 Paisley, #11 Silvercreek, #12 Delhi, #13 Eastview, and #20 Northwest Industrial will be detoured away from their stops in St. George’s Square due to construction for the foreseeable future.

REMINDER #2: Routes #4 York, #8 Janefield, #9 Waterloo are all being detoured from stops along Wyndam Street South from until sometime in July.

REMINDER #3: Routes #1 Edinburgh College, #2 College Edinburgh and #15 College will be detoured from some stops on College and McGilvray starting until sometime in October.

REMINDER #4: The stop at Edinburgh at Floral along the #8 Janefield route will be unavailable until July 27.

REMINDER #5: The Route #10 Imperial will be around a section of Paisley Road between Glengarry Street and Goldie Avenue that will be closed from now until August 13.

REMINDER #6: Routes #3 Westmount, #4 York, #8 Janefield, #9 Waterloo, #10 Paisley, #11 Silvercreek, #12 Delhi, #20 Northwest Industrial and #99 Mainline are all being re-routed downtown while the intersection of Wyndham and Macdonell is closed between now and August 16.

Upcoming Construction:

The Severn Drive Park playground replacement and pavement resurfacing is now underway and will be completed sometime later this fall.

The Woodland Glen Park playground replacement is now underway and will be completed sometime later this fall.

Coming up this week on the Guelph Politicast, we will talk about some of the events at city council earlier this year. Now that council is on summer break, and only returning for a couple of extra meetings before the election really gets underway, we will collect our thoughts about the last few months of council activities and how things are winding down for this current term around the horseshoe.

Get the latest edition of the Guelph Politicast on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, tune in to CFRU at 3 pm for another episode of End Credits. This week, Candice Lepage co-hosts as we dig into fashion forward filanthropy in Boots Riley’s wicked new absurdist comedy I Love Boosters, which you can now rent on VOD (and yes, we know how to spell “philanthropy”). We will also continue out “6 For ’76” series by diving in Sidney Lumet’s Network, and how frighteningly prescient it was over half-a-decade ago.

Listen to all these shows any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The Grand River Conservation Authority board will be having a special meeting this morning at 9:30 am at the administrative centre in Cambridge and online on YouTube.

Hot Summer Nights continues on Thursday July 30 at 6:30 pm in Orin Reid Park.

Tea ‘n’ Tales with the Guelph Guild of Storytellers happens again on Friday July 31 from 10 to 11:30 am at Riverside Park.

The Ontario Pirate Festival is back next weekend at Marden Park.

The next meeting of the Committee of Adjustment is on Thursday August 13 at 4 pm in the council chambers and online. (The agenda will be posted soon on the City’s website.)

The first annual Riverside Read hosted by the Guelph Public Library and the Eden Mills Writer’s Festival will take place in the Green Pavilion in Riverside Park on Saturday August 15 at 2:30 pm.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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Sixty-three people in Guelph, Brantford and Waterloo Region were all charged as part of a large-scale investigation into child sexual abuse and exploitation material. Additionally, 213 charges were laid, 51 victims were identified and 814 electronic devices were seized.

The federal government is giving $2.1 million to three Guelph companies to help them offset tariff impacts. A.I. Minister Evan Solomon was in town for the announcement Wednesday.

Guelph General Hospital and six of its doctors are being sued for $11.1 million for allegedly suffering “serious, permanent and life-altering injuries” as a “direct result of the negligence” of staff following a hockey injury.

Canadian Blood Services is sending out an urgent appeal for donors after a 20 per cent drop in available supply.

The Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks is investigating after an “odorous milky white substance” was discovered in a stormwater management pond in Cambridge.

Despite Doug Ford’s protests, it turns out that the government whip’s office was actively encouraging members to take advantage of hotel stays for late-night sittings.

The union representing Ontario’s forest firefighters says that they’ve been warning the government for over a decade that they didn’t have the resources they need. Meanwhile, First Nations want to know why they were mostly left on their own when the danger from the fires became apparent.

A report from the federal government’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre says that four “violent extremist attack plots against Jewish targets” have been disrupted since October 2023.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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Memorial Cup mentions have now gone up on “Welcome to Guelph” signs at the edge of town.

Another Fight Ford demonstration is scheduled for communities around Ontario, including Guelph, this Saturday.

The cancellation of this year’s Fergus Ribfest has many reasons according to organizers who say it will be back in 2027.

Anna Mae’s Bakery and Restaurant in Millbank is not closing, and if you think it is you can blame A.I. for mixing it up with another Anna Mae’s restaurant in the U.S.

An election finance complaint has been filed against Hardeep Grewal by the Ontario NDP for thousands of dollars in taxpayer funded advertising in his father’s Brampton newspaper.

