Guelph Politicast

Out of 27 perspective candidates for Ward 6 city councillor it came down between Katherine Hauser and Rebecca Adam, and after a show of hands vote ended in a tie, Hauser got the gig in a literal luck of the draw. It was her name that came out of that big orange box, and it's now up to Hauser to make as big an impact she can before council rises one year from now for the next municipal election. What does she do now? Now normally we interrogate city councillors on Open Sources Guelph, but we thought that with the tremendous pressures for Councillor Hauser to get the job and then hit the ground running, we would ease her into the world of Guelph politics with a more relaxing Politicast segment than the 22-minute egg-timer on OSG. True, there was the August recess that allowed her to get acclimated, but city council business is a fast moving object. Hauser is, of course, not unfamiliar with the job of representing Ward 6. Her last gig in politics was serving on the Upper Grand District School Board as the trustee representing Guelph's Ward 6 and Puslinch. In her statement of qualifications, she said she wants to “advocate for Ward 6 with empathy, insight, and the same integrity” she's brought to all her roles, and today she will be tested again on this podcast. Katherine Hauser will join on this week's edition of the podcast to talk about the reasons why she wanted to make the jump to city council, how she feels about the process that brought her to council, and how she's been building relationships with the six members of council that didn't vote for her. She will also talk about the learning curve, what she thinks she can accomplish in the next year, and why she's already thinking about next year's election.  So let's get to know the newest member of city council on this week's Guelph Politicast! You can reach out to her by email at katherine.hauser [at] guelph.ca and you can follow her on Instagram. You can stay up to date with all the latest agendas and developments with city council at the City of Guelph website under the “city government” tab, or by following meeting previews and recaps at Guelph Politico. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we catch up on our reading. In this all-news edition of the show, we will learn about the current condo crisis in Canada, and while we're learning about alliteration, we will talk about literature. In Alberta, they're taking more lessons from the MAGA movement by making a list of books they hate and checking it twice, and speaking of MAGA, their figurehead may or may not be dead depending on the day. This Thursday, September 4, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: The Long Condo. The condo market in Toronto and Vancouver is crashing, new units built are empty, and units waiting to be built have no buyers. In the midst of a housing crisis, this may be the worst development of all because for years now condos in our biggest cities have been a good place to park investment money for Canadian and foreign interests, but what happens to the market when there are more condos than people who want to buy them, and what do we do now? Book 'Em, Danielle! For the last few months, the Alberta government has been dabbling in the library sciences, or to be more precise, what books should or shouldn't be in school libraries. As usual though, the process has been confusing, haphazard, and driven by the same far-right, homophobic ideology of MAGA and groups like of Moms For Liberty, and this week Premier Danielle Smith was forced to call a time out. Why is Alberta, land of the free, embracing censorship? The President's Health is Missing. Last weekend, Donald Trump decided to take some downtime for the Labour Day weekend, and that's where the trouble started. The U.S. President's startling silence for days led to a lot of internet speculation, which was fed by weeks of apparent health issues from cankles to bruised hands to being more misunderstood than usual. Even if he's still alive, what are we meant to do with all these unanswered questions about Trump's health? Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, it's crime time! We will get caught in the movie theatre to see Caught Stealing, but be assured that we have paid for our tickets. It's the last official summer movie we'll review this year though because the next thing on our to do list is to check out the fall movies and on this episode we will preview some of our top picks! This Wednesday, September 3, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillip will discuss: Fall Movie Preview. Although it's technically still summer, in movie terms fall is here! Film festivals in Telluride, Venice and Toronto are rolling out all the flicks that are the basis for our great expectations for cinema in the months ahead, and to begin this week's show we're going to talk about some of our favourites. From the return of PTA and Shakespeare, to the greatness of Eleanor and The Boss, we will look at what's next! REVIEW: Caught Stealing (2025). The year is 1998. Hank is a New York bartender and washed up professional baseball prospect, but when his neighbour asks him to look after his cat for a few days, his whole life comes apart as he's chased by mobsters, corrupt cops, and his own guilty conscience. It's a crime thriller, and a dark comedy, and it comes to us from the man who gave us Requiem For a Dream, The Wrestler and mother! so can Darren Aronofsky be a populist for once and make a real crowd pleaser by taking a bite out of crime? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

We've been told that Artificial Intelligence is coming for all our jobs, that it will create fake news so real looking there will be no room for doubt, and in the worst case scenarios it will supplant human beings as the dominant lifeform on planet Earth. It's scary stuff, and yet our fate depends on the same tech bros that have turned social media and the internet into a few concentrated monopolies. Is there still time to rein in A.I.? In the movies, artificial intelligence is almost always bad, but here in real life, we've seen the best and worst of A.I. development. On the one hand, you have Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health is using A.I. to collate and organize huge data sets, and on the other you have criminals using A.I. videos of real people to rip off victims with elaborate crypto scams involving cryptocurrency, and none of this deals with any of those existential concerns we see in the movies. But there's at least one person who's thinking about that future and he's from Guelph. Christopher DiCarlo is the author of the new book Building a God: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and the Race to Control It, which outlines a short history of A.I., the current concerns about its development, the extreme concerns about the people doing the developing, and the ways we still have time to properly regulate A.I, and use it to make the world a better place for all people and not just tech billionaires. DiCarlo will be taking part in this weekend's Eden Mills Writers' Festival to talk about some of those ideas, but he's going to make one stop before that... this podcast! He will talk about why he's so concerned about A.I., his long quest to raise the alarm about its development, and the ways we misunderstand the dangers and opportunities of the technology. He will also talk about the difficulties trying to regulate A.I., how we overcome big tech's resistance to regulation, and if it's all bad news when it comes to this technology. So let's talk about building a God on this week's Guelph Politicast!  You can buy his book, Building a God: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and the Race to Control It, wherever you buy fine books, and you can see him discuss his book and the issues around A.I. this Sunday at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival. You can find information about the festival or buy tickets here. You can also learn more about his advocacy and research into A.I. through Convergence Analysis at their website. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, just in time for the last weekend of summer, we're taking a trip. We join our prime minister as he's taking the world by storm, or at least parts of Europe anyway, and then we're heading to Gaza again where nobody is taking a vacation because the war continues and its costing more lives. The stakes aren't as dire closer to home, but there's controversy up the road in Wasaga Beach that we need to discuss. This Thursday, August 28, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Mark Carney Vs. The World. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was touring though Europe this week, and he's been making some news like when he said in Ukraine that troops from Canada could be part of some future peacekeeping force there after the war. Closer to home meanwhile, government reps are trying to get that trade deal with the U.S. even if if means scaling back on retaliatory tariffs. How's the Carney government doing on the world stage? They Bomb Journalists. Oh yes, there's still a crisis in Gaza and it only ever seems to get worse. This past week there was a two-fer when five journalists were killed along with over a dozen other people in an air strike on a hospital in Gaza; Reuters photographer Hatem Khaled was wounded. Benjamin Netanyahu called it a "tragic mishap" but it's not the first time, and it seems to be further entrenching the international community against Israel. How much worse can it get? Son of a Beach. Wasaga Beach is one of Ontario's favourite tourist destinations, and home to a wonderful provincial park that takes up much of the beachfront on Lake Huron. And yet, the Ontario government is planning to offload much of that land to the local government for redeveloped, which has many environmental activists concerned about the fate of sensitive flora and fauna. Environmental Defence executive director Tim Gray joins us to talk about the stakes of this project and the Ontario government's overall approach to environmental protection. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we're back! Summer vacation is over for us, even though there's still technically one week left, so we will say goodbye to summer by talking about the last great movie from the Summer of 2025, the new horror mystery Weapons. Also on the topic of saying goodbye to summer, we will talk about our summer movie memories. This Wednesday, August 27, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss: The Best Summer Movie Moments of 2025. It's been a long summer, at least in movie terms. We've seen a lot of different films, with varying levels of quality, but with fall almost here we have to make our choices for our favourite summer movie moments. From the lessons of Eddington to robots and super men we will mark the memories we'll take with us from the Summer of 2025, or, as it's been known, #PedroSummer! REVIEW: Weapons (2025). It may be the biggest movie of summer in a very real sense, and it's a story about how a community comes apart when (almost) all the children from one grade 3 class disappears from one public school. The new Zach Cregger movie is part Twilight Zone and part ensemble drama in the tradition of Robert Altman and Paul Thomas Anderson, which is almost the antithesis of what makes a late summer movie a success, so what is it about Weapons that has hit so hard, and did it hit us too? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

