Guelph Politicast

This week on End Credits, Christmas is almost here. To celebrate, and to take a holiday break, we depart from our usual format to come at Christmas movies from three different angles with the assistance of some special guests. We will cover all your holiday favourites from the classics, to the new classics, and the ones that are so bad they're good. This Wednesday, December 24, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson, Tim Phillips, Peter Salmon, Candice Lepage, and special guests Phil Allt and Mike Ashkewe will discuss: Phil's Christmas Story. Guelph Ward 3 City Councillor Phil Allt has long been associated with A Christmas Story after he was gifted a replica leg lamp from that movie by his wife. So how does Phil feel about being so closely linked to this classic for years? Adam A. Donaldson talks to Allt about the things that keep us coming back to A Christmas Story, and the role of nostalgia in Christmas movies. The Best Christmas Movies of the 21st Century So Far... Do we make classic Christmas movies anymore? Tough to say. A lot of the movies we watch and enjoy every December tend to be from the 20th century. So where are the new classics? Peter Salmon and Mike Ashkewe might have some ideas about that, from comedies about one special Santa's helper, to action movies where Santa gets violent. The Best Worst Christmas Movies. Christmas movies are typically quite formulaic, and sometimes we confuse how filmmakers using something that works as them just being lazy. But even the most formulaic of movies can get you in the feels, or maybe just surprise you with how bad that bad can get. Candice Lepage and Tim Phillips will look at some of their favourite so-called Worst Christmas movies, and what makes them not so bad. End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

Christmas is a time to get together with old friends and for this podcast, there's been no older friend in Guelph than the gang at Ed Video! Ed Video is one of the longest running arts centres in Canada, and has attracted a wide variety of artists over the years, but in the year 2025, we know that the arts are having trouble bouncing back from COVID. So why has this maybe been a good year for Ed Video despite it all? Now, the year started off pretty tough for Ed Video. They moved out of their old space at 404 York Road and took up residence at Silence on Essex Street. At nearly the same time, staff were laid off for several weeks as a cost saving measure, and then the executive director moved on to new opportunities. John F. Kennedy once noted somewhat erroneously that the Chinese word for crisis comes from the words “danger” and “opportunity” but even if that's not true, might it be true this time for Ed Video? The answer is maybe. Ed Video has faced moments of danger and opportunity before, so this is nothing new to the centre, and hoping to lead them out of it again is Julie René de Cotret. Originally from Montreal, Julie is an independent programmer who curated exhibitions in Canada and around the world, co-founded the artist residency program at the School of Environmental Science at the University of Guelph and is artistic director of The Fabulous Festival of Fringe Film. On this holiday episode of the podcast, Julie will talk about the state of Ed Video right now, and the state of the arts sector locally and across Canada. She will also talk about the ongoing challenges at the centre, the opportunity in creating more co-ordination with other local arts groups, the ways that local government can support the arts, and what Ed Video might deliver during its golden anniversary next year. Yes, next year Ed Video turns 50!  So let's check in with Ed Video on this Christmas edition of the Guelph Politicast!!  You can learn more about Ed Video by following them on social media @edvideoguelph on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. You can also visit their website where you can learn more information about volunteer opportunities, workshops, equipment rentals and shows. You can learn more about Julie René de Cotret's personal art projects at their own website. Also, Merry Christmas and stay tuned for back-to-back episodes next week!  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 getting our passports ready for a hour-long trip around the world. First, we will go to Australia where holiday celebrations turned to terror, while in this hemisphere it's looking more and more like a war is coming for one oil rich South American country and you-know-who's to blame. For the interview, we will talk to one of our federal representatives who definitely has some worldly thoughts of his own. This Thursday, December 18, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Bondi Beach. A tourist hot spot in Australia, beautiful summer weather, and the first day of Hanukkah. It was the perfect recipe for a celebration to remember, and then things turned tragic. A father and son inspired, apparently, by ISIS, killed 15 people in the worst mass shooting in the county in 27 years. The victims were as young as 10 and included a Holocaust survivor. Are we finally ready to take the threats of antisemitism seriously? Narcos(?). For the last several weeks, the American military has been attacking fishing boats off the coast of Venezuela, although they're supposedly drug boats piloted by so-called "narco terrorists". President Donald Trump upped the ante this week but ordering a "total and complete blockade" of the country, effectively another act of war, and an interview with White House senior staff points to even further military action to force regime change. Whatever happened to "Donald the Dove"? Chong Turn. There's a lot going on in the world right now, so wouldn't it be nice to talk to a foreign affairs critic right now? Michael Chong, MP for Wellington-Halton Hills North, fills that role for the Conservative Party, so we will ask him about the progress in resolving the trade war, and fighting the global rise in antisemitism. Also, we're going to talk about his critiques of Mark Carney's first year as prime minister, and a difficult couple of weeks in the Conservative caucus room on Parliament Hill. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we get high. On Christmas. Kind of. We will have our full Christmas show as usual next week, but for this week we're going to put our focus on one new holiday-themed movie, which you can stream on Amazon Prime. We will review Oh. What. Fun., and we will also pay tribute to some of our beloved movie stoners. This Wednesday, December 10, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss: Episode 420. This is the 420th episode of End Credits, so what better way is there to celebrate this auspicious occasion than to light up a blunt and talk about our favourite movie stoners. It might be argued that the great stoner movie is a thing of the past, ruined to a degree by legalization in the real world, but the legacy remains as a true subgenre and character trope. To start the show, we will catch with some old buds. REVIEW: Oh. What. Fun. (2025). It's officially the start of Christmas week, and as this episode goes to air it's exactly one week till Christmas Eve. So why not do a new Christmas movie for this last, full review of the year? In Oh. What. Fun., Michelle Pfeiffer plays a put upon mother trying to make everything perfect for Christmas for her three large adult children, but suffering from a lack of gratitude she hits the road and leaves the family to their own devices. So is there any Christmas magic in this Amazon offering for the holidays, or is it a lump of coal? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

It's been over 10 years since Karen Farbridge left office, technically defeated in the 2014 election by then one-term City Councillor Cam Guthrie. It ended up being an end to her days in elected office, but Farbridge isn't gone, and she certainly isn't forgotten, and in the last few weeks she's been the one doing the remembering with a new series of Substack newsletters about lessons she learned from her career in politics. But what more can she tell us? Karen Farbridge's tenure as Guelph's mayor was marked by a number of changes, some of which were successful like the preservation of the Loretto Convent which became home to the Guelph Civic Museum, and some of them were unsuccessful like the Community Energy Project that's since been dismantled. Like many politicians, time got away from her and there was an appetite for change, and her last re-election bid ended in defeat in October 2014.  Since she left office, some remember Farbridge fondly for thinking and acting boldly for Guelph's future while others have labelled her as a tax-and-spend liberal whose legacy is sullied in once tidy word, "Urbacon", the firm that was hired, and fired, from building the new city hall at 1 Carden Street. For her part, Farbridge has been willing to stay out of the local political games but then she started a Substack newsletter that chronicled some of the lessons she learned from 20 years as a woman in politics. So for this, the 500th episode of the Politicast, it seemed right to talk to former Mayor Farbridge about her legacy, and all those lessons learned. She will talk about how she got into politics back in the 90s, the unexpected ways that sexism got in the way, and why political memories in Guelph are so long. Also, we will discuss her thoughts on her own political legacy, whether she's ever thought about getting back into electoral politics, and whether her newsletter is the beginning of something, or the end So let's catch up with a former mayor on this 500th edition of the Guelph Politicast!  You can follow and subscribe to Karen Farbridge's Substack newsletter "Unfinished Agendas” here. You can also follow her on social media @karenfarbridge on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. If you would like to check her work as a consultant you can go to the website for Karen Farbridge and Associates here. 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 to jail! "Finally," some would say. Well too bad because we're not actually going to jail, but we are going to talk about jail and who is going there in the first part of the show. Also, in this all news episode, we will look at the aftermath of lower international student enrollment and then head to a land down under and a great social (media) experiment underway there now. This Thursday, December 11, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: The Prison Experiment. A CBC investigation published this week shows what we've all know for some time: Ontario's jails are dangerously overcrowded. More than that, four out of five people in prison are actually awaiting trail, which means they're technically innocent, at least in the eyes of the law. As the Ontario government flaunts their law & order agenda, and "Jail, Not Bail", are we missing the forest for the trees with this story? Student Services. A lot has been done to vilify international students in Ontario, but as their numbers continue to dwindle, we're seeing the follow on effects. In Brampton and Waterloo, transit systems are looking at service cuts because there are now fewer riders, and redevelopment plans in downtown Guelph and Kitchener are delayed as Conestoga College faces a budget crunch. So are international students the real villains, or can we finally talk about the ways they were exploited all along? Antisocial. Australia took the first step this week, becoming so far the only country in the world to ban social media for anyone under the age of 16. A few other countries are considering it, and many more are watching and waiting to see the results, but this will definitely be a big test for the tech oligarchs who have long shirked government regulation and other controls on their business, even if it means not protecting kids from the potential harms of social media. Is this the future? Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