People heading up to cottage country are being reminded that just because things are less smoky down here in southern Ontario, the air is still thick a little further north. Over 180 fires continue to burn in northern Ontario.

A couple who own a resort in Upsala are facing heavy fines for flying a drone to assess the fire risk to their lodge in the midst of an ongoing evacuation order.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says that both home sales and prices are going down even compared to their forecast earlier this year. Hope for a rebound has now been pushed to 2028.

New, more graphic cigarette packages just dropped!

Planning Meeting of City Council – Wednesday September 9, 2026 at 4:30 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday August 27.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday September 15, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday September 3.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday November 3, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday October 22.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

There will be no GO Train service on the Kitchener Line between Mount Pleasant and Kitchener this weekend for construction.

There’s now an easy to navigate dashboard where you can check out the state of the City of Guelph’s various assets.

The Guelph Community Foundation has awarded 20 students a total of $29,900 in scholarships and bursaries for 2026.

This year’s Hike for Hospice fundraiser raised nearly $110,000 to support Hospice Wellington.

The Guelph Public Library is preparing key collections in their archive for their new home in the Baker Street building.

The Guelph Humane Society will be co-hosting a same-day kitten adoption event at the Pet Valu at Stone and Scottsdale this Saturday from 11 am to 3 pm.

Take part in Water Smart Activities as YMCA of Three Rivers marks Drowning Prevention Day this Saturday from 1 to 4 pm.

Eden Mills Writers’ Festival has announced the line-up of visiting authors for this year’s event.

Reminder: The last day to register for the HOPE House Backpack Project is July 31.

Another reminder: The OnYourWay mobile app will stop working as a method payment on Guelph Transit this Monday July 27.

Bookmark for later – Here is the status for City of Guelph facility and services on the August Civic Holiday weekend.

The Grand River Conservation Authority urges caution around the Caledonia Dam after several reports and observations of unsafe activity.

Current “Have Your Say” opportunities: Downtown Infrastructure Renewal Program; Parkland Dedication Bylaw Update and Parkland Acquisition Strategy; and Traffic Calming Projects.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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Shareholder of GMHI and Regular Meetings of Council – July 21, 2026

There was a lot of waiting at Tuesday night’s two meetings, starting with the shareholder meeting for Guelph Municipal Holdings Inc. For the second time in two months, council met about their ownership stake in Alectra Utilities, this time to get more information about rate restructuring and its plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in improving infrastructure across the system.

The shareholder met in closed for over an hour and when they emerged Mayor Cam Guthrie said that they just received information from City of Guelph staff and Alectra representatives. They approved the consent report and then wrapped up the meeting.

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Next came the regular meeting, which technically started late though the open session started on time thanks to an extremely short closed session about a grant agreement.

After that, council turned into an awards show briefly giving out the Access Recognition Awards from the Guelph Barrier Free Committee, recognizing Nathan Skoufis’ recording breaking 13th Canadian Open Martial Arts Championship, and saluting Noah Mason-Wetherill for winning the prestigious Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award. Carrying on with the political business of the meeting, council approved the consent agenda and then started digging to the first of two new items added Friday.

First was a request to assist Royal City Musical Productions Inc. The group has secured extra space in 100 Crimea Street, the same building that’s home to the Guelph Food Bank, and they’re trying to undertake renovations that will allow them to store years and years worth of props and costumes in a new permanent home. The rub? A requirement to pay $30,000 in development charges that cannot be waved. In order to get the building permit, RCMPI has to pay the fees, but that’s going to be tough with the group’s present financial position, especially paying double the rent for their current storage space and the new one.

In order to allow the renovations to proceed, Mayor Guthrie and staff proposed an arrangement where RCMPI could pay the DCs over 15 years starting in 2027. This maneuver would give RCMPI the breathing room it needs to allow them to proceed with the renovations, but it also prompted concerns about the rigidness of the Development Charges Bylaw. So along with the direction to staff to execute the financing agreement, council posed a motion to direct staff to explore exceptions and/or grants for non-residential DCs as part of the next review. Council approved the recommendations unanimously.

Next, was a proposed update to the Public Space Use Bylaw, but prior to a discussion in the open, council recessed for their third in-camera debate of the evening. After nearly an hour in closed getting solicitor advice, Mayor Guthrie announced that the 10 recommendations he had added to the amended agenda the Friday before were being tossed for something else.

Before rolling that out, Guthrie took a moment to say that he was not going to apologize for bringing things forward that were of “grave concern” to the community, and that he wanted to provoke a conversation among council and staff about those concerns. He also said that he took exception to any accusation that he didn’t follow procedure saying that the way he put this topic on the agenda was “by the book.”