We return to work at the Politicast just in time to mark Labour Day next Monday, the unofficial end of summer, and the official day to mark the sacrifices and accomplishments of workers and labour leaders. We talk a lot about how work is changing with the impact of technological change and the rising cost of living, but policy has to change too, and that's where activism comes in. This year's commemoration of Labour Day is especially well-timed just a few weeks after a major labour victory: Air Canada flight attendants went on strike and won despite the federal government trying to force them back to work and the efforts of management to turn the public against them. A happy ending? Maybe, but it should not come as a surprise that in the year 2025 that people are siding with the workers and not the managers. To be clear though, one victory does not a movement make. As the trade war and other economic pressures persist, our governments are going to be tempted to start cutting back on bureaucracy, and sometimes those pressures are coming from within their own house like with Prime Minister Mark Carnery looking for a seven per cent cut to the public service. So this Labour Day, we're going to focus on labour activism, and the brand name for that work in Guelph is Justice For Workers.  Lou Thompson and Waida Mirzada will represent Justice For Workers on this week's podcast to talk about the group's mission, their thoughts on the flight attendants' strike, and what lessons they took from the union's success that can be applied to labour organizing. We also talk about why you can't separate social justice issues from labour issues, why we need to use political power to humanize people, and what's driving the difficult job search in Guelph. Plus, what is Justice For Workers planning next? So let's get into some pre-Labour Day labour chat on this week's Guelph Politicast!  You can learn more about Justice For Workers Guelph at their website, or on social media on Facebook or Instagram. The team from Justice For Workers will also be at the Labour Day Picnic hosted by the Guelph and District Labour Council in the red pavilion of Riverside Park on Monday September 1 from 11 am to 2 pm.  The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're back! After taking a midsummer break, we come back with some of your favourite characters from this past season including the buffoonish U.S. President, and our oafish Ontario Premier, and in the third topic, just in time for Labour Day, we'll have some genuine labour news to get excited about! We might have taken some time off for the last couple of weeks, but the new sure didn't!! This Thursday, August 21, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Dark Skies. Flight attendants from Air Canada went on strike last weekend, and they looked to be on strike for the long haul until the two sides reached a deal on Tuesday. Despite pressure from the federal government and the courts, the CUPE represented workers remained defiant after spending years doing, on average, 30 hours of unpaid work every month. Meanwhile, workers and average folk are showing incredible solidarity on this issue, so is this the Labour (Day) revolution we've been waiting for? "A Little Poke." That's what Premier Doug Ford says he wants to give the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. In Ottawa for AMO this week, Ford looked to secure his bonafides as "Captain Canada", but back at home he's still getting hit hard for school infrastructure funding, benefiting the friends with the Highway 413 route, and new concerns about the finances of Ontario Place anchor tenant Therme. Is Ford the one that needs poked? Baked Alaska Summit. For the first since he ordered a full-scale invasion into Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin was on U.S. soil and gratefully received by President Donald Trump. Three hours later, the leaders announced that they had *not* reached a deal to end the war that Russia started, and scuttlebutt says members of Team Trump were shook by what they had seen behind closed doors. Since then, Trump met with European leaders, including Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but did any of this Nobel Peace Prize baiting get tangible results? Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, there is no End Credits. Well... there's going to be a show, but it's going to be an episode of End Credits that you've heard before, or probably heard before. Yes, if you've seen the calendar lately then you know it's time for our midsummer break. As usual, we're taking a couple of weeks off for August so that we can enjoy some summer sun! See You at the Beach! It's been a busy year at the movies; we sinned with Sinners, flew with Superman, and we caught up with at least half of #PedroSummer. So we're pleased and happy to repeat the news that we have, in fact, decided to take a couple of weeks off so that we can enjoy some time away from the screen, big and small. But, as you see, it's a beautiful day, the beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time. End Credits, as you know, means "friendship". See you in a couple of weeks! Programming Note: End Credits will return with new episodes on August 27. End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

The CAO position is the highest ranking official in local government that doesn't have the job title of either mayor or city councillor, and it's the only staff position at city hall that's hired by a committee made up of the mayor and councillors. So yes, it's a pretty important job, and it's not like there's any shortage of issues or needs for the new woman in charge as she nears the end of her first year in charge. In January, we got a chance to sit down with City of Guelph CAO Tara Baker. At the time, she was just coming off a difficult budget confirmation process and prepping for a year that was going to be focused on housing development. Now there have been some hiccups on that second one, despite the fact, as you'll hear, Baker has a daily reminder in her office about its importance, and Baker has the experience to know what's important to Guelph. Before becoming the CAO, Baker had spent 13 years at Guelph city hall, including the last eight as the City Treasurer and the General Manager of Finance. If the emphasis is to be put on affordability now, as it was with the last budget she worked on as Treasurer, it puts even more pressure on Baker as she's managing all the spinning plates in her new office. On this edition of the podcast, she told us what comes next. Back in January, Baker joined us to talk about why she wanted to be the CAO, why she thinks she stood out from the other applicants and the changing role of the CAO position after the introduction of Strong Mayor Powers. She will also talk about the search for a new City Treasurer, and the greater emphasis on affordability when it comes to City business. Also, she will discuss the changes she's making to the job, and what she wants her legacy to be when it becomes her turn to retire from the role. So let's get the 4-1-1 on the current CAO on this week's Guelph Politicast! You can see Baker's plan for goals and objectives that were presented to city council earlier this year here, and you can just learn more generally about the CAO office here. And speaking of podcasts, you can check out Baker's latest appearance on Breezy Breakfast from April and you can find that pod on whatever platform you listen to his one on. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify. Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, you are here, but we are not. The time has come for our annual summer sabbatical. Unlike certain former prime ministers we still have work to do, so we can only afford to take a quick two-week break before coming back with what will surely be a drama-packed fall schedule of scandals, near-scandals and straight up crises. So let's take a break from the craziness before it catches up to us again. Be Normal. Welcome to summer vacation! We've made it through a lot in 2025 so far including two month-long elections, and the daily deluge of insanity from the present occupant of White House. There's been the start and stop of the trade war, the nonstop wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and some general anxiety about global crisis coming down the pipe next. Bad news is inevitable, and there will surely be more of it, but for the next two weeks tune in, drop out, and bring on some outdoor activities. See you in a few weeks! *Programming Note: Open Sources Guelph will return with new episodes on Thursday August 21. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, there is no End Credits. Well... there's going to be a show, but it's going to be an episode of End Credits that you've heard before, or probably heard before. Yes, if you've seen the calendar lately then you know it's time for our midsummer break. As usual, we're taking a couple of weeks off for August so that we can enjoy some summer sun! See You at the Beach! It's been a busy year at the movies; we sinned with Sinners, flew with Superman, and we caught up with at least half of #PedroSummer. So we're pleased and happy to repeat the news that we have, in fact, decided to take a couple of weeks off so that we can enjoy some time away from the screen, big and small. But, as you see, it's a beautiful day, the beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time. End Credits, as you know, means "friendship". See you in a couple of weeks! Programming Note: End Credits will return with new episodes on August 27. End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