For years now, we've seen the pressures of housing and affordability explode into a crisis, and the answers to that crisis never seem to make themselves known. Maybe things are changing. In November, the City of Guelph and Wyndham House announced that by this time next year, they will have effectively ended youth homelessness in Guelph. What makes them so confident? The media release said, “Guelph is on track to become the first mid-sized city in Canada to end chronic youth homelessness.” The project in question is at 107 and 109 Waterloo Avenue; 109 will have 24/7 wraparound care and on-site health services while 107 will have three apartments for youth preparing to move into permanent housing. With this impressive progress, Wyndham House boldly stated that Guelph will have functionally zero youth homelessness in this city by the end of 2026. So how did they do it? According to Wyndham House, youth homelessness has dropped by 76 per cent over the last three years, which they credit to early interventions that stop youth from ending up homeless in the first place. Forty-four per cent of homeless adults are unhoused for the first time before they turn 25, so if you can stop any young people from ending up homeless in the first place, that can have a big impact on stopping homelessness in the future. But is it really that simple? Kristen Cairney, who is the executive director of Wyndham House, is going to tell us why they're so confident in this bonus edition of the podcast. We will talk about the Waterloo Avenue project, how it will allow Guelph to get to "functional zero” on youth homelessness, and what that means practically for the community. Also, we will talk about the things that  Guelph is doing to make this possible, how they're reaching out to young people everyday, and what Wyndham House is working on next.  So let's find the good news on this week's episode of the Guelph Politicast!  If you would like to learn more about Wyndham House, access their services, or are interested in volunteering, you can go to their website, and you can follow them on special media on Facebook and on Instagram. You can also learn more about the City of Guelph Housing Affordability Strategy at the City's website.  Programming Note: The 500th episode of the show will air in the usual timeslot this Wednesday.  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 End Credits, we go to church. Well, the movie goes to church, but we go along for the ride. A house of worship becomes the scene of the crime in the latest Knives Out entry, Wake Up Dead Man, but before diving into one of the last reviews of the year, we will look at some of the movies coming next year!  This Wednesday, December 3, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: Three to See in 2026. As you may have noticed, 2025 is almost over. What kind of year has it been? We'll get to that in a couple of weeks. but for this week we will look ahead to 2026 and some of the movies we're anticipating in the next 12 months. Now, there are some big ones like Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Mandalorian & Grogu, not to mention Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, but we will consider some of the other potential hits coming your way. REVIEW: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025). Blanc's Back! In the latest entry into the Knives Out franchise, murder is afoot in a small town church where the fire-and-brimstone monseigneur is killed in a locked room mystery and the prime suspect is his young colleague, a fellow priest. Daniel Craig returns as everyone's favourite southern gentleman detective, and an all-star cast fills out the ranks of potential suspects, but does this third entry in Rian Johnson's murder-mystery franchise still deliver suspense and surprises? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

Since the Ontario provincial election in February, we've spent a lot of time on this podcast trying to shine a light on some of the under-reported issues that the provincial government is ignoring, or actively making worse. Law and order though? That's supposed to be under the Ford government's bailiwick as they sell us a story of rampant criminality set loose on Ontario, but what if the real crime is happening inside Ontario's jails? A CBC investigation published this week had some startling insight into who makes up the population of provincial jails. In the first six months of 2025, the jail population averaged 10,800 prisoners. And why are these people in jail? Well, the figures obtained in a Freedom of Information request shows that nearly 82 per cent of all prisoners detained last year were on remand, meaning that most of them are awaiting trial and are legally innocent. So with our jails overflowing, why is the Ontario government demanding “Jail, Not Bail”? Well, they are pushing for more jail construction across the province, but many of those spaces are months and years away, some of them won't be ready until well into the next decade. Also, that means there will be even less money for the things that would help keep people out of prison, like supportive housing, drug treatment programs, or job training assistance.  Justin Piché, who is a criminology professor at the University of Ottawa and a member of the advocacy group Coalition Against Proposed Prisons, or CAPP, joins us this week to tell us why building more prisons doesn't necessarily build safer communities. We will talk about the incredible amounts of money that the Ontario government has proposed to spend on prisons, how that money can be better spent to spare people from doing things that lead to jail sentences, and why creating more jails isn't a partisan issue. So let's pass go and head straight to jail and the issues there on this week's Guelph Politicast!   You can learn more about The Coalition Against Proposed Prisons at their website, and you can also find them on Instagram and YouTube. It's also worth check out the CBC investigation, “Ontario jails set to hit overcrowding record as bail reform looms, data shows,” and you can find the direct link to that article here. Programming Note: A new episode of the Politicast will be posted this weekend, and then we will post the 500th episode of the show next week 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 things are not going according to plan. From Queen's Park to Parliament Hill, our provincial and federal governments are missing the goal posts and are facing some rather harsh scrutiny. And speaking of scrutiny, we will talk to one of our city councillors about making the tough decisions that you probably didn't like about next year's city budget. This Thursday, December 4, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Pipeline Dreams. Last week (after deadline we might add), Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed a deal that, theoretically, will see a pipeline built from the tar sands to the Pacific coast. So good news, right? Depending on your point of view. B.C. Premier David Eby registered his outrage about being cut out, First Nations want the deal torn up, and Smith, for some reason, was booed by her own party members. Is the pipeline deal dead before the ink is dry? The King of Wasteful Spending. The Auditor General of Ontario released her annual report this week and... yikes! Focusing on healthcare, the report says - among other things - that OHIP is letting physicians overbill in the extreme, that the effort to expand the number of family doctors is desperately falling short, that there's no discernible plan for the expansion of med schools, and that a billion dollars in PPE's been written off after being allowed to expire. So what now? Dual of the Caton. Guelph city council approved the 2026 budget last week, which is technically the mayor's budget but they still get a say. There were two stories out of that budget, one was the nearly eight per cent likely increase for the year, and the second was the decision to not plow bike lanes this winter. Ward 1 City Councillor Erin Caton will join us now that they are on the other side to talk about making the tough calls and whether this is a budget they can run on. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, things are getting bittersweet. We will return to the sorted land of Norway where life imitates art imitates art in the smash Cannes success, Sentimental Value. We will also continue our contemplations on the year that's still here for another 27 days by looking at what he noticed about the movies over the last 11 or 12 months.  This Wednesday, December 3, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss: The Movie Trends of 2025. It's been a busy year, and as we're counting down to New Year's Eve and our annual Top 5 of the Year show, we're going to look at some of the things that made 2025 so notable at the movies. From the business side like increasing consolidation and political interference to creative concerns like the use or A.I. and the state of franchises, we will look at what 2025 told us about the state of Hollywood and the state of movies. REVIEW: Sentimental Value (2025). Joachim Trier's follow up to The Worst Person in the World is another tale of heartbreak and hope. This time, Renate Reinsve plays a successful stage actress who's filmmaker father (Stellan Skarsgård) returns with what he calls the role of a lifetime, playing his mother in a semi-biographical movie. When his own daughter refuses, he turns to a famous Hollywood actress (played by actual famous Hollywood actress Elle Fanning). Is the movie the thing to capture this family dysfunction, and does it do it well? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