With the assistance of Councillor Cathy Downer, the first six-part recommendation was put on the floor, essentially asking for staff to review the Public Space Bylaw, which was just passed in 2024, for setbacks from property lives, the placement of unauthorized structures near supportive or transitional housing, playgrounds, water-based rec facilities, and other possible revisions. The goal was to get this complete by Q1 of 2027, but a subsequent motion reset the timeline to Q2 given the amount of work involved tp orient the new council and approve the 2027 budget confirmation early in the new year.

A couple of councillors expressed concern about the timeline, but there was mostly just relief that they weren’t expanding the bylaw there and then. Guthrie himself added that with so many legal proceedings going on around encampments a delay might make more sense anyway, though he did reiterate that he’s hearing from people all over the city about encampments right up against property lines, stealing power, and making noise all night. He also said there’s a problem with encampments near supportive housing, and how they’re having a negative effect on people trying to stay sober and turn their lives around.

The six recommendations were near unanimously approved 12-1.

The second slate of motions were essentially recommendations 7 through 10 in the ones originally included in the amended agenda. They asked staff to pilot a response team for the next seven months to deal with the growing number of encampments, evaluate its progress in advance of the 2027 budget, request a meeting of the Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee to examine the issue there, and a direction to increase advocacy efforts to the upper levels of government.

Council followed up with questions about the practicality of having that response team ready for the beginning of August and DCAO of Public Services Colleen Clack-Bush said it was doable if the City leverages current staff and community partnerships so they can backfill with resources as the work commences. There was also a desire for assurance that the team was not just going to be about enforcement and removal, and Clack-Bush said that they will also be focusing on clean-up and compliance too. Councillor Linda Busuttil asked to expand the recommendation to all unauthorized structures in natural heritage areas like treehouses and firepits, but her amendment failed by a slim 6-7.

The four other recommendations were approved unanimously, and Guthrie thanked his council colleagues for a good conversation.

Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.

Special Meeting of Council – July 22, 2026

The last meeting before summer break was all about the annual update on the Strategic Plan initiatives. This one marked the end of the second full year of the plan, and the GM of Strategic Initiatives and Intergovernmental Services Jodie Sales said that work has already begun planning the refresh under the new council in the next few years. (Look for more details on that and the next multiyear budget in an information report to council this Friday.)

The report itself was pretty straightforward with the City making some impressive gains in some of their key performance indicators (or KPIs) and leaving some room for improvement in others. You can see the progress by topic area here. After the City presented, six of the seven local boards and shared services presented the results of their own strategic initiatives; only Wellington County Social Services didn’t send a representative.

Among those highlights, the Downtown Guelph Business Association talked about their success building their online profile, The Elliott Community discussed their leadership in treating dementia with the Butterfly Approach and how it’s lead to a decrease in the use of antipsychotics, and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health showed how they’re setting the curve in getting young people to take their HPV vaccines. Guelph Public Library CEO Dan Atkins and Guelph Police Chief Gord Cobey shared information from previously released annual reports, while the Grand River Conservation Authority mentioned their deal to sell portions of the Niska land to the City for parkland.

There weren’t a lot of follow-up questions from the presentations, which was at least surprising in the case of the GRCA with the meeting this coming Monday about the controversial disposition of those eight hectares of agricultural land and their amalgamation into Eastern Lake Erie Regional Conservation Authority with three other CAs early next year.

Council voted to receive the City report, and Guthrie wished everyone a nice summer break although he teased the possibility of an August meeting. Was he serious? I guess we’ll find out.

Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.

The next scheduled meeting is the planning meeting of council on Wednesday September 9 at 4:30 pm. You can see the agenda on the City’s website when it’s on Thursday August 27.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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REMINDER: There will be a recap of this week’s city council meeting in Thursday’s newsletter.

Special Meeting of City Council – Wednesday July 22, 2026 at 6 pm.

In the last meeting before summer break, council will get the annual Strategic Plan update. You can see the agenda on the City’s website here.

Planning Meeting of City Council – Wednesday September 9, 2026 at 4:30 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday August 27.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday September 15, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday September 3.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday November 3, 2026 at 6 pm.

The agenda for this meeting will be posted on the City’s website on Thursday October 22.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

A six-car crash on the Hanlon Sunday night resulted in the death of a 38-year-old from Guelph.

After at least 15 instances of thefts from vehicles from the last week, Guelph Police are asking residents to be mindful and lock your vehicles.

Waterloo Regional Police have arrested two people responsible for a break-in at the Waterloo Region District School Board office where “sensitive records” were stolen.

It’s starting to look like this is going to be Ontario’s worst wildfire season, and we’re only halfway through it.

Already swept up in “Hotelgate”, Brampton East MPP Hardeep Grewal is now under examination by the integrity commissioner for running thousands of dollars in taxpayer funded ads in the newspaper owned by his father.