Guelph loves its cultural heritage! As we count down to the 200th anniversary of the city in 2027, we're seeing more and more of a focus on our local history, but there's something else happening in 2027... the elimination of the heritage registry. Any property listed, but not designated, on January 1, 2027 will be deleted. The stakes, and the workload, have never been this high! That's the primary reason why it seemed fitting last fall to talk to members of heritage planning staff. Since the passage of Bill 23 in 2022, they've been in a mad scramble to preserve as much heritage as they can, as quickly as they can with a record number of approval already for 2025 and the year is only half over (at least in council terms). Coming up in the fall? Even more approvals and further progress on key files like the three heritage conservation districts.  But since recording this pod things have gotten more complicated. Several designations have faced delay or deferral after objections brought to council based on the additional onus placed on the property owner due to the designation, and what seems to be a misunderstanding about the limitations of those designations. This may change in the fall as heritage planners pass more voluntary designations, but for now, is there a growing sense that they're doing too much, too fast?  Stephen Robinson and Jack Mallon, who are heritage planners at the City of Guelph, joined us last December to talk about what kind of year it's been for heritage, the status of all the heritage conservation district studies and the special controversy around the recent presentation about the OR Lands HCD. They'll also talk about public engagement, why development is not a bad word, what's coming up in 2025, and why we maybe need to start loving architectural brutalism(?). So let's dig into the very busy heritage file again on this edition of the Guelph Politicast! The next scheduled meeting of Heritage Guelph is on September 4, and in the meantime you can visit the heritage planning page on the City's website to get the lowdown on various plans and strategies. For your information, you can see the Municipal Register of Cultural Heritage Properties here, and stay tuned for future engagement opportunities on the OR Lands, Downtown and Ward West Heritage Conservation District studies. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify. Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, you are here, but we are not. The time has come for our annual summer sabbatical. Unlike certain former prime ministers we still have work to do, so we can only afford to take a quick two-week break before coming back with what will surely be a drama-packed fall schedule of scandals, near-scandals and straight up crises. So let's take a break from the craziness before it catches up to us again. Be Normal. Welcome to summer vacation! We've made it through a lot in 2025 so far including two month-long elections, and the daily deluge of insanity from the present occupant of White House. There's been the start and stop of the trade war, the nonstop wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and some general anxiety about global crisis coming down the pipe next. Bad news is inevitable, and there will surely be more of it, but for the next two weeks tune in, drop out, and bring on some outdoor activities. See you in a few weeks! *Programming Note: Open Sources Guelph will return with new episodes on Thursday August 21. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we're hitting the links. Well, we're not hitting the links, at least not yet, but we will watch other people hit the links in the sporting sequel comedy Happy Gilmore 2, which you can now stream on Netflix. And since we're back in the realm of Adam "Sandman" Sandler, we will talk about the empire he built!  This Wednesday, August 6, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: The Happy Madison Movie Draft. Adam Sandler is a movie-making machine. His production company, which is named after his first two movies, has been cranking out hits for himself and others for decades, and not just comedies either. In honour of the latest Happy Madison entry, we will talk about some of the best and brightest that they've put out over the years, from the regulars to the perhaps even the rare dramatic turn. REVIEW: Happy Gilmore 2 (2025). Thirty years ago, a would-be hockey player became a golf sensation in the first of many big comedy successes from the House of Sandler. Now Happy is back on the links courtesy of the Sandman's long standing relationship with Netflix, but does he still have it? And by "it" we mean mass appeal and anger management issues. The usual collection of Sandler regulars and family members are all here for the mighty return of Happy, Shooter and all their friends, but will the audience come back for more? Programming Note: End Credits will be running previously enjoyed episodes on Wednesday August 13 and 20. We will back with new episodes on Wednesday August 27.  End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

The Guelph Fringe Festival unfolds this weekend with 10 companies performing in three different venues over four days in downtown Guelph with 100 per cent of the ticket prices going back to the artists. These shows are experimental, personal, and unlike anything you will ever see anywhere else, and this week's show is going to highlight three interviews from three different shows to tell you why Guelph Fringe is a can't miss event for theatre fans and the theatre curious. First, we will talk to Bridget Cann from Staccayto Staccato, the Toronto-based musical comedy troupe who staged last year's Guelph Fringe "Big Buzz Award" winner, Make Up! The Musical. It's a musical comedy show that's completely made up! Using suggestions from the audience, they come up with a whole one hour musical with improvised characters, plots, places, and, of course, music. Then, we will talk to Christel Bartelse, a Toronto-based actor/storyteller, comedian, and director and educator. Her show is A Woman of My Age, which Bartelse both wrote and performs, is her seventh solo production after ONEymoon, Chaotica and All KIDding Aside which have toured to fringe festivals all across Canada, and the U.S. and also to Edinburgh, the largest fringe festival in the world. And finally we will talk to Julie Lyn Barber and Michelle Dvoskin. Turbulent Architect, written and performed by Barber and directed and dramaturged by Dvoskin, offers a candid, heartwarming, and hilarious guided tour of the chaotic inner workings of Barber's mind. Barber is an actor, singer, director, choreographer, musical director, and the Head of Musical Theatre at Purdue University Fort Wayne while Dvoskin is a director, intimacy choreographer, performer, playwright and an associate professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance at Western Kentucky University. On this week's episode the four of them will talk about their shows, their inspirations, and the challenges in staging their production. We will also talk about their backgrounds, what makes a show “fringe”, and what they hope the audience will leave with when the show is over. So let's talk about some of this year's shows at the Guelph Fringe Festival on this week's Guelph Politicast! The Guelph Fringe Festival runs from Thursday August 7 to Sunday August 10. You can see the full schedule and buy tickets at their website. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday. Programming Note: Guelph Politicast will be running previously enjoyed episodes on Wednesday August 13 and 20. We will back with new episodes on Wednesday August 27. 

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're getting ready to go on summer vacation, but before that we've got some serious business, and in the case of one topic we mean really, really serious. We will once again tackle the ongoing tragedy in Gaza before coming back home to Ontario where education is on the menu again, from your local school board to post-secondary education. Also, we'll keep the education conversation going with this week's guest. This Thursday, July 31, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: "The Worst Case Scenario of Famine..." Just when you think thing couldn't possibly get worse in Gaza, they do. The famine is now undeniable, to the point where even U.S. President Donald Trump couldn't deny it when asked. Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile says there is no famine, and this despite the fact that people on the ground in Gaza note that not only are people starving to death, they're being killed while trying to get what little food that's coming in. Is this finally enough? 33 and We. Before breaking for summer, the Ontario government revealed Bill 33, which will give them more power over school boards, universities and colleges and even children's aid societies. People have noted the shades of the Student Choice Initiative, which an Ontario court said was unconstitutional, but it also undermines local democracy (again) by overriding the authority of elected school boards. Is this the next great Ford government scandal we're not talking about yet? Fife's Out. We haven't heard about long-term care in a while, but one MPP has been working on one part of that file for almost seven years now. Catherine Fife is trying again to pass a private member's bill to keep senior couple together in long-term care, which sounds simple but has become a year's long project. We will talk to Fife about it, and we will also talk to her about issues around post-secondary education, and how Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles talked about it during her leader's tour stop in the region this week. Programming Note: Open Sources Guelph will be running previously enjoyed episodes on Thursday August 7 and 14. We will back with new episodes on Thursday August 21.  Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits we are faster than a speeding bullet and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Get ready to pump iron, or make that steel, with the cinema's newest superhero in the bright and cheerful Superman. But is it one of the best movies of the year? TBD, in the meantime though we're going to talk about some other contenders! This Wednesday, July 23, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss: The Best of 2025... So Far! So we're a little late with this given all of our 400th episode festivities earlier this month, but it did buy us an extra month to take stock of the movie year so far. How are we doing? Well, we will dig into that very question by talking about some of our early contenders for the "Best of the Year" so far including something Canadian, something action-packed, something funny, and something sexy! REVIEW: Superman (2025). It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... a reboot! James Gunn has flown the relative safety of Marvel (where he made the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy) and has taken on the massive task of creating a big, better DC Universe starting with Superman. This Man of Steel is less serious and dour than its predecessor, but Gunn's still injected a surprising amount of real world relevance. Plus, there's a super dog! There's a lot riding on Superman, especially as the comic book movie bubble is bursting, but can we still believe a man can fly? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