We often hear how a budget tells us what a city values, and one of the things that residents clearly valued in the City of Guelph budget was funding for the park stewards program. We often talk about environmentalism and civic pride as big reasons to live in Guelph, so is the park steward program the ultimate expression of that, and if it is, why didn't we talk about it before we almost lost it? According to the City of Guelph's website, the steward program is a series of community-led projects where groups come together to ‘adopt' and help care for parks city-wide, which can mean just about anything from planting native plant species, cleaning up litter, or helping to protect habitats. Several stewards came out on the budget delegation night to speak in defense of their program, which was among the initial round of proposed cuts before the funding was restored. To learn more about the stewards, what they do, and why they're so dedicated, we'll talk to Margaret Middleton, a steward for Rickson Park who delegated at the aforementioned council meeting. Rickson Park is situated along the Royal City Trail, and between two schools; there's a lot of greenspace, and it services all kinds of people in the area from families, young kids, university students, and dog walkers. So what kind of person takes on the responsibility for making their local park better? Middleton will join us to tell us about the Rickson Park she knows, how she found about the park steward program, and what the relatively small amount of money they receive from the City of Guelph pays for. She will also talk about how the program is rooted in sustainability, and working with other stewards and groups across the city. And finally, she will discuss organizing for the budget fight and how you can get involved either in Rickson Park or your own area park. So let's head down to the park - in spirit - on this week's Guelph Politicast! To learn more about the park stewards program you can visit the City of Guelph's website, and you can also find a link to the list of parks that are presently taking part in the program. You can also send an email to stewardship [at] guelph.ca get in touch with the steward at your local park or perhaps to volunteer as the steward of your local park. 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 it's all going according to plan. Sort of. At least that's what the Prime Minister of Canada wants us to think as he seeks out foreign investment around the globe. Closer to home, trouble is brewing for his provincial counterparts in Quebec, while even more closer to home we will talk to the head of Guelph city council about all the things he can't or won't do when it comes to the city budget. This Thursday, November 27, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: The Trading Post. Prime Minister Mark Carney has been laser focused on the economy, but not wanting to deal with you-know-who in the White House has prompted some strange bedfellows, and it's seen Carney making deals with both Narendra Modi and Danielle Smith. But in the midst of all this deal-making is Carney losing the moral high ground on foreign interference and fighting climate change? Also, should we care that he doesn't care about meeting with Trump? The French Deflection. In June, the Quebec Liberal Party chose former federal cabinet minister Pablo Rodriguez to lead them into next year's provincial election, and to have a shot at unseating the incumbent Coalition Avenir Quebec all they had to do was stay scandal-free. Oops. Now, twin scandals of a fired chief of staff and allegations of vote buying in the leadership contest are kicking up dirt that could scuttle the new image of the squeaky clean Liberals. What's going in the National Assembly? Mayor Cake. This week Guelph city council made amendments to the 2026 budget, which is now technically speaking the mayor's budget thanks to legislative changes from Queen's Park. Before the meeting, we sat down with the Mayor of Guelph, Cam Guthrie, to talk about his considerations going into the budget vote, the worst case scenarios he considered, the growing gap between fiscal need and financial resources, and the red line he needs to reach before using his veto pen. 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 see the Wizard. Again. Inevitably, we return to the Land of Oz and all of our old, familiar friends who are back on the screen just in time for awards consideration in Wicked: For Good. And since we're getting close to that year end mark, we're going to make our best guess about what other movies we've yet to see that might be among the best. This Wednesday, November 26, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss: Three to See. We're rapidly coming up on the end of the year, and you know what that means: The Top 5 of the Year episode is coming! Between now and then, the gang will be making their lists and considering their options and that includes deciding on what movies are worth their time and which ones might be finalists for those five slots. So, before getting into this week's movies, we will talk about other movies we'll be seeing in the weeks to come. REVIEW: Wicked For Good (2025). When we last left the world of Wicked, the powerful witch Elphaba discovers that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in nothing but a con man, and leaves her best friend Glinda to mount a full blown insurrection against his growing authoritarian tendencies. In the epic conclusion, a new wrench is thrown into the mix with the arrival of a girl from Kansas in a tornado, but is the so-called Wicked Witch of the West able to re-write her own ending? Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande return, but will those big crowds that came out for part one join them? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

There was a lot of celebrating this time last year when it was announced that Blue Triton was closing their water bottling operations across Ontario, including the one down the road in Puslinch. Current events have conspired to put water taking issues back on the frontburner but between concerns about the impact on renters in Bill 60 and the undermining of local oversight of school boards in Bill 33, is there any room on the agenda for protecting our water? In the background of all the activity at Queen's Park this fall, there have been efforts in the Environment, Conservation and Parks Ministry to streamline permit renewals for water taking, and to make it easier to take over existing permits at the same location instead of forcing them to file a new application. This is no small thing because water resources are already being stretched in communities that are dependent on ground water, like Guelph, where rapid growth and pressure to grow even faster is raising the alarm.  But that's not all! Recently, the Government of Ontario announced changes to conservation authorities that will take the province's 32 agencies and amalgamate them into seven! And just when you thought local drinking water was safe, news came earlier this month that White Wolf Property Management Inc. had purchased wells in Hillsburgh and Aberfoyle for “water taking for the purposes of water bottling.”   This week we're joined by Theresa McClenaghan, who is the executive director and counsel at the Canadian Environmental Law Association. She will tell us about the extent of the changes we're talking about with water taking permits, what source water protection means legally speaking, and why the provincial Environmental Bill of Rights still has some teeth. Also, what are we learning about the Ontario government's environmental agenda, and why the long-term consequences need to be better thought out.   So let's dive into changes to water taking on this week's Guelph Politicast!  You can learn more about the Canadian Environmental Law Association at their website. The last day to provide comment to changes to the Clean Water Act, aka: “Regulatory changes for accelerating and improving protections for Ontario's drinking water sources” is Thursday December 4, and you can find a direct link here. If you're interested in getting involved in local activism about water taking, you can always get in touch with Water Watchers. 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 thinking globally and poding locally. Environmental issues are on our minds this week as we tackle a new pair of interviews, first with a delegate at the annual climate conference where there's so much hope for an organized action on climate change, and then, closer to home, we will talk to the Green Progressive that wants to make fighting climate change the backbone of a new political union. This Thursday, November 20, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: COP Out. For the last couple of weeks, delegates from all around the world have been meeting in Belém, Brazil. This is the setting for this year's Conference of the Parties or COP, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. As the product of global climate change becomes more and more apparent, we will have an on-the-ground report from the conference with Edson Krenak, the Brazil program manager for Cultural Survival who will talk about why Brazil is the ideal setting for demanding climate action and why Indigenous reconciliation is a necessary component to a climate deal. McQuail Hunt. As you probably know, there's a leadership race happening right now for the federal New Democrats and while there are a lot of professional politicians in the race, there's only one farmer. Tony McQuail has spent a lifetime creating alliances between local farmers and supporting sustainable farming practices, and now he's looking to bring those lessons to the House of Commons leading the NDP. McQuail will join us this week to talk about his outsider campaign, why his message is a winning one, and why the path to an NDP comeback is forming an alliance with the Green Party. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits we're heading back to space! Leaving the bounds of Earth behind, we go to the stars looking for old friends and familiar faces. First, we will stop by Pandora, setting for James Cameron's very successful sci-fi series Avatar, and then we will head to Genna where the wildest game in the galaxy is waiting for a hunter in Predator: Badlands. This Wednesday, November 12, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: Back to Pandora: Avatar Revisited. In a few weeks, Avatar: Fire and Ash will be released in theatres everywhere, and unless something really weird happens, it will easily skate to more than a billion dollars at the box office. But Avatar is a rare feat in more ways that one, a massively successful, original, sci-fi franchise that has no broader cultural footprint. So to try and understand the phenomenon we will revisit Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water. REVIEW: Predator: Badlands (2025). In space, no franchise is ever really over and guess who's back again? Predator: Badlands is the eighth film in the series (if you count the Alien Vs Predator films), and the second one from Dan Trachtenberg, director of 2022's Prey, but it's the first to feature a Predator, or Yautja as they're technically known, as the lead heroic character. On the deadliest planet in the universe our Predator hero will test his mantle with an android sidekick played by Elle Fanning, but is Badlands a movie worth turning into a trophy? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