It turns out that former Ontario cabinet minister Stan Cho was also expensing meals, hotels and travel to his riding association.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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Another hammer attack in Guelph, this time after an argument between two men early Sunday morning downtown.

A Mississauga man is suing the Guelph and Toronto police boards because the charges were withdrawn after he was arrested in an identity fraud case.

Centre Wellington spent just over $93,000 at the Ontario Land Tribunal in 2025, a two thousand per cent increase year-over-year.

Guelph/Eramosa, Erin, Mapletons, Minto and Wellington North have all lifted their burn bans.

A doctor at the Hospital for Sick Children has been charged with possession of child sexual abuse and exploitation material, and access child sexual abuse and exploitation material. Several devices were seized, including a work computer.

Thirty-two arrests, 235 criminal charges and more than $300,000 in suspected stolen property recovered are the numbers following a Hamilton police investigation into an organized theft ring of area Hope Depot stores.

The relocation of the remaining animals at Marineland has begun with six of the beluga whales getting moved to different aquariums in the United States.

Five people died in Ohio while attempting to rescue a struggling swimmer in the Scioto River near Columbus.

Geneviève Grenier has filed her papers to run for re-election to the local seat on Conseil Scolaire Catholique Monavenir.

See the full list of candidates who’ve filed so far here.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, Scotty Hertz and I will talk about Hotelgate, as several cabinet members and MPPs in the Ontario government get caught being loose with their expense accounts, and whether or not we should get out a head of lettuce for new U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham. For the interview this week, we’re talking to Dr. Ze’ev Gedalof, director of the Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics Research (CEDaR) lab at the University of Guelph, about how climate change is driving wildfires in northern Ontario and why stopping them is not as easy as raking the forest floor.

Tune in to Open Sources Guelph Thursday at 5 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm!

Listen to Open Sources Guelph, as well as the Guelph Politicast and End Credits, any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple and Spotify.

Guelph Royals (IBL): It was win, lose and draw for the Royals this week. They achieved one victory on the road last Tuesday in Hamilton as they beat the Cardinals 6-5, but Saturday at home it was the Maple Leafs who carried the day beating the Royals 4-7. In-between though a stop in Brantford against the Red Sox was postponed because of the smoky skies late last week. In between, the team re-signed catcher/infielder Franklin Torres after a summer season in Venezuela, as well as pitcher Claudio Custodio. Coming up next, it’s four games in four days with stops in Toronto, Welland, and Chatham-Kent before the team comes home again late on Saturday afternoon.

Guelph United FC (League1 Ontario): In soccer action, a 3-2 victory over North Toronto Saturday punched the ticket for the women’s team to play in the OPL Cup. With eight wins in the last nine games, the Guelph women sit pretty comfortably in third place as they take on second place Hamilton United tonight in Vaughan. The men continue to struggle, falling Sunday to the Borough FC Sunday in Scarborough by a score of 0-3. They will be playing Whitby at home tonight.

Guelph Gryphons (OUA): Varsity athletics has released the field hockey schedule for the coming school year.

Guelph Regals (Junior B Lacrosse): The Regals are moving to the finals after a decisive 20-9 win over St. Catharines Monday night at the Victoria Road Recreation Centre. The Regals have been undefeated in the playoffs this year and swept the Athletics in three games. Guelph will face either the Akwesasne Thunder or the Kahnawake Hunters depending on how Tuesday night’s game worked out. If all goes well, the Regals will be off to the Founders Cup next month in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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Air quality in the region is now back to normal… but for how long?

Corey McArthur has until the end of the week to decided if he should resign from the Guelph Police Service or be fired after the sentence from his original disciplinary hearing was upheld Friday.

Stan Cho is resigned from cabinet, but not from his seat, as a casualty of the hotel expense scandal at Queen’s Park. Meanwhile, further investigation shows that the government changed the expense rules just as members started to expense more hotel stays.

Premier Doug Ford, under fire (pun intended) over the budget, said that “We’d never underfund our firefighters. Never, ever, ever,” despite evidence to the contrary.

Perhaps the savings from $1 million in staffing in the premier’s office can be passed to firefighting after the chief of staff slimmed things down by 10 people.

The Ontario Court of Appeal says that “Freedom Convoy” co-organizer Pat King is guilty of intimidation after all and will face a new sentencing hearing.

The Politico Tip Sheet is open for anyone to subscribe, so if you know a friend or associate that might like to receive this newsletter, send it to them, and get them to click on the button below:

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Here’s last week’s Police Notes entry.

A new program out of Royal City Mission lets clients get some job training skills while helping to keep downtown streets clean.

Smoke in the air cancelled another day of horse racing at Grand River Raceway on Friday.

St. David Street in Fergus was supposed to reopen on Friday, but now it may not open again for another month.

An OPP police training facility is coming to Wellington North after council agreed to update the zoning.