Donald Trump's return to the White House promised economic disturbances if not outright challenges, and this is on top of the challenges that already existed like supply chains, wages, turnover, and the high cost of housing and real estate. It's also worth noting that these are not Guelph-specific challenges, but that's okay because the new president of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce is not from Guelph. What will be impact when Trump slaps 35 per cent on tariffs on Friday? On the other hand, maybe Trump will initiate another pause on implementing new tariffs. Does it even matter at this point? Businesses big and small depend on stability because if things are stable, you make reasonable predictions for the future in regard to planning, growth, marketing and hiring.  Andy Veilleux arrived in the president's office at the Guelph Chamber the day after Trump retook the White House, and when we say “arrived” we mean from outside of town. His most recent job was as Director of Policy & Government Relations at the Sudbury Chamber of Commerce, a community similar to Guelph in some ways, but very, very different in others. There's a lot on Veilleux's desk, so what does he intend to do about it while also adapting to life as a new Guelphite? We will dig into all that and more on this week's edition as Veilleux discusses his background and experience, why he made the move to Guelph, and what he's learned about life in the city so far. He will also talk about the present business challenges, and why the Chamber of Commerce is about more than just business interests. Plus, he will discussthe importance of the University of Guelph to the city's overall economic health, and what he wants his tenure at the Chamber to be about.  So let's talk about business on this week's Guelph Politicast! You can follow him on social media @andyveilleux on Twitter and Instagram, and you can check out his poetry at his website. He will also be speaking at the Rotary Club of Guelph in their monthly meeting on Friday September 19 at the Italian Canadian Club, and you can register at the Rotary Guelph website. For more information about the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, you can find them at their website or on social media on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph everybody is fighting! Our national and provincial leaders are gathered to strategize and fight back in a trade war, while the leader of the opposition (in exile) is fighting for his political life so that he can get back into the national debate. Meanwhile, we will talk to an area Indigenous leader who's helping to lead the fight against legislation they got no say in by taking two different levels of government to court. Can't we all just get along?! This Thursday, July 24, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Fifty Trades of Grey. At a meeting in Huntsville this week, Canada's First Ministers met with Prime Minister Mark Carney to talk about - what else? - the trade war with the United States. Donald Trump has made another one of his famous proclamations, 50 per cent tariffs will be put on Canadian goods starting August 1, but what can Canada do about it? That's a question no one can answer. Is there any way out of this mess, and is inter-provincial trade really the answer? Battle River Front. As Carney looks at getting one over on Trump, Pierre Poilievre is looking to get back into the House of Commons. His route back to the chamber is through a by-election in Battle River-Crowfoot, a riding the Conservative candidate won in April with 83 per cent, so easy, right? Not so fast, because about 200 people are crowding the ballot for the August 18 vote, and Poilievre can't show weakness before a January leadership review. Can Pierre take his perch back? Kill Bills. Last week, nine Ontario First Nations launched a constitutional challenge to both Bill 5 in Ontario and Bill C-5 nationally. The two omnibus bills make legislative short cuts for massive infrastructure projects, and they were passed without any consultation with First Nations leaders, who are now forcing the issue. This week, we're joined by one of those leaders, Chief Todd Cornelius from Oneida Nation of the Thames east of London, about the goals of the Constitutional challenge and the state of reconciliation in Canada. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits we're nostalgic. Not for our own past now 401 episodes in, but for our collective movie past. First we stop in the 80s and talk about everyone's favourite movie about accidentally getting seduced by a parent after travelling back in time, and then we will go to 90s where someone will always know about what someone else did last summer! This Wednesday, July 23, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss: Back to Back to the Future... at 40! So for the first episode of our four-hundreds, we're going back to where it all started, the 80s! This month marks four decades since the release of Back to the Future, the time travel adventure comedy directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, and we will start this week's show by doing a deep dive into why the affection for this movie spans generations. REVIEW: I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025). Speaking going back in time, this week's movie takes us back to the 90s. Sort of. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. return along with a new generation of hot young people who make a big mistake one summer night and start paying for it one year later... with extreme severity. Before we get the hook, we will head back to legacy town where we will learn again that while we might be through with the past, the past is not through with us. And neither is the guy with a fishhook! End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

It's been almost a year since Guelph City Council approved the Public Space Use Bylaw. You may not see as many tents as you once did, especially in the open in places like St. George's Square, but don't think that they're gone. There are still many people in Guelph who are unhoused, unwell, and are still searching for help that's hard to come by, and this week will talk to one of the helpers. In the wake of the growing number of encampments downtown council adopted the Public Space Use Bylaw to restricted them to certain areas, and then early this year they restricted them further with an amendment to bar encampments in parks near schools and daycares. Then, the Ontario government passed new laws to allow the swift removal of encampments last month, which is all meant to appear that there's progress on dealing with homelessness.  In reality though, it has just made life for people living in encampments a lot harder. Seeking help could be an invitation to getting yourself, and anyone else in the camp, evicted, and then where will you go? In this situation, there are very few people you can trust, but one of them is Danny Liu, who was a pharmacist in Guelph for years but now spends his days visiting the people in greatest need in all the places they've tried to make some kind of home. Today, he's going to talk about how things are going.  Lui joins us on this edition to talk about the current conditions in encampments around Guelph, the kinds of issues he's seeing, and the barriers they're currently experiencing when it comes to getting the help they need. Also, he will talk about the impact of the closure of the safe consumption site, and why self-medication is sometimes the only relief that unhoused people can get.  He will also share his insights about the ways that Wellington County social services is falling short. So let's learn about the current state of encampments on this week's Guelph Politicast! Both the City of Guelph and the County of Wellington have pages on their websites about how they assist residents who are currently unhoused. If you're looking at ways you can help out with donations or volunteering your time, you can talk to Stepping Stone, Guelph Community Health Centre, and Stonehenge Therapeutic Community. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're going down the rabbit hole. In Canada, and down into the United States, it seems like a lot of people are losing their minds and some of that might be dangerous. We will looking at a quartet arrested in Canada for terrorist activity, and the clash over conspiracies in the MAGAverse, plus, for something a little more normal, we will talk to a city councillor about Guelph stuff (no lie). This Thursday, July 17, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: G.I. Jerks. Last week, the RCMP arrested four people in Quebec on the pretty serious sounding charges around a plot to commit an act of "ideologically motivated violent extremism," and, as an unexpected bonus, three of them are presently active duty members of the Canadian Forces. It's been a concern for a while that the ranks of our military include members with extremist sympathies, but this is the first time anyone's been taken into custody for them. How concerned should we be? Working the Jeff. In 2019, financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in federal custody. Or did he? The fate of Epstein, and any damaging information he might have had on other alleged sexual predators, has been the subject of much conversation, speculation, and a traunch of conspiracy theories, including ones submitted by several MAGA luminaries. But now Donald Trump has declared that there's bigger fish to fry, which is tearing MAGA apart with internal fractions. Is this the beginning of the end of the red-hatted cult? Ward Three's Company. Just because it's July, that doesn't mean that things are not busy inside the council chambers at Guelph city hall. This week there were two meetings, and there are two more next week, including the all-important meeting to choose a new representative for Ward 6 out of 26 potential candidates. What will make a good city councillor is a decision that will be left up to all the other city councillors, and this week will be joined by one. Ward 3's Michele Richardson will join us to talk about her thoughts, plus the tricky balance on heritage designations and the local housing crunch. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we reach another milestone! We've been coming to you every week on CFRU for the better part of a decade, we've have a laughs and we've seen a lot of movies (at least 400), and every now and then we play a game. To mark our fourth centenary, we will put our collective heads together to consider the century, or a least the first quarter of it. This Wednesday, July 16, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson Tim Phillips, Peter Salmon and Candice Lepage will discuss: The 21st Century Movie Draft. Leave your stupid comments in your pocket, it's time for the event you've been waiting eight years for, End Credits 400th episode! There have been a great many movie bangers in the last 25 years and this week we will remember approximately 24 of them. From hobbits to serial killers, and from dog shows to Martin Scorsese's Oscar, we will talk about why the movies of the 21st century have been tearing us apart, in draft form! End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

As we all now ease into summer vacation mode - even if we're still working at our many labours - we're taking stock of this busy year so far. We've made it though two elections and some long nights at council with at least a couple of more long nights to come before city council takes August off. (Or will they, given that there's been a special August meeting the last few years?) So where do we currently stand with the first six months of 2025 behind us? To help us, we're talking this week with Mike Ashkewe, who wears far too many hats in our community to be listed briefly here. Now Mike doesn't just comment on the news, he sometimes makes the news. Back in April, Mike was one of several members of the former Accessibility Advisory Committee who walked away in the middle of their last meeting due to the unwillingness of city council and staff to give the AAC members the autonomy they were seeking.  The sudden departure of the AAC has cast a big shadow on the way that the City of Guelph handles accessibility issues, but no one talked about it last week at Committee of the Whole as council talked about putting new temporary ramps around Guelph, especially downtown. Of course, that wasn't the only topic at that meeting that had to do with Downtown Guelph including future construction and the Memorial Cup bid, and if accessibility and the Storm are in the news then it makes sense to talk to Mike! So Mike joins us this week to talk about the construction issues coming to downtown, why there needs to be more variety in the core to develop a sense of community, and how hosting the Memorial Cup might generate more of that downtown. He will also address the mass resignation of the previous AAC, and what he thinks the City of Guelph learned from that protest. Also, why is Guelph's subreddit such an infinitely interesting place for discussion?  So let's talk about summer in this city on this week's Guelph Politicast!  You can follow Mike Ashkewe on the socials @BirdmanDodd on Twitter, and Instagram, and follow him at birdmanguelph on Blue Sky. You can listen to Mike and sometimes me every week on the This Week in Geek podcast, which you can find on all major podcast platforms. And if you see Mike out and about and you have a dog, let me pet your dog… The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph we're doing a Law & Order riff. With political barbecue season underway, we look to the police beat by talking about potential civil rights violations in a major Ontario prison and the province-wide chain of stores that apparently can sell an illegal product with (near) impunity. Don't worry, we've still got some political chat for you... local politics! This Thursday, July 10, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Prison Dilemma. A class action lawsuit brought on behalf of prisoners inside Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton has raised questions about the abuse, specifically a December 2023 incident where nearly 200 inmates in an entire unit were stripped, searched and forced to sit with their hands zip tied behind their back in the hallway for hours. With four-out-of-five inmates being people awaiting trail, and not yet convicted of a crime, are we ignoring civil rights violations because of a presumption of guilt? 'Shroom Boom! Have you seen these FunGuyz locations around Ontario? A mysterious entrepreneur is funding a chain of stores selling magic mushrooms, and while the government is more open now to the potential benefits of psilocybin, it's still a highly controlled substance in Canada and very illegal to sell. And yet, why are there storefronts all over the place selling mushrooms for cash, and why are police so wildly inconsistent in shutting them down? On the Downtown. It's a busy month at Guelph city council as the members and staff count down to summer vacation, but there's a lot of business to get done between now and August and we're already seeing some of that work out. This week, council tackled massive construction coming to downtown and a Memorial Cup bid, and coming in a few weeks they will choose a new Ward 6 city councillor. This week, we go a little north to Ward 5 in order to ask Leanne Caron what she thinks about all these doings in the Royal City. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we're off to the races! Get on your mark, get set and get ready to watch a movie about guys driving cars in a circle dozens of times, which is actually much more exciting than it sounds when you're watching the new film F1 in a theatre near you. We will talk about that, and we will also talk about Oscar winners from the last 25 years! This Wednesday, July 9, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: 21st Century Oscars (Not a) Draft. For our last warm up before episode #400, we're going to tackle Oscar winners in the 21st century. As the famous golden statue approaches it's own century mark in a couple of years we've seen a lot of changes and milestones, like the first Black woman to win Best Actress, or the first woman to win Best Director, or all the provocative snubs that still sting. This week we draft (not draft), our favourite Oscar winners. REVIEW: F1 (2025). Professional car racing has never really yielded a great movie - think about Rocky and boxing, or Field of Dreams and baseball - but has that changed? Joseph Kosinski has followed up Top Gun: Maverick with a tale as old as movies about sports: a seasoned veteran on the cusp of irrelevance (Brad Pitt) takes on a confident but untested protege (Damon Idris) for an underdog effort to become champions despite how the odds are stacked against them. Sounds simple, but has F1 won the summer movie season anyway? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