If there's a reason that Guelph City Council opted to proceed with a vacant home tax a few weeks ago, at least some of that credits goes to Get Involved Guelph who have been raising concerns for years about the number of houses in the Royal City staying empty, especially in the midst of a housing crisis.  Well, the City of Guelph finally agreed that it's time to act, so what does Get Involved Guelph do for an encore? A few weeks ago, council not only opted to proceed with two new affordable housing projects on City-owned lands, but more notable than that, they approved two new measures to preserve affordable housing that already exists: a renoviction bylaw that will stop predatory landlords from forcing people out of rent controlled units in the name of renovation, and a four per cent vacant home tax on units that stay empty for extended periods of time This last one was a huge pivot because there have been calls for years for just such a tax, and City of Guelph staff have always hesitated saying that there weren't enough vacant homes in town to make such a policy worthwhile. With another election beckoning next fall, and a housing crisis that's every bit as potent now as it was three years ago, if not more so, let us consider how a civic group can still have an impact with two people dedicated enough to change the conversation. Two members of Get Involved Guelph, Ken Thompson and Susan Watson, will join us on this week's podcast to talk about the long road to get city hall to act on the need of a vacant home tax. We also talk about courting engagement on Reddit, why the vacant home tax is so important even if it can't solve the problem of available housing, the next big issue they want to tackle, and how they will attract more new blood to help them achieve their goals, especially with an election next year. So let's Get Involved, Guelph on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast! You can learn more about Get Involved Guelph, sign up for their newsletter, or even nominate a vacant home on their website. The council decisions about proceed with a renoviction bylaw and the vacant home tax will be ratified at the city council meeting next week on Tuesday November 25, and you have until this Friday at 10 am to either send a correspondence or sign up to delegate, and to learn how to do that go to the City of Guelph 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, the thirteenth is unlucky for some, even though it's a Thursday. Luck is definitely not on the side of the leader of the federal opposition, unless we're talking about bad luck of course, and coming off Remembrance Day there was some rare controversy that might have been blown out of proportion. For the interview, we've got someone looking for some luck as he tries to convince members of his party that he's got what it take to lead. This Thursday, November 13, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Battleship Poilievre. Before the federal budget was released last week there were a lot of questions about whether or not Mark Carney and his government would survive. Now, over a week later, the question is whether or not Pierre Poilievre's leadership of the Conservative Party will survive. We will look at the party infighting in the opposition bench as the leader looks at what was always going to be a contentious leadership review in the new year that's gotten much more complicated. Poppy Goes the World. In Nova Scotia, Premier Tim Houston started a silly culture war over the poppy, the symbol of honouring Canada's war dead every 11th of November. The controversy involves the long-standing court tradition of dissuading court works from wearing the poppy in order to maintain impartiality, and the blowback Houston created forced Nova Scotia's top judges make a rare political statement. Are we mistaking virtue signalling for actual remembrance? All About Yves. The NDP leadership race is more or less a five person race, and if that holds up, might Yves Engler be considered the odd man out? In more ways that one because Engler is not a politician, he's an author and activist, and his platform calls for a working class revolution, the end of capitalism, and an end to NDP efforts to appeal to moderates from the centre right and left. Engler joins us this week from his leadership tour to talk about why an outsider is the best choice to rebuild the federal NDP and make it a movement. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits we're feeling the music! Our focus on this episode is musicians and movies about musicians with two very specific examples. First up, we will revisit a biographical movie from 2005 about a man with a trouble past and even more troubled present as he struggles with stardom, and a new movie from here in 2025 that covers... much of the same ground. This Wednesday, November 12, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss: Walk The Line at 20! In November 2005, James Mangold's Walk The Line opened in theatres everywhere and it was an instant success. Later, it resulted in a Oscar-nomination for Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, and an Oscar win for Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, but in the decades tine the film's release it's become kind of a short-hand for the traps and cliches of the musical bio pic subgenre. So 20 years later, does Walk The Line still hold up? REVIEW: Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (2025). In 1981, Bruce Springsteen came off a sold-out tour, retired to his New Jersey hometown and end up writing two albums, one a deeply personal artistic statement and another that would make him a global superstar. Jeremy Allan White plays The Boss, while Jeremy Strong plays his supportive agent and friend Jon Landau, and while these are two accomplished actors doing notable work, is there any way that this Springsteen can break free of the well worn path of previous musical bio pics like you-know-what? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

It was about 10 years ago this time that Justin Trudeau strode up to Rideau Hall and made history being sworn in as Canada's 23rd prime minister. There was a lot of hope about what the future of Trudeau's premiership held, but perhaps no other constituency were hit harder by the political realities of the Trudeau-mania hangover than electoral reform activists. Can changing our voting system still possibly get a fair hearing? What does Mark Carney think about electoral reform? Believe it or not the topic came up in the federal election campaign earlier this year at an event in Sault Ste. Marie. It was clear that Carney was not going to be making an promises about ending our First Past the Post electoral system, but it was also clear that it was not going to be a priority until all the other problems are solved, and as you may have noticed, we're still waiting for that deal with Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the Ontario government announced last month that they were scrapping fixed election dates, raising the donation cap to $5,000 and eliminating pre-election spending limits for third parties. These are probably not the kinds of electoral changes that people like Fair Vote Canada are seeking. They are on the leading edge of proponents wanting to change the way we elect the people that govern us, and this week, we will talk to one of them about where we presently sit in the process of reforming our elections. Kevin Bowman joins on this edition of the pod to dive deep into the current state of electoral reform activism, why people are more open to the issue than we might conventionally think, and whether any meaningful progress can be made while the federal NDP and Greens are in the political wilderness. Also, how can the issue be promoted back to prominence again, and what will members of Fair Vote be saying to delegates at this weekend's Liberal convention in Hamilton So let's re-embrace electoral reform on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!  You can learn more about Fair Vote Guelph at their website, and you can access the nation-wide Fair Vote Canada at their website. If you're interested in getting involved with the cause of electoral reform you can access Democracy Watch and the National Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. If you like, you can revisit the federal government's 2016 report, “Strengthening Democracy in Canada: Principles, Process and Public Engagement for Electoral Reform” on the Government of Canada 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 witness history. The good kind. Before heading south of the border to talk about some rare encouraging news (we won't call it good), we will talk about the latest test for the new Prime Minister and Government of Canada with their first budget. In other news, we will look at a possible schism here in Ontario between two different groups of conservatives who have some very different ideas about what that means. This Thursday, November 6, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Champagne Wishes and Carney Dreams. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne delivered their first budget. The concern was that they would deliver big austerity, but there's actually a lot of spending in the plan, and an even bigger deficit. Will any of it help the cause of affordability? Unlikely. Will any of this lead us into another federal election? We will ask, and answer, all the questions you have about the new financial plan for Canada. Blue is the Warmest Colour. For the first time in a year, Democrats had a good night. It was a smaller than usual election night in the United States, but overwhelming victories in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and California could mean serious trouble for U.S. President Donald Trump in next year's midterms. And what do we make of Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist who's now the head of America's biggest city? We'll talk about another wild election night. Room for Improvement. Three majority governments in a row should be a cause for celebration among Ontario PC voters, but now there's a new group emerging that has some doubts. There are some conservatives who don't like the high deficits of the Ford government, it's focus on pet projects like getting rid of bike lanes, or it's lack of progress on solving the housing crisis. Doug Ford calls Project Ontario a bunch of yahoos, but Matt Spoke will join us this week and explain why they're not, and why Ford needs to start taking them seriously. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we work smarter and party harder. Since this episode intersects with the start of our local documentary film festival we will talk about documentaries you can watch that don't require a festival pass, but they do maybe require a streaming subscription. Speaking of streaming, there's a party on Amazon Prime and we're inviting ourselves to check it out. This Wednesday, November 4, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and, Candice Lepage will discuss: Doc Plan. This week, the latest edition of the Guelph Film Festival begins, and it will bring some cool new documentaries from across Canada and around the world that you will be able to see with a crowd. And yet, in this steaming era, there are a great many documentaries that you can see this very minute on one of the numerous available apps, free or otherwise. In honour of GFF, we will look at some of our favourite docs on our favourite (?) steamers. Hedda (2025). Hedda is one of the great roles in theatre, but it's safe to say that you've never seen a Hedda quite like this. Director Nia DaCosta has reteamed with the star of her breakthrough film - Tessa Thompson - to reimagine Henrik Ibsen's classic play about a party with a lot of drama and the hostess with the mostess churning it all up. DiCosta is a filmmaker with a lot of promise, and Thompson is an engaging star, so can the two of them together cook up something new, strange and interesting with a theatrical classic? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