A portion of Fountain Street North adjacent to the Region of Waterloo International Airport’s front entrance will be closed until October to replace a watermain.

Organizers in the area are putting out an emergency call to get more volunteers as festivals and events are facing difficulty due to a lack of help.

Sport Minister Neil Lumsden, who sits as the MPP for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, has announced that he’s retiring from politics next month, a little over four years after he was first elected.

Parkland MP Dane Lloyd has been appointed by Pierre Poilievre to the Conservatives’ point person on the remain side of Alberta referendum.

Canada has temporarily barred foreign nationals who visited Congo from entering the country due to concerns about the risks of Ebola exposure.

An update from the WDG Public Health website was unavailable for the season.

OUTBREAKS: As of Thursday, there is presently only one outbreak in the region, and it’s an unknown respiratory virus in the East Luther Grand Valley unit of the Dufferin Oaks long term care home.

Transit Detours/Notices:

REMINDER #1: Routes #3 Westmount, #10 Paisley, #11 Silvercreek, #12 Delhi, #13 Eastview, and #20 Northwest Industrial will be detoured away from their stops in St. George’s Square due to construction for the foreseeable future.

REMINDER #2: Routes #4 York, #8 Janefield, #9 Waterloo are all being detoured from stops along Wyndam Street South from until sometime in July.

REMINDER #3: Routes #1 Edinburgh College, #2 College Edinburgh and #15 College will be detoured from some stops on College and McGilvray starting until sometime in October.

REMINDER #4: The stop at Edinburgh at Floral along the #8 Janefield route will be unavailable until July 27.

The Route #10 Imperial will be around a section of Paisley Road between Glengarry Street and Goldie Avenue that will be closed from now until August 13.

Routes #3 Westmount, #4 York, #8 Janefield, #9 Waterloo, #10 Paisley, #11 Silvercreek, #12 Delhi, #20 Northwest Industrial and #99 Mainline are all being re-routed downtown while the intersection of Wyndham and Macdonell is closed between now and August 16.

Upcoming Construction:

The Wyndham Street North and Macdonell Street intersection is now closed for infrastructure upgrades. It’s expected to re-open sometime in mid-August.

Coming up this week on the Guelph Politicast, we will talk to Mirko Petricevic of the local news advocacy group Ink-Stained Wretches, which is made up of former journalists and staff of the Waterloo Region Record. With the recent and sudden announcement that 570 News in Kitchener was shutting its doors we see again how precariously local news and local voices exist, but in an important local election year is there anything left we can do to encourage local journalism and local journalists?

Get the latest edition of the Guelph Politicast on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, tune in to CFRU at 3 pm for another episode of End Credits. This week, Tim Phillips co-hosts as we don’t just undertake any odyssey, but The Odyssey, the new epic fantasy from Christopher Nolan that is now in a theatre near you. And speaking of Nolan movies, we will talk about the director’s forgotten 2020 action flick Tenet, and what it says about Nolan, his themes, and his filmmaking style.

Listen to all these shows any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The July meeting of the Accessibility Advisory Committee will take place on Tuesday July 21 at 3 pm both in the committee rooms at city hall and online.

There will be afternoon and evening sessions for the City of Guelph’s Traffic Calming Open House, which will be in the Marg MacKinnon Room at City Hall on Wednesday July 22.

The Property Standards Committee will have their meeting on Thursday July 23 at 4 pm in the committee rooms at city hall and online.

The next meeting of the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee is on Thursday July 23 at 5 pm both online and in the committee rooms at city hall.

Tea ‘n’ Tales with the Guelph Guild of Storytellers happens again on Friday July 24 from 10 to 11:30 am at Riverside Park.

Hot Summer Nights continues on Thursday July 30 at 6:30 pm in Orin Reid Park.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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The last few days of wildfire smoke forced the cancellation of horse races at Grand River Raceway in Elora, and it forced Wellington County municipalities to suspend burns until further notice.

The first week of Hot Summer Nights was cancelled last night due to the smoke. Meanwhile, if there are any Guelphites interested in fostering pets from the affected areas up north, animal rescue groups would like to hear from you.

Premier Doug Ford said that he is definitely not shortchanging firefighters as they battle blazes in northern Ontario, but opposition MPPs say that the government needs to put more money into the budget before fire season.

Although the images were powerful, the Teamsters are still taking CN Rail to task for sending railworkers into an active wildfire zone where they had to be rescued.

Air quality is expected to improved today, but event organizers in the area are watching (and smelling) the skies before the fun begins.

Guelph Police are asking residents to be more proactive in reporting open drug use when they see it.

Another three government MPPS, including two cabinet ministers, have been found to be enjoying hotel stays on their expense account even though they live in Peel Region.