The grocery industry in Canada is the epitome of monopoly; the Competition Bureau in 2023 reported that 75 per cent of all grocery purchases are made at one of the five major chains in Canada. In the wake of high grocery prices, which has been one of the pinchiest of pinch points in the post-COVID economy, people have wanted to see changes in the industry, so does that start with a more level playing field? There's been a lot of calls for action when it comes to grocery prices, but the issues actually go deeper. A 2021 report from the federal government found a lack of consistency and formality in the way that retailers were dealing with suppliers in Canada's grocery chain. Mike Von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph told the CBC last year that this is due to the concentration of power in the five major retailers in Canada: Loblaw, Metro, Empire, Walmart and Costco. That's why the Grocery Sector Code of Conduct was created. It's meant as a conflict resolution device that will create more transparency and reliability in the way that the stores deal with their suppliers, and also create a more level playing field for smaller, independent grocery retailers in Canada, but what it's not meant to do is directly impact grocery prices. It does start to address a long-standing need for some standardized set of rules for doing business, and that's not nothing. Karen Proud, the president and adjudicator of the Office of the Grocery Sector Code of Conduct, joins us this week to talk about what the Code will do, and yes, what it won't do. She will also talk about what role members of the public will have in its functioning, the timeline, and how they will report their work once it's fully implemented in the next year. Also, how might the Code might tangentially create lower prices anyway, and why did Proud leave a good gig as CEO of Fertilizer Canada to do this work?  So let's decode the Code on this week's Guelph Politicast!  You can learn more about the Code of Conduct and get updates about implementation at their website. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're hung over. Not from imbibing too much over the Canada Day long weekend, but from all the news we had to process in the first six months of 2025. We survived two elections, the creation and implosion of DOGE, a million different micro-scandals both stupid and corrupt, and, yes, some good news. How are we supposed to make sense of any of this? How about an awards show? This Thursday, July 3, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: The Mid-Year Awards Show. A new tradition? Maybe. As many of us relax and recreate this Canada Day week, we will sorta join them with this effort to put the first half of 2025 in some kind of context. If you've listened to the show over these last 10 years, then you know about our annual awards show on or around New Year's Day and it's been very successful. So when something's a success, you spin it off, and this week we will bring our first summer awards segments with new categories, but the same cynicism and wit! Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we're going back to the end of the world. It's been a long time since we tackled a zombie movie, whether the heightened or regular horror variety, but today we're going top shelf with the latest entry in Danny Boyle's series, 28 Years Later. Fitting since the topic this week has to due with the F-word, "franchises."  This Wednesday, July 2, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: 21st Century Franchise (Not a) Draft. We will continue our countdown to the 400th episode this week by talking about the movie trend that has affected movie making in the 21st century the most: Franchises. This week we will look at some of the various franchises that proved so popular (and lucrative) in the last 25 years, from action hits to series based on young adult books, animated flicks, and, naturally, superheroes! REVIEW: 28 Years Later (2025). In 2002, Danny Boyle brought back the zombie subgenre with a story about a man who wakes up from a coma and walks out into the apocalypse. That was 28 Days Later, but now it's 28 Years Later. In this long-awaited sequel, Boyle returns along with screenwriter Alex Garland to explore the world of Great Britain 30 years after the end of their world and the outbreak of the Rage Virus. It's the first of a planned trilogy, so does 28 Years leave us wanting more, or have we finally had enough with the undead? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

There's no rest for the weary on this Canada Day week, especially if you're engaged on housing and transit, and there has been some interesting news on those fronts in the last couple of weeks. No matter your holiday status this week, we're not going to load you down with a policy deep dive, but we're going to stop with two special guests to re-calibrate ourselves and remember: Progress is slow, but we need to be in this for the long haul! A couple of weeks ago staff unveiled their plan to proceed with the electrification of transit at a special workshop meeting of council, which was well received but without much interest on the part of council. One of the people that noticed council's seeming lack of engagement on transit matters is a member of a local transit advocacy group who has some ideas that he wants to share some on the matter. On the housing file, some good news broke a few weeks ago when Michael Klein, pejoratively referred to as Ontario's “King of Renovictions”, withdrew the N13s issued to residents of three apartment buildings on Brant Avenue in Guelph. It was a true David Versus Goliath story, and per the legend David ended up winning…. This time. The Brant Avenue residents won the battle, but now they're wondering if they have won the war? So this week, Steve Petric, head of advocacy for the Transit Action Alliance of Guelph, will join us to talk about the lessons that council has not learned about transit planning from our municipal neighbours and the over-reliance on buying new EV buses. Then, Daniel Kaufman, who is one of the people who organized residents at the three Brant Avenue apartment buildings, will discuss  the lessons other tenants in Guelph can take from their example and the current state of things on Brant Avenue. So let's dig into buses and Brant on this week's Guelph Politicast!  You can learn more about the Transit Action Alliance of Guelph at their website, or you can visit them at the Guelph Farmers' Market on Saturday morning. ACORN is doing a lot of organizing against Michael Klein, and you can check out their 12-page report into the so-called King of Renovictions at their website. If you need help as a tenant, or any legal advice really, you can reach out to the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County at clinic [at] gw.clcj.ca or 519-821-2100. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, our hats are on our heads, not in our hands! Our glorious premier stuck his foot in his mouth again, just in time for National Indigenous Heritage Month, and speaking of foot in mouth we'll talk about the ongoing and confusing state of developments in our newest Mideast quagmire, and in the interview we will talk to an old guest about her new job! This Thursday, June 26, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: The 12-Day War (Trademark). Last Saturday night, U.S. President Donald Trump moved up his timetable by a week and launched an attack on three Iranian nuclear sites. Now, depending on who you believe, those attacks were either a massive success, or they barely did any damage to the regime's nuclear program, but afterwards Trump was calling for a new era of peace, which, as always with things in the Middle East, is easier said than done. So what comes next? Five Protests Alive. In the last couple of weeks, both the federal and Ontario governments passed sweeping new omnibus bills that change the rules about massive development projects and circumvents well established laws on the environment, consultations and approval, but the ones who are most disturbed about these changes are Ontario's First Nations people. As we start to shut down this National Indigenous Heritage Month, have we forgotten Truth and Reconciliation? So Far So Good...? Tying into that second topic, we've got one of the House members who voted in favour of Bill C-5: Guelph MP Dominique O'Rourke. In her first interview with us post-election, O'Rourke will talk about the first six weeks on the job, why you should be less concerned about the potential implications of Bill C-5 and what Prime Minister Mark Carney is going to do next now that the open moves are done. Also, we will answer once and for all: Does Guelph have pick-up trucks? Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits we're once again celebrating #PedroSummer! (Patent pending.) The movie this time is a supposed romantic story that a lot of people are watching and having big discussions about. We're going to check out Materialists, and we're also going to start counting down to an other milestone episode with our favourite gimmick! This Wednesday, June 25, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss: 21st Century Horror (Not a) Draft. This week we start the countdown to the 400th episode, which will be our 21st century movie draft, and to kick things off, we're talking about horror movies. (Why not? Candice is here!) So the first in a series of three drafts/not-drafts - meaning similar rules but no stakes - we will talk about some of the great horror movies of the century so far from new and old franchises to elevated horror. REVIEW: Materialists (2025). Celine Song's first movie, Past Lives, was universally beloved (including by the people on this show), but her follow-up film, Materialists, has generated somewhat more... mixed feelings. The plot follows a high-end matchmaker (Dakota Johnson) who gets caught between a wealthy hedge fund guy (Pedro Pascal) and her poor cater-waiter/actor ex (Chris Evans). It's a classic rom-com set-up, but this is not a rom-com as Song undermines all expectations, so what do we make the most talked about movie of the year? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

