GUELPH POLITICAST #355 - ...The Rest of the Year at City Council

Here's the first episode of the podcast for the year, and what are we talking about? Stuff that happened in the year that just ended! Before we let 2022 go for good, we're going to go around the horseshoe, the one in the council chambers at 1 Carden Street, one more time. There weren't that many council meetings between September and December, but that doesn't mean nothing interesting happened.

There were exactly a dozen meetings at Guelph City Council between the time councillors breaked for summer and the time they adjourned for the year in December. Obviously, there was an election in between, which meant there was a mid-season cast shake-up. We said goodbye to five of our favourite council characters and we said hello to five new ones!

In terms of the substance (the storylines?) there were some surprises this fall, but not all of them came courtesy of the councillors themselves. The Government of Ontario cast a very big shadow on these last dozen council meetings with their rapid and massive changes to planning policy and the governing rules of council. There was also the spectre of ongoing internal friction when it comes to heritage matters.

Those are just two of themes that will stick out on this council recap episode of the podcast. We will re-visit pre-election conundrums around a massive redevelopment on the old Days Inn property and an emergency re-work of the single-use plastic policy. Post-election, we dive into the repercussions of Bill 23, the heritage versus homes debate around Fife Road, some big changes to a couple of key City advisory committees, and so much more!

So let's cover the small number of highly impactful council meetings from Fall 2022 in this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!

The 2023 slate of council meetings begins on Tuesday January 11 with a workshop and a Committee of the Whole meeting. To see those previews, and to stay up to date with the latest developments, keep visiting Guelph Politico.

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