More cuts to local news, this time in Alberta as Corus stations will now cover Calgary and Edmonton from… Toronto.

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After community complaints, the old IMICo lands on Beverly Street have been cleared of garbage and dead trees.

How long did it take the Guelph Food Bank to go through 5,000 lbs of dry beans? (Won’t spoil the surprise here.)

Centre Wellington is launching a new program to provide a consistent, fair, and accessible pathway for local community organizations to request public recognition like digital displays, flag raisings, and recognition in the community calendar.

Arthur Minor Ball is looking for information about two different break-ins at the concession booth near the ball diamonds that caused over $3,500 in damage between the two incidents.

More than six years after the ION opened for business, the consortium that built it is now suing the Region of Waterloo for construction delays, unpaid work and breaches of contract.

An OPP traffic stop in Ancaster recovered nearly two million contraband cigarettes; two people were arrested.

Students at four Academy of Learning career college locations and Citi College of Canadian Careers will no longer be able to access OSAP loans.

All but 0.6 per cent of WestJet flight attendants voted in favour of striking if a new deal isn’t reached before the August long weekend.

Prime Minister Mark Carney assures us that there will be no profit sharing from tolls on the Gordie Howe bridge until all debt is repaid.

Another recent University of Guelph grad has joined the ranks of the very busy Ward 5 race, and his name is Michael Agueci. Also, we have a new name in the school board race with Pallavi Ramchandani having signed up to be the Upper Grand District School Board to represent Ward 6 and Puslinch.

See the full list of nominees so far here.

Shareholder Meeting of City Council – Tuesday July 21, 2026 at 5 pm.

Council will receive some more information about Alectra’s rate rebasing application. You can see the agenda on the City’s website here, and you have until today at 10 am to delegate or write a correspondence on any of those agenda items.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday July 21, 2026 at 6 pm.

Council will revisit the Committee of the Whole agenda and handout the Accessibility Recognition Awards from the Guelph Barrier Free Committee. You can see the agenda on the City’s website here, and you have until today at 10 am to delegate or write a correspondence on any of those agenda items.

Special Meeting of City Council – Wednesday July 22, 2026 at 6 pm.

In the last meeting before summer break, council will get the annual Strategic Plan update. You can see the agenda on the City’s website here, and you have until today at 10 am to delegate or write a correspondence on any of those agenda items.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

Wyndham Street south of Carden Street will re-open on Monday completing Phase 1 of the Downtown Infrastructure Renewal Program.

The Guelph Police Service is introducing a new automated response tool, which will streamline routine inquiries, enabling callers to quickly access information, complete tasks more efficiently and reduce unnecessary wait times.

The Guelph Public Library reminds you that they got rid of late fees for overdue materials, so if someone calls you looking for those fees, it’s a scam!

Sally Wismer, who served as the executive director of Guelph Arts Council from 1989 to 2010 is being remembered for her many contributions to the local arts scene.

The University of Guelph is partnering with SpacesShared on a new homesharing platform that will connect students with older adults with space in their homes.

Guelph is touting the success of the new Community Planning Permit System (CPPS) for the Stone Road/Edinburgh area after the first application completed review in just 25 days.

The Guelph Public Library is hosting Comic Con again on Saturday July 18 from 10 am to 2 pm at the main building downtown.

Rotary Ribfest returns to Riverside Park on the weekend of August 28-30. If ribs aren’t your thing, save the date of Saturday September 26 for Rotary’s Lobsterfest Gala.

The City of Guelph has launched the online reporting form and education campaigns for both the vacant home tax and the new rental bylaws.

Current “Have Your Say” opportunities: Downtown Infrastructure Renewal Program; Parkland Dedication Bylaw Update and Parkland Acquisition Strategy; and Traffic Calming Projects.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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Planning Meeting of Council – July 14, 2026

It was a long way to go to secure what was a lot of agreement this week at the planning meeting. If you thought all the people who were signed up to delegate were spoiled for a fight, you were probably disappointed with how it was all pretty collegial in the end.

After approving the consent agenda, which was two new heritage designations, council got a brief presentation about the completed rental replacement bylaw and Official Plan amendment. This bylaw, which works with the renoviction bylaw passed last month, outlines when and how landlords are required to offer tenants replacement units if they’re forced to move out for their affordable accommodation for some advanced renovation work. After being in the works for months, and a whole meeting about the subject just last month, council didn’t have much more to say and swiftly approved the bylaw.

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Less swift was the statutory planning meeting for 266-280 Clair Road West and 950 Southgate Drive. Sandwiched between Bishop Mac and Southgate Drive, the applicant wants to rezone the area, an open space, to build a residential development comprised of one 16-storey apartment building, one 14-storey apartment building, 15 blocks of back-to-back townhouses, and 16 blocks of stacked townhouses for a total of 940 dwelling units with site access from Clair. And, as a bonus, half the available units will meet the market definition of affordability.