There's an interesting process underway in Guelph's south end. One of the two Ward 6 city councillors, Dominique O'Rourke, has moved on to a new job in Ottawa as you might have heard, which leaves her old seat at city council vacant. Nature, and local politics, abhor a vacuum, so next month O'Rourke's former colleagues will choose her successor. At least until next year's municipal election... Last month council approved the process to appoint a new Ward 6 councillor. It was the best of a lot of different options; a byelection now, one year before a general election and in the same calendar year as two other elections, had a lot of drawbacks, and there was no successor willing to step up among the other candidates from the last election. That left appointment, and that process is presently underway. For anyone thinking about taking up the role of city councillor, learning what the job entails, and knowing what powers you'll have, a special open house was held last week in the council chambers with staff from the city clerk's office. In the course of 90 minutes, City Clerk Stephen O'Brien taught everyone the ropes, and answered all questions about what it means to be a councillor, what decisions you will face, and what tools you'll have to answer the tough questions. But if you missed that presentation and are looking at making a run yourself during this unusual appointment process, or perhaps you're just curious about the mechanics of sitting on city council and want to scratch that itch, this still might be worth checking out. You also might want to bookmark this for next year if you're thinking about a council run in your own backyard, or if merely want to impress people at barbeques this summer with your knowledge of municipal processes.   So let's learn about everything you need to know about being a city councillor in this week;s Guelph Politicast!  If you're interested in learning more about the process to appoint a new city councillor in Ward 6, to see the updated list of nominees, or perhaps you're even considering a shot at the post yourself, you can visit the City of Guelph's website here. The city council meeting to select the new councillor will be on Wednesday July 23 at 6 pm. Nominations for the 2026 municipal election will open in May.  The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're trying to keep all our paper's straight. Once again, it was a busy news week as the world came to Canada, or at least the heads of the biggest and most powerful countries did. Also, we get to talk about a new war, apparently because we've run out of things to say about the old wars while closer to home, we'll go back to the Quatro and talk to a member of city council from the west end of the city. This Thursday, June 19, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Nothing But a G7 Thing. This week, the leaders of the Group of 7 nations came to town in Kananaskis, Alberta and there were many different topics on the table, but for Prime Minister Mark Carney this was another big test for him as host. So what happened? Well, Donald Trump came and grumbled and then left early, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni got memed and special guests Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Narendra Modi stopped by. Despite all that though is the G7 even a thing anymore? Back to Bomb Iran. With Gaza still a war zone, international leaders are worried about a seeming race to regime replacement as Israel launched an attack on Iran last week. Benjamin Netanyahu says the goal is to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, but cynics in Israel and around the world think its Netanyahu's attempt to avoid political comeuppance at home. In the middle is the United States because Donald Trump doesn't want a war in one breath while threatening Iran in the next. So what now? Back to the Quatro. Earlier this year Ward 4 City Councillor Linda Busuttil took over as the head of the Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee, putting a Guelph face at the head of a government board that oversees Wellington County services. It's a big move, but it's bringing more attention to City/County relations and their role in developing more housing. Busuttil will talk about that relationship, plus working with new Canadians and why doing your taxes is important in the fight against poverty. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we flirt with danger. We've never had to survive a plane crash - or six - but we have survived nearly that many Wes Anderson movies together, and on this episode we will survive another. Probably. Tune in today as we decode The Phoenician Scheme and as we talk about a slightly older, and slightly more controversial movie from the past.  This Wednesday, June 18, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: The Passion of Dogma. A lot of great movies came out in 1999, and one of them is Kevin Smith's Dogma! The film has been somewhat lost due to the complex tangle of rights issues, and the fact that Harvey Weinstein is a professional @$$hole, but now Dogma is back in theatres for what's essentially its 25th anniversary engagement. So this week we will revisit the near-blasphemous pleasures of what may be Smith's best film! REVIEW: The Phoenician Scheme (2025). Wes Anderson is back with another tale about a dysfunctional family with a dangerously eccentric patriarch. Benicio del Toro plays Zsa Zsa Korda, a mid-century tycoon whose latest scheme has upset the business world to the point where they're trying to eliminate him. What does Korda do? Recruit his estranged daughter Liesl, a nun, and a Norwegian entomologist to help put together one last business score, The Phoenician Scheme! So has Anderson done it again with another meticulous tale? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

The City of Guelph is a system, a system that's built on rules. Or policies, procedures and protocol to be more precise. Some of those systems dictate how city council functions, some of them lay out how local government should engage with the community, and some of them tell you what flags you can fly and when they should be lowered to half-mast. It's time again to play roulette with the policy wheel and get smarter in the process. First up, we will talk about the Access and Privacy Policy. You've probably heard about Freedom of Information requests? Well this outlines how and why you're able to make them, but more than that it outlines how and why staff are able to access confidential information, how and why the City can collect that information, and the ways that all information at the City of Guelph is managed, stored, and, if necessary, destroyed.  Somewhat less well-known is the City Flag Policy. Mayor Cam Guthrie was inundated with hate for a social media post celebrated the raising of the Eritrean Flag at city hall last month to mark their Independence Day. No rules were broken, not that bigots care about rules, but for anyone wondering why city hall has room for the Eritrean flag, perhaps it's time to introduce you to the concept of the "courtesy pole flag." (Real term.) So let's dive into policy again on this week's Guelph Politicast!  You can check out the Access and Privacy Policy and the City Flag Policy by following the direct hyperlinks. You can also see all the City of Guelph's "frequently requested policies, procedures and protocols" on the City's website under the City Government tab.  The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we've got fighting words. People are riled up here in Ontario about some more bad bills, and people in the U.S. are riled up about another week of living in Trumpland including his most dangerous moves against civil liberties yet. If you're a Canadian concerned about these things, you might want to listen to this week's guest because he has some ideas on how to fight back! This Thursday, June 12, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Six Weeks, 17 Fights. The Ontario Legislature rose last week after only sitting for a total of six weeks. And yet, in that small space of time, Doug Ford and his government managed to upset just about everyone from municipal leaders, to environmentalists, to Indigenous communities thank to the passage of the highly controversial Bills 5 and 17. These measures, which are supposed to create more housing, come at a time when housing starts are at their slowest level since 2009, so what is all this for? Battle Los Angeles. Last Friday, protest erupted in the Los Angeles area after agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) started arresting undocumented people looking for work outside a Home Depot. The raids seem to be the brain child of Stephen Miller, Donald Trump's most trusted advisor, especially on matters of racial animus. The eruption of protests, and the calling of the National Guard, has people concerned, especially now before Trump's birthday army parade. How worried should we be? Charlie in Charge. He may not be in Parliament anymore, but Charlie Angus is still making waves. Travelling coast-to-coast-to-coast now, Angus is aiming to rallying ordinary Canadians in the fight against fascism and to promote resiliency and resistance in local communities, and he's bring that message to Guelph in an event on Thursday June 19. Before that though he will join us here on Open Sources to talk about why you can't leave it to the politicians and how you can start to get more politically involved. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we're thinking about our elders. This is a multi-generational show today as we mark the special occasion this weekend and then get an early jump on an October holiday with a new movie. What holiday? Why Grandmother's Day, of course! We're reviewing Nonnas on Netflix and talking about movies focused on fatherhood!! This Wednesday, June 11, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss: Father's Day Movies. This weekend is the annual celebration of fathers everywhere, and much fishing equipment, car accessories and neck ties will be spread in their name. But what about the movies? Yes, there have been many movies that celebrate fathers and fatherhood, and so we will use the occasion of Father's Day to celebrate those movies whether that's an adoptive father to a demon or the World's Greatest Dad! REVIEW: Nonnas (2025). We've talked about fathers, now let's talk about grandmothers! Or rather, Nonnas. It's based on the true story of a Staten Island restaurateur who used his inheritance to create an eatery dedicated to the fine, home Italian cooking of his mother, his grandmother and nonnas everywhere using real nonnas as the kitchen staff. Vince Vaughn leads an all-star cast of nonnas including Lorraine Bracco, Susan Sarandon and Talia Shire, but can they cook up something delightful and delicious movie-wise speaking? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

