Summer Editorial Series – We Used to Be Friends, A Long Time Ago

With July nearing its end, thoughts turn ever so lightly to the offerings of Fall. It won’t be too long till those Back to School commercials start filling the airwaves, and stacks of spiral notebooks and printer paper start taking up the real estate once held by lawn chairs and barbeques (can you tell I once worked in retail?). But when September hits, it won’t just be school some of us are heading back to, but the polls as well.

The Ontario Provincial Election will unfurl over the six weeks leading up to the October 6^th polling date. Locally, Liberal Liz Sandals will attempt to defend her seat from the NDP’s James Gordon, the Green’s Steven Dyck and either Robert Demille, Greg Schirk and Bob Senechal for the Progressive Conservative Party. (NOTE: My Echo deadline was before this past Monday’s PC nomination meeting, so to find out which of the three is the one, head over to my blog at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com/)

You’ll notice that ‘P’ word in front of the Conservative. That’s important because the leaders and organizers of the Guelph-branch of the Ontario PCs want you to know they’re different. “One piece of information that’s important to know is that the PC Party of Ontario and the federal Conservative Party are not the same thing,” wrote Guelph PC President Allan Boynton to the Guelph Mercury’s managing editor Phil Andrews. Andrews posted the letter from Boynton on the “From the Editors” blog on the Mercury website.

Boynton’s sentiments were echoed in an e-mail we exchanged the week before. “I want you to know that this process is important to the City of Guelph, and it is our job as the local riding association to not guard our candidates but to make them available to you, and the people that vote here,” he wrote. Perhaps it should go without saying, but Boynton, who has some experience putting his name on a ballot after running for city council last year, knows that one can’t get elected in a vacuum of silence.

What’s strange is that Boynton has to make such assurances to begin with. It should be a foregone conclusion that a political candidate of any party should be available to reporters looking to talk to them. At some point a certain segment of the political discourse decided that the press was the enemy, and while some members of the press sometimes behave in a manner unbefitting of our noble profession (*cough*News of the World*cough*), the truth is that “gotcha journalism” is something made up by Sarah Palin to explain why she didn’t know stuff. We’re just asking questions.

That’s a shame because no matter the division that separates us in our politics, there’s always stuff we can come together and celebrate. For instance, I salute Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his appearance this week as a day player on the turn-of-the-20th-century crime procedural Murdoch Mysteries. The Prime Minister is a big fan, and says he’s never missed an episode of the show. After a nudge from his daughter, he reached out to the show’s producers, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Like a number of Canadian politicians, Harper has, in the past, shown no qualms about appearing on sketch comedy shows like The Rick Mercer Report, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and The Royal Canadian Air Farce. It always amuses me when American politicians laud their own humorousness by appearing on Saturday Night Live or The Daily Show, while in Canada the interim leader of one of our major political parties once dived into a lake naked with a CBC TV host.

I’ve ranted and raved a lot in recent months about the cone of silence that the Conservative Party perpetuated during the last election, and I don’t just mean locally with a certain candidate that will remain nameless. To be clear, elections are about engagement, and included in that are press interviews and debate appearances. But even if there’s something not self-evident in that, Can’t we at least believe that we all mean well, and that we probably have a lot in common once we get past our political alignments.

You see, I, like the Prime Minister, also enjoy the intrepid Inspector Murdoch, who uses up-to-the-date scientific techniques, the then ever burgeoning field of forensics, to solve crimes in Victorian Toronto. It’s like a steampunk CSI. Now do you think that the stars and producers of Murdoch Mysteries were vetted for their politics before Harper arrived on set to play the bit part of a desk sergeant? I hardly think so. Why can’t the same be said for average citizens and journalists?

Downtwon Vacancy, Water Levels and New Blood

Downtown Guelph’s got (lots of) room

While the New City Hall represents three stories of awesomeness for city employees, the buildings that used to house city offices downtown are singing the vacancy blues. The biggest big empty is the some 27,000 square feet of office space that were used by 100 city employees at 2 Wyndham Street at the corner of Wyndham and Carden, owners have yet to find someone else to lease the space. “It is something that we have just created, so it is a new situation,” David Corks, the city’s downtown economic development manager, told the Guelph Tribune last week.

