Clean-Up, Tory Tussle, and Video Victories

Call to Clean-Up

This weekend is the 32nd annual Speed River Clean-Up organized by the Guelph branch of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG). Brought to you by Wellington Water Watchers, Trout Unlimited and GUFF (Guelph Urban Forest Friends), the Clean-Up, as always, aims to educate people about the importance of Guelph’s waterways, get them involved and in the river to literally take out the trash.

Like in years gone by, everyone is to meet up at the gazebo in Royal City Park (Gordon Street) by 11 am. Bring your gloves, sun gear, water and a pair of either old shoes, boots or hip waders. Then sign-in, join a group and start cleaning up the river. Afterward at around 12:30, everyone’s invited back to McCrae House for some eats and some entertainment. The theme is pot luck, so volunteers are being asked to bring a dish to share, and for each dish contributed, you will be entered in a draw to win two tickets to the Speed River Fundraising Dinner at Borealis Grille, a $120 value. Additionally, volunteers are being asked to bring their own plates and utensils to cut down on waste.

If you’re looking to get even more involved, OPIRG is looking for volunteers to take on specific jobs at the Clean Up. Among the list of jobs needed to be filled are crew leaders, photographers, set-up and take-down volunteers, and people to help out at the potluck. For more information, get in touch with OPIRG at 519-824-2091 or at opirg@uoguelph.ca

A Trio of Tories Tussle

Three nominees have put their names forward for the local Progressive Conservative nomination in this fall’s Provincial Election. John F. Ross high school teacher Greg Cawsey, entrepreneur Greg Schirk and businessman and former pastor Bob Senechal are the three who will be metaphorically duking it out to get their name on the ballot for the PCs, said a news release. “These three candidates bring a wide range of qualities that will allow any one of them to represent Guelph well in Queen’s Park,” said local PC riding association president Allan Boynton in the release. Cawsey ran the business department at Ross, Schirk once owned Royal City Glass, but now works for PM Doors and Windows, and Senechal has been a partner for the past 11 years in CG Maintenance. He also ran as the PC Party’s candidate against Liberal Liz Sandals in the 2007 provincial election.

In other news, the day and time for the first all-candidates debate of the fall election has been established. Look for The Guelph-Wellington Social Justice Coalition hosted forum on Sept. 13 at the Italian Canadian Club. Presumably, the Coalition is looking to avoid any situation where a candidate says that they didn’t get enough notice and have something already book.

The Hanlon Hacks It

The Phase One lands of the Hanlon Creek Business Park have satisfied all conditions of Draft Plan of Subdivision approval and have now achieved Registered Plan status at the land registry office. I don’t know what that means, but the City thought it was a big enough deal to write a press release about it. “What this means, is that title to these lands are now able to be transferred to potential end purchasers” says Jim Mairs, Senior Business Development Specialist, Economic Development and Tourism Services, in the release.

“We are extremely pleased with the completion of this next stage,” says Peter Cartwright, General Manager of Economic Development and Tourism Services. “In order to register this Phase approximately 50 conditions imposed by various government and review agencies needed to be addressed and approved. It is further validation of the commitment this Park has to the environment and the development process.”

All-in-all, 16 acres of land, in various stages of development in the Hanlon Creek Business Park representing nearly $5 million in revenue for the city, are ready. The total land acquired by the City for the Business Park property is about 420 acres, but a percentage of that will be preserved as green space.

Video Victories on Two Counts

As one video contest wraps another begins. Voting for the viewer’s choice favourite “I love Guelph tap water” video closed this past Monday, but the winners won’t be announced until June 15th. Various high tech prizes will be awarded to the first, second and third place finisher, and people’s choice winner will designate a favourite charity to receive a $500 donation. Next up are videos for Guelph Tourism. Go to www.youtube.com/guelphtourism and vote for your favourite video promoting the Royal City as a tourist destination and the winner will receive $100 in prizes. The winner will be announced during the closing ceremonies of Tourism Awareness Week on June 10 at 1:00pm at City Hall.

All I Want From this Next Council…

Dear Guelph City Council,

I’ve been a very good citizen of the Royal City this year, and I would like to get a few items for next term. Before I begin though, my Mom says I should thank you for the things I got last term. The new roads and infrastructure was really nice, once we had them assembled, of course. The new City Hall is pretty swanky, but it’s almost too nice to play with. The improvements on the Provincial Court House were pretty cool, but I didn’t like that Hanlon Creek Business Park so much, but my parents say we need it so…

But seriously folks, there are some developments that I wouldn’t mind seeing coming out of council in the next four years (if not sooner). Primary among them is the transit hub.

Such a monumentous undertaking, converting an entire section of Carden Street into a one-stop shop for local and inter-city public transit, was the last item being funded by cash from Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill to be shovel-ready. Are we going to get an extension on that loan, or are we going to have to eat it, which, if I know the city of Guelph and its past actions, will mean transit cuts? The good news is, as of last Thursday, it appeared that no eating would be necessary.