When Doug Ford and the Ontario government announced that they were expanding alcohol sales to grocery and convenience stores it was seen as a positive move to break up a government monopoly, but The Beer Store still has one important piece of that monopoly: returns. It was an effective example of what we now call the circular economy, but in making alcohol more available, has it cost us the most successful recycling program we've ever had? Next time you buy beer or wine at the grocery store or the quick stop, look at your receipt: You're still paying the 10 or 20 cent deposit on every can and bottle. If you take your empties back to The Beer Store, you can get that money back, but it's becoming more convenient to get rid of your empties by dumping them out in the recycling. That undermines what's been an incredibly successful recycling program through The Beer Store, which, at its peak saw an 80 per cent return rate.  Large grocery stores that sell alcohol and are more than five kilometres from a Beer Store are supposed to be accepting returns but the words “supposed to” are doing a lot of work because, as you'll hear, this is being treated as more of a suggestion than a rule. In their own investigation, Environmental Defence only found one grocery store in Ontario meeting this criteria that is actively accepting empties, and this is only going to get worse as more Beer Store locations close.  One the people raising the alarm on this is Karen Wirsig, who is the plastics program manager of Environmental Defence. She joins us this week to talk about why The Beer Store's recycling program has been so successful, and why maintaining it has been such an afterthought for the government. We will also talk about why grocery retailers are fighting the effort to expand the return program to their stores, the coming danger in 2026 with Beer Store closures, and what you can do to keep getting your deposit back.  So let's talk about your empties on this week's Guelph Politicast! You can learn more about Environmental Defense at their website, or follow them on Instagram. You can follow Karen Wirsig on Twitter @ Karen_Wirsig where she posts about her advocacy efforts on reducing waste and plastic pollution. And if you want to support The Beer Store's recycling program, take your empties back no matter where you bought them. You're paying the deposit anyway. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're going dull. You can't make friends with salad? We disagree! And to help prove that we're going to get out the scorecards for the first two weeks of business with the new Canadian government and the first year of business for the U.K.'s government. In other news, we'll go super local looking at one neighbourhood with that area's council representative! This Thursday, June 5, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Carney's Version. It's week two for the new Canadian government under Prime Minister Mark Carney and while he's definitely made the case to the electorate that he's not Trump, he still seems kind of concerned as Bill C-2 enters the picture. The second major piece of legislation from Carney seems to accept some of Trump's bonafides that Canada is an epicentre for fentanyl and our border security needs reform, and civil liberty groups have notes. Has Carney already gone too far just over a month since Election Day? Going Kier. It's been almost a year since Kier Starmer and the Labour Party were elected to lead the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and now there's some considerable regret in the electorate. Not exactly a surprise, but nipping at Starmer's heals are Nigel Farage and his alt-right Reform Party who are waiting to seize on any doubt in the electorate that the government just doesn't work. Should we be concerned about a populist revolt in the U.K., and is there a lesson for Carney and Canada's Liberals? The Goller. There is a lot going on in downtown Guelph. Some serious construction projects are getting going and it's just a taste of what's to come, poverty support groups are getting traffic tickets from bylaw, and there was more than a little controversy about where exactly a daytime shelter should go. Here to help us out with all of that thinking is one of the people who represents Ward 2, which includes downtown. Rodrigo Goller will join us to talk about balancing all the needs facing downtown Guelph and what his own political future looks like. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we fear the reaper. Well, sort of. You don't go into a movie where the literal personification of Death is the main character if you're afraid of the reaper. So we will show no fear and dive into Final Destination Bloodlines, and assuming we survive we will also talk about the sixth entries in long-running series, the good ones! This Wednesday, June 4, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss: The 6ixes. This week's movie is the sixth entry in its series, and this week's new release, Karate Kid: Legends, is also a sixth entry. Not many movie franchises make it to the sixth picture, and many of the ones that make it that far aren't exactly exemplars of film excellence. Still, in honour of these movies, and all the other sixes in cinema history, we will pay tribute to our favourite hexalogies, which is a real world. (Look it up.) REVIEW: Final Destination Bloodlines (2025). Twenty-five years ago, a new horror franchise made audiences afraid of Death. As an entity. After taking several years off, Death is back and he's out to get three generations of a family that never should have been born because the family matriarch avoided disaster 50 years earlier. The surprise hit of the summer so far, Final Destination Bloodlines has seen theatres packed with new and old fans who've all welcomed back Death while saying goodbye to the late, great Tony Todd (RIP), and this week we'll have our say. End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

Data is key to guiding health policy, and health units collect a lot of it, but formatting it, organizing it, and looking for patterns in it can be time consuming, meaning that you're doing a lot of labour that has nothing to do with creating the actual health policy or solving a public health issue. If you're thinking to yourself that this sounds like an ideal solution for artificial intelligence, you're right! At May's Board of Health meeting, staff members discussed “Innovative Public Health with AI and Automation”, meaning the ways that Public Health is using artificial intelligence to enhance their work. The report offered examples of success like using A.I. to process vaccine records, generate immunization notices, and process lab results. You might have interacted with A.I. yourself if you've clicked on the “need help” icon on the Public Health website. The staff at Public Health are very bullish about the possibilities of artificial intelligence, but for a lot of people there are no two scarier initials right now than "A" and "I". In the realm of public health, there are even more pronounced concerns around privacy and the sharing of information, and there's also an important need to share accurate information as well. So how are Public Health staff managing these big considerations?  Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health's Manager of Data & Analytics Michael Whyte and Data Scientist Justin Angevaare will tell you all about those considerations on this week's pod. They will talk about the work that public health is using A.I. to achieve, and how they've decided the best ways to use it. They also talk about the ways that public health is governing the use of A.I. with policy, how they determine which programs they want to use and why, and what they're working on right now. So let's get some good A.I. news on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!  You can learn more about what Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health is up to in the realm of artificial intelligence by reading the staff report from last month's Board of Health meeting, or Guelph Politico's coverage of that meeting. You can stay up-to-date on everything to do with public health at their website, or on social media at @wdgpublchealth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday. Photo courtesy of Disney/Lucasfilm.

This week on Open Sources Guelph we're talking war and price. No, you read that right. On the war front we're going back to Gaza where the prospects for peace have not improved, and along with that it's going to get tougher to express your thoughts on war if you're protesting in Toronto. As for price, that's what we've got our guest here to talk about as we dig into money matters with an expert. This Thursday, May 29, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: *Now* It's a Genocide? Wednesday was the 600th day of the War in Gaza. What started with a terrorist attack led by Hamas on October 6, 2023 has gone on for nearly two years and has nearly decimated Gaza killing 53,000 mostly civilians in the process. But in recent days a tide has been turning. More and more people are saying outloud that Israel's actions in the last 600 days have not been about security, but about wiping Gaza of all Palestinian presence. Is the taboo finally off calling this a genocide? On the Bubble. Last week, the City of Toronto passed a new bylaw saying that you cannot protest within 50 metres of a school, childcare or place of worship. The 16 councillors who voted in favour say it was a necessary move to guarantee security, while the nine who voted against it consider it an erosion of free expression and freedom of assembly, and on top of that, the city solicitor's apparently unsure of it's constitutionality. Has Toronto bitten off more than it can chew here? Inflation Agent. The rate of inflation is trending down, which is supposed to be good news, right? The Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada is not so sure. According to their analysis, any loss of inflationary pressures is short-term, and then there's the rampant unpredictability in the market right now thanks to the tariffs. David-Alexandre Brassard, Chief Economist of CPAC will join us talk about his perspective on the current economic picture and why we're not out of the woods yet! Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, you're going to join us on an adventure. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go with us on another globetrotting, death-defying sojourn with Tom Cruise and the gang in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and we will also rewind to the very first movie in the series and talk about our lifetime of impossible missions! This Wednesday, May 28, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: In the Beginning... Before getting into the latest Mission, the eighth, it seems fitting to go back and look at episode one. The year was 1996, Mission: Impossible was Tom Cruise's first effort as a producer, and Brian De Palma was hired to bring it to the screen as director. It's hard to look back at that first Mission and see what the franchise ended up being 30 years later, but that's what we'll do before launching into the new one! MOVIE REVIEW: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025). It's all be leading to this... Quite literally. The eighth Mission: Impossible movie aims to not only pay off all the plot laid out in the previous movie, Dead Reckoning (Part One), but to also be the capstone to 30 years of Mission: Impossible movies. Tom Cruise returns - "one last time", we're told - to kick ass and save the world from a fiendish A.I. and the Machiavelli forces that want to control it. But with so much at sake, can this Mission possibly get accomplished? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