Since they resumed sitting the week after Thanksgiving, the Government of Ontario has been throwing a lot at us, and then on Halloween they proposed sweeping changes to conservation authorities in Ontario. If it feels like we've been here before we kind of have, and while conservation authorities have weathered provincial meddling before, can they survive it again? According to Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Todd McCarthy, the new Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency will provide centralized leadership, efficient governance, strategic direction and oversight of all conservation authorities to - you guessed it! - reduce delays and get shovels in the ground faster! Solving the housing crisis, it seems, passes through barriers being held up by conservation authorities, at least that's what the government wants us to think. But no legislation has been tabled, it was just announced in a press release on a busy Friday proposing a massive change to an important sectors whose primary function isn't actually planning, but flood control. If all this sounds confusing to you, it's actually just as confusing to the people that live and breathe provincial planning. Why is the provincial government going after conservation authorities again after already committing them to massive changes at least once already. Phil Pothen, who is Counsel and Ontario Environment Program Manager at the advocacy group Environmental Defence, joins us to talk about his thoughts on these new changes, or at least what we know about these changes so far. He will discuss whether or not there's room for improvement with the way authorities do planning, if a conservation authority has ever actually scuttled a planning proposal, and what these moves tell us about the Ontario government's climate change priorities (or lack there of). So let's talk about what's next for conservation authorities on this week's Guelph Politicast!  You can learn more about Environmental Defence all its advocacy work on numerous issues, including conservation authorities at their website, or you can follow them on social media on Facebook, Blue Sky, Instagram and YouTube. As of this recording, there's no announcement about when the Ontario government will table this legislation, but you can read the full press release on the Government of Ontario's media page here.  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 getting more literate. While we go to air on the eve of All Hallow's Eve, the only think that's really haunting is the growing threat of misinformation so good it's hard to tell the difference between what's fake and what's real. We will talk to someone who has some ideas about how to fight it, but before that we will hear from a member of city council who himself is being haunted... By the numbers in the budget. This Thursday, October 30, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Phil Pickles. This week, Guelph City Council sat around and chewed on the 2026 budget update for the first time, and among them was Ward 3 Councillor Phil Allt. Now Councillor Allt has seen a few budgets since he joined city council in 2014, so he's just the person to ask: Is all of this getting harder, or is council losing an unending battle to do more with less? Allt will join us this week to talk about the budget pressures facing the City of Guelph, and whether there's any relief. Fake News, Real Strategies. This is Media Literacy Week in Canada, and what a time for such an occasion! Forget ghouls and goblins, the scariest things to think about this week is fake news and A.I. slop, and there's a very real concern that it's getting increasingly harder for people to know what's real. But there's still a way, and Matthew Johnson, the Director of Education for MediaSmarts, has some advice about how you trust a source and how you can trust your instincts online. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, it's time again to gather our friends for an annual festival marking the return of the ones who've passed before. Of course, we're talking about the Halloween Horror Movie Draft! Once again, we will be lining up our players in a contest of wits as we pit our favourite ghost stories, remakes, and based on a true spooky tale selections against each other! This Wednesday, October 29, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson, Tim Phillips, Peter Salmon, Candice Lepage, and special guest Mike Ashkewe will discuss: Hellbound: Halloween Movie Draft Part II! It's once again time to embrace the spooky and the macabre. Now granted, horror movies have been doing very well all-year long, and more than a few have been featured on this show in 2025, but this is Halloween, and that means it's time for a venerable horror franchise to get a sequel. The whole gang is back again for the second installment of the Halloween Horror Movie Draft and we have such sights to show you! End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

It was about this time two years ago that former Guelph CAO Scott Stewart told city council in an open meeting that there needed to be a new deal for Ontario municipalities; that they were trying to solve 21st century problems with 19th century rules. As Guelph tackles another difficult budget season, one regional councillor is putting this issue in stark terms: Ontario's councils are “on the verge of life support”! In a recent letter to the editor in Cambridge Today, Doug Craig raised the alarm. He was Mayor of Cambridge for 18 years and then joined Waterloo Regional Council in 2022, so if there's someone that might understand the challenge of cities in this day and age, it's probably Craig. He notes that provincial tampering and voter apathy are the reasons why municipalities are caught between this rock and a hard place. To those of us that observe municipal politics carefully, this encapsulates the struggle we know too well. The provincial government has forced reductions and discounts onto municipalities and reduced the amount of fees collected while offering additional funding in the form of a contest for meeting housing targets from a pledge they strong-armed cities into adopting and now seem to be abandoning. Is it time to finally talk about that new deal?   Doug Craig will answer those and other questions on this edition of the podcast including why it's tricky to get these concerns heard even when your local MPP sits in the government bench, what would happen in the unlikely event that the provincial government were to be open to changes, and the role of municipal councillors in educating the public about what their limitations are. Plus, is there a role for the business community in promoting improved local government? So let's talk about how to save our local government on this week's Guelph Politicast!  You can reach out to him through the Region of Waterloo's website, and to read his latest letter, “Local councils are on the verge of life support”, at the Cambridge Today website. Here in Guelph, the first budget meeting is today, Wednesday, at 9 am and public delegation night will be on Tuesday November 18 at 6 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 work hard, but not as hard as the Ontario government, which is trying to do a year's worth of legislating in seven week or (likely) less. And since we're talking about provincial politics, we will head out east where there's a new Progressive Conservative government in charge for the first time in a decade. Closer to home, we will welcome a local councillor who's warming up her calculator app. This Thursday, October 23, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: 28 Days? Later! That's how long this legislative session is scheduled to last at Queen's Park, and only three days in there's no shortage of controversy from the misuse of the Skills Development Fund as an apparent reward to certain party friends to the introduction of legislation to fire a couple of very specific school board trustees. We will talk about all the style and substance of these first few abrasive days in the Ontario Legislature's fall sitting. Top of the Rock. Last week's provincial election in Newfoundland and Labrador delivered a very interesting result: Despite a popular incumbent Liberal government, the Progressive Conservatives were able to eek out an election win with the 21 seats needed to secure a majority. To say it was won on the margins is something of an understatement, so is there anything new that this election can tell us about the national political picture? Klassen Your Seatbelts! It's going to be a bumpy ride as the City of Guelph enters its annual budget confirmation cycle! Joining us this week is Ward 2 City Councillor Carly Klassen who's going to talk to us about once again rising to the challenge, balancing affordability with the needs of the city, and the ongoing strangeness of the Strong Mayor Budget. Plus, we will talk about the changes coming to downtown, and why she wants Guelph to take the Elect Respect pledge for next year's campaign. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits we seek divine intervention, and one week till Devil's Night at that. For the movie this week, we will pray to Keanu Reeves who will deliver us from the gig economy in the new film, Good Fortune. And in the first part of the show, given the bounty of new movies we've received, we will talk about some other choice flicks!  This Wednesday, October 22, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: What Else Have We Been Watching? We're almost at the end of October and the movies are coming fast and furiously. A lot of films are seeking a potential awards berth, and some are just seeking some box office revenue, but we can only do one movie at a time on this show, so we're going to take a moment to do a kind of lightening round. We will talk about some of the other stuff we've been watching lately, and maybe why you should watch it too! REVIEW: Good Fortune (2005). Deal with the Devil? How about a deal with Keanu? In the new comedy Good Fortune, Reeves plays an angel that decides to get personally involved in the life of a gig worker played by Aziz Ansari. When Arj switches places with a venture capitalist played by Seth Rogen, Reeves' angel hopes they'll all learn a valuable lesson, but this is not It's a Wonderful Life. Ansari's latest directorial effort was good enough to get him a spot at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, but is it good enough for the discerning tastes of this movie show? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