Staff did have some concerns around the loss of more employment lands, as this property is currently zoned in the Official Plan, but Hugh Handy, the applicant’s planner countered saying that leaving this area as employment lands could only deliver another 100 jobs max given the economic character of the area. Also, this project actually was about jobs! Mike Labbe of Home Opportunities Non-profit Corporation said that there are 5,000 vacant positions in Guelph right now across several businesses and that’s because there’s a lack of affordable housing opportunities; people don’t want to work here because they can’t afford to live here. Labbe also noted without citing a source that 50 per cent of Linamar employees currently commute to and from their plants every day. This was a recurring theme among the delegates, some of whom said that there were Linamar employees themselves.

The other major piece of the project was provided by Jeremiah Vanderlaan of Guelph-based builder Kiwi Newton. Venderlaan explained how Kiwi Newton’s precast system makes projects like these 20 to 30 per cent cheaper than similarly sized construction projects, and that it would take between 12 and 18 months to complete once construction on the buildings themselves actually begins.

There was a lot of support from the nearly 20 delegates for the project, including two members of the Guelph Community for Active Transportation. A couple of delegates did have concerns about the environmental impact of the project especially with the placement of the stormwater management feature and the ecological linkage to connect various natural spaces. Staff had those concerns too, with some councillors asking for staff to bring back more information about the potential impacts on animal life in the area when this project comes back to council for final approval in September. Council voted unanimously to receive the application.

It was heading toward eight o’clock by the time council returned from dinner break to tackle the rest of the agenda. On the statutory meeting about the plan and guidelines for the Ward Heritage Conservation District there was more praise for staff efforts. One delegate did suggest that there should be a way of restoring buildings to their original purpose as well as their original exterior look, while Mayor Cam Guthrie had concerns that some of the measures like the so-called “street rhythm” were too prescriptive. Still, staff were given lead to finish up this work, which will be the fourth completed HCD for the city, and council unanimously received the report.

Next was the Guelph Growth Management Monitoring Report as council heard about the progress of key pieces of housing policy including the Housing Pledge made to the Ontario government to build 18,000 new units by 2031. The highlights were decidedly mixed because while the City of Guelph has made great gains from a policy perspective, you can’t see it from the number of new units built in 2025, which was 664, or about 300 off the 20-year annual average.

The report also noted that building density downtown in terms of the number of residents and jobs is flat thanks to the Co-operators moving to the south end and the proposed Conestoga campus in their old building being on hold for the foreseeable future. When asked if the City will be financially ready when the market turns, CAO Tara Baker explained that Guelph will only start to see a fiscal recovery when building permits start being issued because city hall keeps approving new units but they only get counted towards the Pledge when a shovel goes in the ground.

The last item of the agenda was the Proposed Urban Design Master Plan (UDMP) Application for 64 Duke Street - Mid-town Village, also know as the much-discussed Plant No. 2 project being built by the Wood Development Group. No formal building plan or land rezoning was being considered, just the overall layout of the nearly four-hectare property with a train track running through it. The end result will have between 800-875 units, an undetermined amount of commercial space and public common areas and trails.

There were six registered delegates, including three from Wood. From the more community-based delegations there were thumbs up for the active transportation network proposed for the site, but there were some concerns that the project goes against the working-class character of the Ward, and the likelihood that there will be a lack of affordable options in the development. Members of the Ward Residents Association also noted that developers in Guelph need to start leveraging their influence to get better public transit in the city so that we can become less car reliant.

As for council, they want to know more about how the project’s evolved, and how the potential timeline for construction. Ian Panabaker, Vice President of Development at Wood, said that it’s a matter of confidence and there’s not really any in the current real estate market. In terms of changes, the Wood team explained that they tried to move all the taller buildings to the centre of the site, and they also took a lot of lessons from Metalworks about how to integrate the exteriors at the base of the building into the existing streetscape. And yes, we will have to keep calling it Plant No. 2 because “Mid-town Village” is only the project’s legal name.

Council approved the plan, approved the bylaws, and wished everyone a good night before 10:30. Next week, the last three meetings before summer break!

Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.

The next meeting is the regular meeting of council on Tuesday July 21 at 6 pm. You can see the agenda on the City’s website here, and you have until Friday at 10 am to delegate or write a correspondence on any of those agenda items.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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REMINDER: There will be a recap of this week’s city council meeting in Thursday’s newsletter.

Shareholder Meeting of City Council – Tuesday July 21, 2026 at 5 pm.

Council will receive some more information about Alectra’s rate rebasing application. You can see the agenda on the City’s website here, and you have until Friday at 10 am to delegate or write a correspondence on any of those agenda items.

