Open Sources Guelph - August 22, 2019

This week on Open Sources Guelph we finally have an election in progress to talk about, just not the one we were expecting.  Yup, the writ has been drawn up in Manitoba for a provincial election there, but before we get into those issues, we've got stuff to talk about right here in Ontario as our Premier tried to convince the cities he's done so much too that he's not such a bad guy. In the back half, we'll talk about gun issues here and in America, and what it really means to be Antifa.

This Thursday, August 22, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

AMO-Shock. It was said that he was going to the conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to "change the channel", but it's possible that Premier Doug Ford left representatives of Ontario's 440-some odd towns and cities more confused than ever. On the one hand, Ford confirmed that cuts to public health and childcare are coming, but he also promised that infrastructure money from the Federal government was about to be opened up for recreation and cultural projects. Many mayors and councillors walked away from the speech confused, but as we go into fall, and many cities start making their budgets, will all be forgiven when it comes to the Ford government?

Strife of Brian. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister called for a provincial elections last week, which not only means that the Manitobans are going to the polls almost a month ahead of the pre-established Federal election, but it also means that they're electing a new provincial government over a year early. Pallister made a bold move, and he was likely confident in a win, but the polls are showing that the NDP are running neck-and-neck with the incumbent Progressive Conservatives. With many issues concerning the austerity that the Pallister government has demonstrated, including the consolidation of emergency services in three out of six Winnipeg E.R.s, is the orange wave due for a comeback in the Keystone province.

Have Gun, Will Baffle. A few weeks after two mass shootings in the United States, and a bloody long weekend in the streets of Toronto, including a shooting in the upper class Bridle Path neighbourhood, the question on both sides of the border is what do we do about the guns? While the U.S. has big issues on this front - GOP apathy, NRA dysfunction, a constitutional right to bear arms - it hasn't been exactly clear what the Governments of Canada, Ontario and Toronto are practically doing about our gun issues either. Will the U.S. ever make a move to gun control, and is the issue too much of a third rail here in Canada too?

Who's Antifa Anyway? On the one hand, people see Antifa as an organizing strategy to protest the growing spectre of the alt-right, neo-Nazis and white supremacy, but those same groups have been very effective at equalizing the public perception, that Antifa is a group of Black Block-style thugs that some Conservative politicians are trying to brand as a terrorist organization. In this era of propaganda and fake news, each with its own agenda and point of view, how can the so-called "man or woman on the street" know who and what Antifa really is, and what its goals are. We'll try and shed some light on the controversy as we ask the real Antifa to please stand up.

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