You might not have heard of The Guelph Lab, but you've definitely seen the fruits of its research. From food insecurity to public washroom access downtown, The Guelph Lab highlights s unique partnership between the City of Guelph and the University of Guelph by taking academic research power and applying it to problems facing our municipality. This week, we're going to take a peek under the hood to learn how they do it... The Guelph Lab, which is now marking 10 years of existence, is a “catalyst for research, collaboration and experimentation. It brings together the University, City and community partners to create innovative solutions for shared challenges across Guelph.” They decide what projects they want to pursue and select from a roster of community partners and experts for each specific assignment. It's like Mission: Impossible but for municipal policy nerds. The work of The Guelph Lab has been multifaceted; they looked at what areas of the city are more marginalized in terms of road safety, and they've also guided the refresh of Guelph's advisory committees of council. All these projects took months or years of research to complete, but how does The Guelph Lab work? How do they choose the projects they pursue? Is its work academic, or is it meant to come up with actionable suggestions that the municipality will follow? To answer these, and other questions, we're joined by Dr. Elizabeth Jackson, Director of the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute at the University of Guelph, and Jodie Sales, GM of Strategy, Innovation and Intergovernmental Relations at the City of Guelph. The two of them will also discuss the kinds of projects that they won't take on, the oversight of The Guelph Lab, working with other governments and groups outside the city, and what they're working on next.  So let's see what can be cooked up in The Guelph Labs on this week's Guelph Politicast! You can learn more about The Guelph Lab at their website. A report marking 10 years of The Guelph Lab will be shared on the City of Guelph's website as an information report to council, which are published every Friday. Just go to the council calendar page on the City's website and click the link when it's available. 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 eating news leftovers. First, we will catch up with the latest develops in Gaza where there's now a precarious peace, and we will also talk about the early phase of the race to find a new leader for a federal party. For the interview, we engage in another annual fall tradition, the late return to Queen's Park for another truncated sitting that solves none of our problems. This Thursday, October 16, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Peace at Last? A little over two years after the war began, peace came to Gaza this weekend as the last living hostages were returned to Israel, and humanitarian aid finally started flowing into the Strip. U.S. President Donald Trump took a victory lap in Egypt on Monday, and many world leaders joined him, but this is just the beginning of a process, not the end. What happens now to rebuild Gaza? Is there still a path to a two-state solution? And can Israel rehabilitate its global image? Orange on a New Track. The federal NDP leadership race is now underway, and there are five declared candidates so far including a sitting MP, a city councillor from B.C., a scion of the party, a labour activist, and a regenerative farmer. The question before all of the candidates is whether they have the right mix of talent, policy and organizing to bring the party back from the political wilderness, and on the brink of the first debate and the six-month countdown to the convention, we will consider the odds. Clancy That. Next week, the Ontario Legislature will sit for the first time since the beginning of June and what can we expect? The passage of Bill 33 and the changes to oversight of school boards and a new bill eliminating all speed enforcement cameras in the province. What is not on the agenda? New ways to tackle homelessness, any response to the climate crisis, and a plan to tackle youth unemployment. Kitchener Centre MPP and Deputy leader of the Green Party Aislinn Clancy will talk about her ideas for those topics and how she's ready to help set the agenda. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits we eat leftovers... from the Toronto International Film Festival. We will talk about this year's opening night film, John Candy: I Like Me, which you can now stream on Amazon Prime Video. And speaking of Candy, we will talk about the work he did along with some other very talented people who got their start on a seminal Canadian sketch comedy show. This Wednesday, October 8, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss: The SCTV Cast Movie Draft. Like a lot of very famous, and very funny people, John Candy got his start on SCTV. A group of young comedians from Second City Toronto including Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, and Andrea Martin were all recruited and in 1976 SCTV went on the air and into infamy. Before talking about Candy, we will talk about the movies from him and all is SCTV colleagues as we draft the best ones. REVIEW: John Candy: I Like Me (2025). A true Canadian success story if there ever was one, John Candy made his way from the stages and clubs in Toronto, to SCTV, and then on into movie stardom as one of the most reliable comedic actors of the 80s. You may think you know John Candy, but the new documentary John Candy: I Like Me dares to ask, maybe you don't(?). The new doc that opened this year's Toronto International Film Festival arrives on streaming Prime Video, and we will decide if we like I Like Me and the way it tells John Candy's story. End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

Climate change, despite the inference, is not a hot topic, politically speaking. We had two big elections this year and you can probably count on one hand how many times the environment came up in conversation. Perhaps the time has come for a re-examination of our priorities: Can Guelph still be a climate leader in a political time when no one wants to talk about climate change? Back in May, City of Guelph staff presented to council the “Guelph's Community Call to Climate Action.” It was not a good news story.  According to this report, the City of Guelph has made “moderate” progress in its greenhouse gas goals, so staff opted to lay out a way that they could engage the broader community to join the effort; from building more energy efficient low carbon buildings to using more sustainable transportation options. Then, September's “Draw the Line” protest tried to centre climate action along with peace and poverty as the crises of our time, and the Community Climate Forum 2025 next week will try to follow up on that with a formal event bringing together activists, politicians, experts and regular folk on the best ways to really cut down our carbon footprint. Can Guelph get green again? That is the question we will put to Donna Jennison, a member of the Guelph Climate Action Network. On this week's pod, Jennison will talk about the state of climate activism in Guelph, and the goals of the climate conference. She will also discuss how we make climate change a priority issue again, how we reclaim Guelph's position as an environmental leader, and why climate action is something everyone can do. Finally, she will talk about why we don't need to wait for upper levels of government to take action, and what keeps her hopeful while taking on this fight.  So let's talk about making climate action a priority again on this week's Guelph Politicast!  The Guelph Community Climate Forum will take place on Sunday October 26 from 1:30 to 4:30 pm at the Italian Canadian Club. You can learn more and register to attend the event for free on the website for the Guelph Climate Action Network. If you want to do your homework first, check out the Community Call to Climate Action on the City of Guelph website here. 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 thankful that dysfunction is a national phenomenon. We will head out west where there is inter-party friction in British Columbia's official opposition, and then we will look at a dispute between teachers and a provincial government in an entirely different part of the country. In even more serious news, we will mark the second anniversary of a devastating war by talking about the people covering it. This Thursday, October 9, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: West Coast Debenture. There is some interesting things happening in the B.C. legislature. While Premier David Eby is fighting trade wars and Alberta's desire for a pipeline to the coast, the new BC Conservative Party is fighting, well, each other. Despite almost winning power one year ago, John Rustad's insurgent party is now experiencing growing pains. Meanwhile, the Green Party has elected a 25-year-old to lead them at this critical time. We'll get into the wild west. Wildrose Lessons. Right now, Alberta's teachers are on strike. It's the first time the teachers have been on the picket line in 23 years and their issues are no unfamiliar: Not enough pay, not enough teachers, not enough resources... It should come as no surprise then that Alberta, which has been using schools as fronts for American-style culture wars, is having troubles with teachers, so has Danielle Smith finally bit off more than she can chew? Covering the War. Tuesday marked the second anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that started a war on Gaza that's still in progress. In the course of this war, there have been a number of disturbing things, but one of the most concerning is the 237 journalists who have been killed so far, which is to say nothing of the ones still alive and fighting starvation even as their fighting to get the story. This week, we will be joined by Palestinian journalist Walid Batrawi, who has over 30 years of experience covering the region, to talk about what his colleagues are facing, and what we get wrong covering the war here 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 ready to rock! Of perhaps we should say we're ready to Kpop. You know it, and maybe you love it, but this week we will finally catch up on the phenomenon called KPop Demon Hunters, which you can now watch on Netflix in regular and sing-along versions. Also, we will talk about other great animated movies you should see.  This Wednesday, October 8, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss: Animation Domination. This week we're re-entering the realm of animation, which is a filmmaking style we do occasionally get into, but perhaps not as often as we like. So in honour of the movie we're reviewing, we're going to talk about some of our favourite underappreciated animated movies, from the best of Don Bluth to maybe the most accessible movie from an upstate New York underground animator. Not quite Disney-free, but close... REVIEW: KPop Demon Hunters (2025). It is the biggest phenomenon of the year! It's topped the box office charts, the streaming charts, and the music charts simultaneously, and it just broke another record on its own platform this weekend. It's KPop Demon Hunters, the story of a girl group who use their music to protect the Earth from demons, who then turn around to fight fire with fire by creating a demon boy band. KPop Demon Hunters is the movie no one saw coming and this week we will arrive late to the party and see if we can squeeze onto the bandwagon. End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