Last week, Future of Good released their first ever Changemaker Wellbeing Index, which highlights the pressures facing the workers in the non-profit sector and the results paint an increasingly bleak picture. They also paint a coherent picture, putting together the various pieces that we've been hearing about these last few years: Organizations are struggling for money, staff and volunteers, and now we have the data! The Changemaker Wellbeing Index surveyed 1,100 Canadian non-profit workers, from frontline staff to senior leaders. Future of Good worked with GreenShield, ATB Financial, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, WES Mariam Assefa Fund, Definity Insurance Foundation and United Way Centraide Canada, while Environics Research did the heavy lifting with the surveying. What they learned was kind of shocking. Of the 1,100 people surveyed, 36 per cent said that they "often or always" feel burned out or exhausted, 31 per cent said that they experience food insecurity, and that rises to 48 per cent for frontline staff,  and one-in-three non-profit workers said that they're ready to quit. At issue is low wages, and half of entry-level workers say they're struggling because of it, so what lessons can we take from this survey and what solutions can be put in action? Anouk Bertner, who is the executive director of Future of Good, will join us to talk about those lessons and more on this edition of the podcast. She will talk about how they put together the Index, and the methodology they used to get the most accurate picture possible. She will also talk about the perceptions of non-profit work, why arts and culture workers are being hit the hardest, why compensation is not the end of the story here, and why more money may not be the answer. So let's talk about the state of Canada's non-profits in this week's Guelph Politicast! You can learn more about Future of Good at their website, which is where you can find a direct link to their Changemaker Wellbeing Index and get all the information and statistics that we talked about on this pod. If you're interested in helping out local non-profits here in Guelph and Wellington, you can can see the list of various community services at 211 Ontario, and you can see a list of volunteer opportunities through the United Way website. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we get back to basics, and by "basics" we mean our two favourite agitators. Yes, it's time again to talk about the two Ds, Donald and Doug. One is turning American democracy inside out and the other is turn provincial environmental policy upside down. And for the interview? We will get an education with our special guest, a teacher! This Thursday, May 22, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: American Idiots. So much of Canadian news lately has been about going on in the U.S., but how are things going down in the White House with the Trump sequel? In a word: Badly. From cabinet ministers tripping over their own tongues in Congress to accepting a $40 million bribe from the Royal Family of Qatar, the Donald Trump administration is not covering itself in glory, and then, for the coup de grâce former President Joe Biden announced that he's got cancer. We'll catch up with the southern circus. Endangered Specious. Bill 5 is currently before the Ontario Legislature, and it's the latest in a long line of bills brought by the Ford government that unites almost everyone against it. In this case, the bill uses the tariff war as justification to overrule environmental oversight and other planning measures in order to get mining and construction projects going. Does it sound like the Ontario government is trying to chop up the rules to help out their friends again? We will dig into that very question. Teacher's Fret. Another issue on the provincial file is education, and things are getting so bad that that teachers' unions have started organizing. On Thursday night, there will be an education forum at Centre Wellington High School in Fergus to talk about the tremendous issues facing Ontario's schools, but before that we will be joined by one of the organizers. Andrew Aloe, Occasional Teacher President at Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, will set the table for the forum and talk about the state of our schools. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we're having vacation thoughts already! How about an adventure on an island somewhere? We have a couple of options to consider today. One is a new film called The Ballad of Wallis Island where feelings might be hurt, plus we're going to talk about a well-know movie that's turning 50 this year where the danger is a little more physical. This Wednesday, May 21, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss: Jaws at 50! Exactly half-a-century ago, a movie was released about a small island tourist town that was plagued by killer shark that stalked its beaches. No one knew that Jaws was going to be a hit *that* big, in fact there was every indication that it was going to be a disaster, but it turn out being one of the biggest movies ever, and one that we still talk about and enjoy today. So why does Jaws still have bite 50 years later? REVIEW: The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025). It's a fairly well-known story: former bandmates separated by creative and personal differences are thrown back together again by fate and circumstances. The Ballad of Wallis Island is also itself a kind of reunion. Writers and co-stars Tom Basden and Tim Key, now joined by Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan, stage a feature length version of their short film from 2007 about a former folk duo who are thrown back together again by a millionaire on a small island, but does this movie sing? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

This week Guelph city council is taking a holiday break, and perhaps understandably, because it has been a very busy year in the chambers so far. The first four months of the year brought a lot of change, a lot of drama, and some pretty big decisions that tested the fiscal and political capacity of a rapidly growing Ontario city. Now, we will pause and take stock of just how far we've come so far... January began with some unfinished business from last year, quite literally. Council heard the budget of the local boards and shared services, which accounts for one-third of the total annual city budget. That seemed to go pretty smoothly, but it was a reminder that Guelph's fiscal picture, while stable, is facing tremendous pressures, which was a recurring theme through talk of debentures and risk management later. Housing continued to be a big theme in the first trimester of 2025. There weren't a lot of new housing development proposals, but there were a few big ones, and there was a few discussions about how hey can use the tools to make more affordability housing options happen, and make them happen faster, but the options are still fairly limited. Plus, council revisited the Public Space Use Bylaw in the process. Although it doesn't make the headlines, council also shook up itself. One councillor went on maternity leave and another took a leave of absence to run for higher office. There were also changes approved to council governance and a re-launch of the advisory committees of council, and at least one of them caused some blowback on city council before April was over. All this just constitutes the tip of a very big iceberg, can we cover it all in one pod?! So let's get into the event of city council in 2025 so far in this week' Guelph Politicast! Council is taking this week off, but will meet again on Tuesday May 27 at 6 pm. You can get all the previews, recaps and follow-ups on this website, Guelph Politico! The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're making a sad face. Not just about the condition of our New Democratic Party, but also because there's another flashpoint in the world that's using violent means to reach violent ends. At least everything local is cool, right? Well, not so fast, because we have another guest from city council who will be stopping by to set us straight. This Thursday, May 15, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Kashmir. In a violent world, the disputed region between India and Pakistan might be among the most violent and it certainly looked that way again when the two countries started attacking each other last week following a terrorist attack in the India-controlled portion. Keep in mind, these are two nuclear powers, and they've been fighting each other for almost 80 years, so why is this latest provocation so dangerous and what do both sides in this conflict hope to get out of it? The Dip. The federal NDP was routed in the election a few weeks, and are now leaderless with seven seats in the House. And yes, while many people strategically voted Liberal, many more formally NDP seats in working class ridings in Ontario and B.C. went to the Conservatives. So what the heck happened, and how does the NDP climb back to official party? We will discuss what the New Democrats have to do to appeal to their base again, and why what they have been doing, isn't working. System of a Downer. It's been a busy few weeks at city council. More discussion about the state of housing, a new plan to tackle climate change, new legislation from the provincial government, a potential issue with fees around a student residence, and a new vacancy in Ward 6. That's a lot to figure out so we've recruited a very experienced and well-spoken guest to help us make sense of it all. Ward 5 City Councillor Cathy Downer will join us to lend some insight from the council chambers! Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits things get freaky... er. Not really. Things are plenty freaky without this week's new movie, which just so happens to be called Freaky Tales. This one features an actor so big that he now has a whole summer of movies dedicated to him, but like many actors he had humble beginnings on a massive HBO show about dragons. Let's dig in! This Wednesday, May 14, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss: Game of Roles. This week's movie stars Pedro Pascal, and it officially kicks off what we're called "Pedro Summer"! Pascal's been a working actor for years, but he got his big break o Game of Thrones, and like a lot of members of that massive cast he was able to parlay that success into bigger roles in bigger projects. To kick off this week's show, we will talk about some of the actors that won the Game for Hollywood success! REVIEW: Freaky Tales (2025). May 10, 1987. The Golden State Warriors are in a playoff game against the L.A. Lakers, and all-star "Sleepy" Floyd has the best game any NBA player has ever had. These are things that actually happened, and they are among the many events that unfold in Freaky Tales, an action comedy anthology set in Oakland, from Oakland-born filmmakers Anne Boden and Ryan Fleck. The movie blends fact and fiction, fantasy and reality, but this week we'll answer the question: Is Freaky Tales good or is it bad? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.