It’s a problem that will only get bigger as time goes on, as Old Quebec Street will loose 13,000 sq. feet of occupancy when renovations to the Old City Hall as the new provincial court house are complete. One recent bright spot is that much of the 77,000 sq. feet of space in the future rebuilt and retrofitted Gummer Building has been tentatively agreed to be occupied by the Co-operators, moving 150 employees from an office on Scottsdale to downtown. The Gummer Building has been having difficulty with getting funds for completion due to a lack of potential occupants and no construction has been done on the site all summer. Meanwhile, the owners of 2 Wyndham say they have the option of going residential since the building was formally a hotel, but their preference would be to still have some kind of commercial interest on the first floor.

Water level dips first time this summer

For the first time this summer, Guelph’s water use program went to Level 1 Yellow last week after going on to nearly three weeks without any rainfall. According to the Grand River Low Water Response Team (GRLWRT), the central portion of the Grand River watershed, which includes our own Eramosa River, has seen hotter, drier weather and a lack of significant precipitation recently. “As a result, river flows in the Eramosa River have dropped to about half of what they would normally be at this time of the year,” said a City of Guelph press release. “There is little precipitation expected over the next week and Environment Canada is predicting warmer temperatures and below normal precipitation over the next few months.”

At Level 1 Yellow, there are no further restrictions placed on water use, although the GRLWRT would like to see all residents decrease their use by 10 per cent in order to conserve. So you can still water your garden, fill your pool, run your fountain and take the Slip N’ Slide for a spin, but compliance on lawn watering is now mandatory. Waterworks staff and City By-law Officers will increase enforcement of the Outside Water Use Program now and residents who fail to comply with the City’s “reduce outside use” guidelines can face a fine of $110. For more information on the program visit the City’s website here http://guelph.ca/living.cfm?subCatID=1208&smocid=1792

Conservatives looking for new blood

The call has gone out, and the Conservative Party of Canada is looking for someone to answer and run in the next Federal election for Guelph. Time is running out though because nomination papers have to be received at party headquarters in Ottawa by September 29th at 5 pm. The nomination process is open to all party members and anyone that’s interested in nominating someone or nominating themselves is asked to contact the chair of the selection committee, Neil Ruton, at nruton@gmail.com. The nomination meeting is tentatively scheduled for October 20th, although if an election is called before that the meeting date will obviously be moved up. If anyone’s interested in signing up to become a member of the Conservative Party, membership forms are also due on September 29th and are available at http://www.guelphcp.ca

Guelph Green(?), Party Hard and Washroom News

Guelph on Green Leader’s short list

National Green Party leader Elizabeth May is hoping the third time will be the charm in securing a seat for herself in Parliament and she may be hedging her bets on the Royal City to make it happen. May ran in Central Nova in the last Federal election in October 2008, a riding notable because at the time, and currently too, it was held by Conservative cabinet minister Peter MacKay. Before that, May ran in London-North-Centre in a by-election in Fall 2006, but lost to Liberal Glen Pearson. But Central Nova was May’s home base, although now it seems the strategy is to find somewhere she’s more electable "Now the party is convinced that our Number 1 goal is to elect me to the House of Commons. So that changes quite a lot of things,'' May told Eastern Ontario Greens and reporters at an election-preparedness briefing a few weeks ago.

Owen Sound or Vancouver Island are also strong contenders, as well as Cumberland-Colchester in Nova Scotia, which is now vacant because of the retirement of independent MP Bill Casey, a former Conservative. But Guelph is certainly an attractive choice too. Last summer, the Greens felt they had the momentum going into the by-election only to have their thunder stolen when the polls opened nationwide. Last October, local candidate Mike Nagy, on his third campaign, came in third, garnering over 21 per cent of the vote, and just 11 points shy of the winner, our current MP, Frank Valeriote. May said it comes down to the question: "Where is the greenest riding in Canada? Where is the place where people are more likely than anywhere else to say, 'We want that voice in the House of Commons?' ''

Party On Guelph

After postponing the official celebration of the opening of the new City Hall last month after the accidental death of Isabel Warren in a city washroom in a south end park, a new date has been set for the festivities: September 19th. The free, day-long celebration at 1 Carden Street will feature five stages filled with music, dance and demonstrations. The building’s historic Winter Fair Wall will serve as a backdrop for Farmer’s Market vendors, community exhibits and displays including the City’s plans for the Civic Square and water feature in front of City Hall. Also, throughout the day people will be welcome to wander through the entire first floor of new City Hall to see Council Chambers, the ServiceGuelph counter and the living wall. Guided tours will showcase accessibility features, the offices of the Mayor and City Councillors and the building’s green features including the green roof. In addition, the City will provide free transit service from 5:40 a.m. to 6 p.m. to encourage people from all over the city to join the celebration downtown.