It seemed like we had turned a corner on making cycling a true equal partner when it comes to road share, but like a lot of progressive policy now we're in the midst of a blowback. The Ontario government voted to tear out bike lanes last year, and now they have their sights set on pulling down all automated speed enforcement cameras. Perhaps, the time is right for the a new kind of Guelph mayor... A Bicycle Mayor! Just a few weeks ago there was another cycling fatality on the roads of Guelph, a 37-year-old man had been riding his bike near Elmira and Massey when he was killed after being struck by a garbage truck. It's getting dangerous out there, and while we have the City of Guelph's Vision Zero initiative trying to make an impact, people are still being killed and injured on our streets in vehicle collisions. Perhaps then this is the perfect time for a Bicycle Mayor! Andrea Bidgood has been a part of  various community building initiatives, and now, as the Bicycle Mayor, she will next take part in the Guelph Transportation Summit next week. As one of the featured speakers, Bidgood will talk about the ways that transit and cycling work together to create attractive alternatives to our car-centric streets, but first, she will face the tough questions on this podcast! Bidgood will talk about the role of Bicycle Mayor, why she wanted to wear that hat, and how her own personal experiences with on the mean streets of Guelph as a cyclists made her want to be more active. She will also talk about the different cycling demands across the city, why she leads from the idea of safety first, whether the onus for road safety is put on the backs of cyclists more than car drivers, and what role the Bicycle Mayor might have when we elect the actual mayor next year. So let's catch up with the Bicycle Mayor on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!  You can follow Andrea Bidgood on Instagram and you can subscribe to her newsletter on Substack. You can learn more about the Guelph Community for Active Transportation at their website, and the Guelph Transportation Summit will take place on Saturday October 18 at 10 am at Dublin Street United Church. You can find the itinerary and a link to reserve your free ticket here. 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's Open Sources Guelph is going to the birds! Both of our main topics this week intersects with the Supreme Court of Canada, which is presently tackling the extent of federal and provincial separation of powers and whether or not food inspectors can do their job when it comes to animal control and infectious disease. In non-court news, we will talk to a city councillor about planning in Guelph, and whether that's going to the birds... This Thursday, October 2, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: 33 and Me. The Notwithstanding Clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was a necessary compromise in getting the Constitution approved in 1982, but is there a chance that it's being abused by provincial governments who don't want the bother and hassle of judicial oversight? That is the question the federal government wants answered after they entered the chat with a factum in the case over Quebec's Bill 21, but is this a question we need answered? The Birds. There were a lot of eyes on a B.C. ostrich farm last week when it was announced that the 300 some-odd birds there would be allowed to live until the Supreme Court here's the full case. On the one hand, this seems like a silly news story, but when you dig a little deeper there's actually a lot driving this case from anti-government sentiment to fringe healthcare influencers. Get you shovel out as we go behind the ostriches (so to speak). More to Chew On. Guelph City Council has dealing with two pretty big planning files a couple of weeks ago, one concerned the redevelopment of a popular corner in the south end and one concerning the block plans for the Guelph Innovation District property. The two projects have big questions that require big answers, and to get them we host Ward 6 City Councillor Ken Yee Chew this week to get his perspective as a planner and a politician. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, our plans go awry. Or to put it another way, it's One Battle After Another. We will catch up with Paul Thomas Anderson who's new movie just dropped to rave reviews, but how do we feel about it? You'll learn that in due time after we flashback to 1995 and a wild weekend of strippers and serial killers at the movie theatre! This Wednesday, October 1, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: Showgirls Vs. Seven. On the weekend of September 22, 1995, two very different movies opened wide at the North American box office: one is a stylish film noir about cops searching for a serial killer, and the other is a lavish Las Vegas satire about a dancer trying to climb the ladder to fame and fortune. To start the show, we will talk about the life and legacy of Showgirls and Seven and how these two very different movies launched at the same time. REVIEW: One Battle After Another (2025). One of the most anticipated movies of the year, Paul Thomas Anderson finally teams up with Leonardo DiCaprio for a timely story about balancing revolution and parenthood. DiCaprio plays a retired resistance fighter trying to protect his 16-year-old daughter as government troops lead by Sean Penn search for them. A lot of praise has been showered onto Battle, and PTA has a lot of eager fans in the film bro community, but is this movie on track to be the Best of 2025, or, for that matter, can it possibly live up to the hype? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

Sometimes information gathering doesn't happen in the perfect audio conditions of a studio or the Zoom link, you have to occasionally get out there and find the news. To that end, we will visit a picket line on Speedvale Avenue, attend an annual event that reminds us that there's still some ways to go when it comes to eliminating gender-based violence, and hear about a program fighting food insecurity in the west end. First up we meet Nisha Jagtap and Will Snyder, two of the hundreds of college support workers on strike and are about to enter their third week on the line. Both sides released statements on Monday saying the other is prolonging the strike, but that's what is going on at the high level. What's going on at Conestoga College's Guelph campus? Jagtap and Snyder will share their thoughts from the picket line, how students are being affected, and what they want from a new contract.  Next, we will rewind to Thursday September 18, which was the annual commemoration of Take Back the Night. Cindy McMann, public educator at Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis, spoke at the event and talked about why recent events prove that it's still hard for women who are the victims of sexual violence to get justice for themselves in an outdated and restrictive justice system and the ways we can work towards systemic change. And finally, we will go to Shelldale last Friday and hear from some of the people who take part in the f.u.n. Fridays program, which stands for "Food United Neighbours". The f.u.n. Fridays initiative is an effort to improve food access for the Onward Willow neighbourhood, and Guelph MP Dominique O'Rourke announced new funds for the University of Guelph that will allow the f.u.n. Friday partners to expand into Centre Wellington and bring similar improved access to quality healthy foods to the Fergus area. So let's get into some real audio news on this week's Guelph Politicast! You can learn more about the programs at Shelldale at their website, and f.u.n. Fridays takes place every Friday in the Shelldale gym and you can learn more about them on social media. You can access the programs of Guelph Wellington Women in Crisis or learn how to donate and volunteer at their website, and you can learn more about the efforts to change the justice system here. And finally, you can learn more about college support workers strike here. 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 to meetings. There's a big one at U.N. headquarters in New York this week, and Canada sent the new kid to dazzle everyone. Meanwhile, closer to home, Ontario's opposition parties have been having meetings and in some cases, they're shaking up the guest list. Even more closer to home, we don't do meetings, we do protests and marches on a Saturday. This Thursday, September 25, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: UNGA for Carney. While another typically unhinged Donald Trump speech seized much of the attention, it seemed like Prime Minister Mark Carney was the proverbial belle of the ball at the United Nations General Assembly this week. Carney seemed to be putting points on the board, from dealing with the Chinese Premier to recognizing the State of Palestine, so is Carney able to do abroad what he's been unable to do at home: Be a uniter? Opposition Research. In the last two weeks, Ontario's two major opposition parties have had leadership reviews with two different results. Bonnie Crombie is out as Ontario Liberal leader and the Grits are now kicking off the third leadership race since 2018, and while Marit Stiles is still the head of the NDP it was only after barely meeting the threshold required to successfully be re-acclaimed as leader. With all this tumult in the ranks, how do the NDP or the Liberals hope to make a stand against the Ontario PC Party? They Drew the Line. Last weekend, there were over 70 different protests across Canada under the banner "Draw the Line". Essentially, the protest combined concerns about poverty, peace and the environment into one massive community event, and hundreds showed up in Guelph to take part... including the hosts of this show! We will talk about our thoughts on the protest and whether it was a real breakthrough for left-wing activism or if the organizers were just singing to the choir. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we're making friends. This may be harder that it looks, or at least it seems like it is with this week's movie, which is called Friendship. You can watch that on video-on-demand or by streaming it on Paramount+, and while you're making a watchlist we will talk about other movies featuring a legendary movie star who has sadly passed away. This Wednesday, September 24, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss: Remembering Robert Redford. There are movie stars and then there's Robert Redford! The multi-talented actor, director and activist passed away last week at the age of 89, and he leaves a tremendous legacy of wonderful movies he made both in front of and behind the camera. But beyond his own films, Redford, as founder of the Sundance Film Festival, has fostered the talents of hundreds more. We will talk about Redford's multifaceted legacy. REVIEW: Friendship (2025). What if Fatal Attraction was about a suburban dad who becomes obsessed with his neighbour, the cool TV weatherman who has a band? That's essentially the logline for Friendship, a new dark comedy starring Tim Robinson as the dad and Paul Rudd as the weatherman, and it promises to make you cringe as hard as it makes you laugh. Friendship comes at an interesting time as we talk about the loss of male friendships in real life, so is the perfect movie for our time, or is it daring you to stay in front of your screens? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