Regular Meeting of City Council – Tuesday July 21, 2026 at 6 pm.

Council will revisit the Committee of the Whole agenda and handout the Accessibility Recognition Awards from the Guelph Barrier Free Committee. You can see the agenda on the City’s website here, and you have until Friday at 10 am to delegate or write a correspondence on any of those agenda items.

Special Meeting of City Council – Wednesday July 22, 2026 at 6 pm.

In the last meeting before summer break, council will get the annual Strategic Plan update. You can see the agenda on the City’s website here, and you have until Friday at 10 am to delegate or write a correspondence on any of those agenda items.

For more information on Guelph City Council meetings, from agendas to live-tweets to recaps, you can visit that page on Guelph Politico here.

Police responded quickly after a man shoplifted from a west end plaza and escaped the scene in a stolen SUV with a four-year-old sleeping in the back. The vehicle, and the child, were recovered in 16 minutes and suspect caught.

Technical snafus with the new paid parking system might have cost Centre Wellington thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

A new 19-storey apartment building in downtown Kitchener will be coming complete with a new fire station on the ground floor.

Wildfires in northern Ontario are having an air quality down here in the southern parts of the province.

The Six Nations of the Grand River is no longer under a boiled water advisory after a watermain break was repaired.

Tourism Culture and Gaming Minister Stan Cho has been dinged for spending over $16,000 over three years in downtown Toronto hotel rooms despite living less than six kilometres from Queen’s Park. But it’s totally okay though because Cho is going to pay it back.

An Alberta judge has frozen over $8.5 million in assets belonging to Jeffrey Rath and his professional corporation to prevent them from moving funds around and avoiding the outstanding payment on portions of a settlement with the Tallcree First Nation in 2021.

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Hillside has sold out for the first time in 14 years.

Wilfred Thyssen, a former Fergus resident twice arrested by police for arranging to have sex with children, has been granted day parole.

Centre Wellington council has amended the Property Standards and Clean Yards bylaw to recognize and permit naturalized gardens.

A fire in a vendor stall at Kitchener Market has closed the whole complex until further notice though outdoor viewings of World Cup games will continue.

One thief has been stealing sunglasses from various stores around Waterloo Region over the last few weeks.

Several trips on the GO Train Lakeshore lines were cancelled on Saturday due to “crew constraints”.

Bonnie Crombie has officially signed up to try and become Mississauga mayor again.

Citing security, the Ford government says that they will not be naming the ministers who were dinged by speeding tickets from automated speed cameras before cancelling the program last fall.

New York consul general Tom Clark is being moved to L.A. and will be replaced on the east coast by former oil and gas executive Susannah Pierce.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, Scotty Hertz and I will talk about the latest in war/not war between the United States and Iran and why Donald Trump wants to be the Guardian of the Strait of Hormuz, plus we will talk about Alberta’s approach to data centres and the promises of the A.I. gold mine. We will also have a conversation with Brenda Hsueh from Farmers for Climate Solutions about why farming needs to be front and centre when it comes to the fight against climate change.

Tune in to Open Sources Guelph Thursday at 5 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm!

Listen to Open Sources Guelph, as well as the Guelph Politicast and End Credits, any time by subscribing to the Guelph Politicast channel on your favourite podcast app at Apple and Spotify.

Guelph Royals (IBL): It was a short week for the Royals in terms of the number of games, two in all. The Royals went one and one losing 4-7 against Welland at home last Thursday and then beat the Majors 8-5 in Labatt Park on Friday. The Royals faced the Cardinals at home last night and then they will stop in Welland and Brantford on Thursday and Friday before coming back home to face the Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Guelph United FC (League1 Ontario): In local soccer action, the women dominated in their game against North Mississauga SC beating them 7-0 for their seventh win in a row. (It’s worth noting thought that North Mississauga is in last place in the league through.) As for the men, they were also victorious in their match against Waterloo United 6-1, which allowed them to move out of the basement in the standings of the second division.

Guelph Storm (OHL): Counting down to the start of the Memorial Cup season, two new names have signed up with the Storm. Winger and fourth overall CHL Import Draft pick Timothy Kazda made it official this week, and so did forward Adrien Bartovic.

Guelph Gryphons (OUA): Prep for the next season continues with the recently announced schedule for the hockey teams and the rugby teams.

Guelph Silvercreeks (OBA): Last Wednesday, the Silvercreeks faced the pretty evenly matched Ancaster Angels, but achieved victory by a score of 11-7 thanks in no small part to MacEwan Coale who had three hits out of five at-bats. The Silvercreeks kept up the streak on Friday night with a 12-9 win over the visiting Cambridge Cubs.

Finally, feel free to reach out to me by email at adamadonaldson [at] gmail [dot] com, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, GuelphPolitico.ca!

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