Open Sources Guelph #429 - June 8, 2023

This week on Open Sources Guelph, all we've got are the issues. In this jam-packed news week, we will head to Toronto where some renters have had enough of being held upside-down and shaken till their pennies fall out, and speaking of accommodation, we have to talk about the new digs for Canada's most well-known prisoner. In the back half of the show we're looking at bigotry, the type being suffered by our LGBTQ+ friends and the type being perpetuated some some religious extremists.

This Thursday, June 8, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

Suffer Rental. Two different buildings in Toronto have launched rent strikes in recent weeks as a response to their landlords' request to raise the rent beyond what's automatically allowable by the Government of Ontario. Now we all know that the rent is too damn high, and we all know that we're in a housing crisis, but here's the thing, the landlords know it too, which is why no matter how high the rent is, they know someone will pay. Are these strikes the beginning of a trend?

Paul in Cell Block 99. News that Paul Bernardo had been moved to a medium security prison was exactly as controversial as you might have expected it to be. Bernardo is perhaps the most notorious serial killer ever produced in Canada, and the idea that he would have a standard of incarceration even slightly better than a dark hole in the ground is understandably abominable to most people. Having said that though, has the media and political reaction been commensurate to the situation?

Eyes Pride Shut. This week, it was announced that the federal government is offering $1.5 million for Pride Month events to increase security. This year's Pride festivities are being held under the cloud of new waves of homophobia, and especially transphobia, and the concern is that online confrontations might turn into something more violent IRL. Can Pride organizers fight the wave of online-driven hate, and what is the role of LGBTQ+ allies to help them?

More Church in the Wild. A recent report on CBC's Frontburner podcast dived into the world of Christian fundamentalism in Canada. These churches started radicalizing during the pandemic against masking, lockdowns and other public health measures, and now they seem united against LGBTQ+ people, abortion, and left-wing politics in general. Now there's an organized efforts to get these people into government, so it begs the question: How worried should we be?

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.