StrategyCorp puts out a report every year called the Ontario Municipal Chief Administrative Officer Survey. The CAOs profiled have some strong feelings about Strong Mayor Powers, intergovernmental relations, housing, growth, financing, and and more, but what's interesting is not what the CAOs had to say, it's the fact that they said it. What are CAOs thinking when they're given the cloak of anonymity? A retired Brock University professor David Siegel once wrote, “CAOs can make a mayor and council look exceptionally good (or bad). They can be a source of great pride and motivation among the staff of the municipality (or not).” In that context, it's no wonder that people would want to hear a CAO's unvarnished takes on something like Strong Mayor Powers, which was the one part of this year's CAO Survey that made the most noise. But municipal life is bigger than Strong Mayors, and it's just one of 14 chapters in the 2025 survey. When you read the report, which features contributions from 32 unnamed CAOs from around Ontario on issues like housing, finances, community safety and wellbeing, the impacts of climate change, and the impacts of the Trump administration's trade war. Stacy Hushion is one of the people responsible for putting this together every year, and today she will share some of the things that surprised her. On this week's podcast, Hushion will tell us how this report comes together, and how honest the CAOs get when they're providing their input to the survey. She will also talk about the ways Strong Mayor Powers put CAOs in a jam, why CAOs are mixed about how proactive the Ontario government has been, the issues keeping CAOs up at night, their concerns about who might get elected next year, and the ways they're trying to break the political and jurisdictional logjams.  So let's get into the mind of a CAO on this week's Guelph Politicast!  You can read more about the work of StrategyCorp on their website. Obviously, that includes all 109 pages of this year's Ontario Municipal Chief Administrative Officer Survey, or you can follow this direct link. Guelph City Council will be back in session for Committee of the Whole on Tuesday October 7 at 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've got news overload. It was a tough call determining what to talk about on the show today, but first and foremost we have to separate the wheat from the chaff on the killing of an American pundit. After that, we're going to dig into more local drama by asking what the recent push against school boards is about and then we're going to talk to the MPP from a neighbouring riding. This Thursday, September 18, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: The Aftermath. Last Wednesday, conservative organizer and provocateur Charlie Kirk was killed on the campus of a Utah college, and what followed was recriminations on political violence, calls to sanction certain left-wing groups on a whim, the cancellation of people who dared to quote Kirk's rhetoric, and the search for a connection to someone in the trans community so that they can take the blame. Can this get any worse? Board to Death. In the last few months, the Ontario government and Minister of Education Paul Calandra have sought to undermine public trust in the school board system. The Magic 8-Ball says to expect some big changes to the administration of Ontario's schools when the legislature returns next month, but while we can all agree that trustee trips to Italy are an extravagance, is the government thinking about efficiency or are they thinking about politics? Shades of Rae. Speaking of the Ontario government, they've got a lot on their plate these days; from the ongoing economic impacts from the Trump Trade War that continues to affect Ontario workers, to the needs of all sectors for more support from the arts to healthcare. From the government benches this week, we will be joined by Perth-Wellington MP Matthew Rae to talk about those issues, and working across party line to move progress forward on Guelph's new hospital. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, things get creepy. Again. In the last four weeks, we've reviewed three horror movies and the latest is The Long Walk, the last adaptation from the *King* of horror. That's a dystopia, so we're going to talk about that, and as we're creeping up on October, and our latest Halloween movie draft, we will talk about other movie challenges!  This Wednesday, September 17, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss: The Halloween Challenge. Halloween Month is nearly upon us, but for some people it starts in August. Like Candice. To open this week's show, we will talk about Candice's 100 movies in 92 days challenge, how she chooses the ones she watches, and how you can get started if you're interested in taking up your own movie challenge. Dystopia! Before we dive into this week's movie, we will pause to recognize all the crappy futures we've dwelled in during our movie lives. From living among monsters both literal and figurative, to authoritarian governments and tech gone wild, we will talk about what brings us back to bleakness. REVIEW: The Long Walk (2025). One of Stephen King's earliest works finally makes its way to the big screen at what may be the worst (or best) possible time. The story takes place in a dystopia America where 50 young men compete to win riches and a chance to have their wish granted. The game? Walk for as long as you can until you're the last man left. Everyone else is killed when they can't walk anymore. Much has been made about the implicit messages of the film, but can we keep pace with this latest glimpse at our pessimistic future? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

School kids and teachers aren't the only ones that get a summer vacation. City council, and those that cover them, also get a summer break, at least when it comes to the monthly meeting schedule. We now have a couple of weeks of meetings under our belt since August ended, but for this week's podcast we're going back in time to business at council before summer vacation. We will start in May when council said goodbye to a colleague who got a new job, and then they got into the issue of placing a daytime shelter, and whether or not that should go downtown. Downtown was a pretty big area of interest in the middle three months of meetings this year, from the upcoming big dig on Upper Wyndham and St. George's Square to the possibility of holding the Memorial Cup at the Sleeman Centre in 2027. The biggest story though might have been that council vacancy. There were times that the even number of council representatives caused some difficulties on close votes, including on the vote to appoint a replacement for Dominique O'Rourke. The appointment process was a tremendous source of drama but so was, surprisingly, the pace of new heritage designations that have been brought to council for approval over the last several months.  This is just a taste of some of the council business that took place between May and July of this year. Some issues were more complicated than others, some issues turned out to be not issues at all. Council sat as a shareholder, and as a tribunal. They met for some special orientation meetings, and they had a planning matter come to a regular meeting through Strong Mayor Powers. It's a lot to cover in a little over 30 minutes, but this week we will give it a try.  So let's get into the middle part of this year at city council on this week's Guelph Politicast!  You can see all the council meeting agenda and find videos of all the council meetings on the City of Guelph website. Or you can get all those details with the council previews, recaps and post-views on Guelph Politico. Also, subscribe to the Guelph Politico Tip Sheet on Substack and get your council recap on Thursday morning, directly in your inbox. 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 celebrate old times, and new times. From the past, there's someone we kind of forgot about but who wants to be remembered again, which could also apply to Parliament Hill where the leader of the opposition is back in the House and ready to deliver stinging rebukes to a PM under pressure. More locally, we will talk to one of Guelph city's councillors about some recent big decisions. This Thursday, September 11, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Fall Back. Next week, MPs from across Canada will return to Ottawa for the fall sitting of the House of Commons. This time, Pierre Poilievre will be able to lead Question Period and look Prime Minister Mark Carney in the eye. But while the new PM might be feeling the heat, he's still on that proverbial honeymoon even as he looks down the barrel of mixed expectations, budget austerity and a tricky economic picture. What can we expect from the feds this fall ? What's the Story, Morning Tory? Just when you thought it was safe to get into Toronto politics, John Tory is back! Though he left office in disgrace nearly three years ago, the former mayor is thinking about re-writing the end of his political career by throwing his hat in the ring again. But more than beating his own bad press, Tory's got to beat the current mayor, Olivia Chow, who has some pretty steady support. Will 2026 be a mayoral rematch in the 6ix? Dan The Builder. It's been a busy week at city council, even more than usual. There were two different meetings and they each dealt with massive construction projects featuring hundreds of new housing units and other mixed-use buildings. One of those projects is in Ward 1, and by sheer coincidence we will be joined by Ward 1 City Councillor Dan Gibson who will talk about the pressures on him and and his colleagues while making these big decisions and what to expect at council throughout the fall. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This week on End Credits, we're here to make you think about death and stuff. We will perform last rights over the final chapter of a favourite horror franchise with The Conjuring: Last Rites, and we will leap off that ending to talk about some of our favourite final entries in long-running movie franchises, even if those movies were not the last word.  This Wednesday, September 10, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss: The End? The Conjuring is the second most successful film franchise in Hollywood history spanning about 10 different movies over the last 12 years, and Last Rites is supposed to be the final chapter. Over the years, there have been a lot of endings to a lot of movie series, and not all of them have been permanent endings. In any event, that is where we will start this week's show, at the end! REVIEW: The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025). Horror is not dead, even if this franchise now might be. The number one movie at the box office last weekend is supposed to be the final entry in a series of movies based on the ghost hunting investigations of Ed and Lorraine Warren, and it promises to be their biggest, most consequential hunt (haunt?) yet. Ed and Lorraine's past literally catches up with them at a haunting in a small Pennsylvania town in 1986, but are we ready to say goodbye to our favourite (straight-faced) ghost busters? End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

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.