Recommendations made for City washrooms

An independent report about city-owned public washroom facilities was completed last week, and recommendations have been proposed for each building with respect to the partition walls, privacy screens and attachments. The structural report from Gamsby and Mannerow Engineers were for the public buildings in St. George’s Park, Guelph Lake Sports Fields and Hanlon Creek Park. The inspections were meant to identify any structural deficiencies that could be an immediate safety concern, and how they can be addressed. Because of this report, the City re-opened the men’s and women’s change/washrooms in Hanlon Creek Park last Saturday, but they will continue to keep buildings in St. George’s Park and Guelph Lake Sports Fields closed until upgrades and improvements are complete.

Gloria Kovach: Ready to Win

Gloria Kovach is no stranger to tough races or Federal politics. The stalwart city councillor has represented the people in her ward for 18 year now, as well as representing the interests of Canadian urbanites nationwide for a times as President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Now her desire to take things to the next level and be elected as the city’s first Conservative Member of Parliament since 1993.

“Certainly I’ve had a lot of exposure in representing cities and communities across Canada at the national and international level,” says Kovach during our phone interview last week. “I’m dedicated to building a better and stronger Canada and I think that my experience in Guelph, both as an elected official and in my other capacities, will help me fully represent Guelph’s interests in Ottawa.”

Aside from her high profile work on behalf of Guelph and other Canadians, Kovach highlights working in Uganda with women’s and children’s groups, dealing with emergency planning and waste management issues in the Czech Republic, and working with people in El Salvador, Columbia, and Vietnam as examples of her qualifications. Back home on council though, she’s most proud of her work in creating the youth council as a way to bring the needs and concerns of young people to the floor. “Also being a nurse and working directly with the people in a healthcare field, understanding the challenges they face, their needs, and just directly working with people on the ground is good experience,” she says.

As for making the shift to Federal politics now, Kovach says she was asked to consider running eight or nine years, but like a lot of women with young families, she didn’t like the idea of being away from home and doing all that travelling. “I’m a roll up your sleeves kind of person,” she explains. “It’s a huge dedication. For me it was important for my children to be grown before I entered into the Federal field.” She adds that, “This is the best time for me and given my experience this is the time for me to run federally.”

Kovach says that those years working and living Guelph has given her an appreciation for the diversity of the city as well as its needs as outlined by the people. Getting out and meeting the people has been key to her campaign, says Kovach. “Our focus is still getting out with the people of Guelph and door-knocking and seeing what issues are most important to them. So I’ve continued to do that and I’ve continued to go out to events and really connect with the people of Guelph.”

The big issue and challenge that people are concerned about, Kovach says, is taxation, and whether the Liberals proposed Green Shift plan will have negative impact on their pocket book. “People are concerned generally about how they’re going to be able to afford to continue to live in their homes, or perhaps purchase a home, or how their children are actually going to be able to afford to live with the increased cost of living,” she says. “They’re concerned with the overall picture, they don’t necessarily differentiate between federal, provincial and municipal.”

Kovach says that she’s concerned about the Liberals assurance that the Carbon Tax, as outlined in the Green Shift, will be revenue neutral saying that, “If you look at the Gun Registry, that cost us billions of dollars and that was supposed to be neutral as well.” She believes that under the plan, families will have to struggle, and writes off the plan as simply “a way for rich people to not have to reduce their green house gases and be able to buy their way out.”

Obviously, there’s a lot of hope amongst the Conservatives to make a breakthrough in Guelph, which could hopefully lead to an increase in the Tories fortunes throughout Ontario. Apropos, a number of highly-profile members have come to the Royal City to offer support; from Defense Minister Peter MacKay to Environment Minister John Baird to the Prime Minister himself. “There’s been a lot of support coming in from my colleagues and I’m very appreciative to them,” says Kovach. “[They] are very understanding of meeting with everyday Canadians and finding out what their issues are and what they’d like to see.”

To follow the campaign and get news and commentary on the by-election, please visit my blog at http://guelphbyelectionbeat.blogspot.com