And really, what’s the deal with Ward 1 Councillor Bob Bell wanting to take a minute and edited the plans. In case you missed the Mercury article he said that he wanted to cut the number of bus bays at the hub from 22 to 18, and that those four cut bays “could be accommodated along the Gordon/Norfolk streets corridor.” So it’s a transit hub where there’s an 18 per cent chance that the bus you really want is a couple of blocks and a five minute walk away.

While I appreciate the councillor’s due diligence, I am aghast. I thought the City couldn’t revisit a construction plan once the shovels were in the ground. At least, that seemed to be the argument when the Hanlon Creek Business Park started to get going. Sadly, as I walked from one store to the other last Wednesday in a vain effort to find bus tickets (because apparently stocking up suppliers on the first day of the month so that they don’t run out is too much to ask), I wondered if former Mayoral Candidate Ray Mitchell was right. “Transit is the fallback position to cut when money is needed as it primarily hurts the poor, and we know they don’t vote” said Mitchell in his Candidate Questionnaire for Guelph Politico. “Cutting bus services was probably the meanest thing this council did.”

I know I’ve been harping the transit issue a lot this year, but it really does seem like there’s a concerted effort out there to perpetuate the myth that freedom is a car that you yourself ride in alone and that buses and trains are for poor people and hippies. Parking for the transit hub has been a concern, but I ask, why does one have to drive their car to the bus station? Or the train station? Or at the very least, why is their no encouragement from the City to car pool? If everybody’s going to the same place anyway…

With Rob Ford in Toronto ending “The War on Cars” (Worst. Covered War. Ever.) I wonder how long it will take his thinking to trickle outward from the GTA. Roads are for cars! Bikes are for sissies! Street cars are stupid! If you can’t drive a car, at least have the decency to travel by way of a dark tunnel underground where car people don’t have to look at you! First of all, can we get Clarence Odbody to stop by Rob Ford’s house this Christmas before he turns Toronto into Potterville? And second, if the increasingly long drive to get anywhere hasn’t given you a clue, I’m out of ideas on how to get people to think of transit more positively, and not wrinkle their nose at the thought of taking a bus.

Anyway Council, there’s some milk and cookies in it for you if you figure out a way (not that that’s a bribe or anything). In the meantime, stay cool and good luck with the term ahead.

Signed,
A random lunatic (with his own newspaper column)

Happy Anniversary

Let’s start this one by saying “Happy Anniversary.” This time last year, the attentions of our sorted little berg were focused on the southern most end of the city, on a little parcel of land which will eventually house the Hanlon Creek Business Park. A group of well-meaning and devoted activists took to the land and settled there in an effort to stymie construction, and to everyone’s surprised, it worked. For a while anyway.

Many thought that the spring thaw would not only mean the beginning of shovels in the ground for the HCBP, but a welcome back for the protestors after the winter break. Yet this has not come to pass. On the HCBP there are signs and security, but aside from a bizarre attempt to grow illicit substances, there’s been neither hide nor hare of disruptive activity. So what’s the deal? Was hating on the HCBP a passing fancy, or have protestors merely admitted defeat in the wake of construction going full speed ahead?

Or is it neither? For those on the left that admire themselves as more active, there was another once in a lifetime attraction that drew their attention this past June. If you have read the papers then you know that the arrests made during the G20 in Toronto rounded up the usual suspects in terms of direct action in Guelph. Trapped in the midst of various states of legality, it’s probably hard to plot further grassroots action when you’re sitting in jail for weeks. Understandable, but the question’s been asked: does Guelph breed troublemakers?

As the Reverend Lovejoy once observed “Short answer ‘yes’ with an ‘if’; long answer ‘no’ with a ‘but.’” So yes if you count aggressive activism as a sign you’re a troublemaker. However, the answer can also be no considering that a small group doesn’t indicate a wide-spread pattern and the fact that all the big names in activism locally come from hometown’s not named Guelph. But the Royal City does seem to be some kind of rally point for these like minded people.

Now normally, finding a community where you can be yourself amongst people who believe as you do is considered a good thing, but some of people in Guelph, it seems, have had enough. A recent post on the subject of Guelph-based political activists on the Mercury’s 59 Carden St blog elicited nearly 100 responses, nearly all of which were of the “down with protestors” variety.

On the one hand you can hardly blame people for the reaction because aside from the disruptive nature of these protestors, is their penchant for using illegal or borderline illegal action to get their point across. Fair enough, but the tenor of some of the discussions goes deeper than a “don’t-be-a-menace” type scolding. The inference instead being that if you can’t work within the system, then you should sit down, shut up and accept the world for how it is. Outstanding advice. They said the same thing to all those people that protested the Iraq War when they said it would be costly and wasteful and not yield a single WMD.

For some reason, we consider our democracy as an entity that’s passive and inactive. Aside from the once in a while sojourn to voting booth, if you could limit your participation to the council chamber or a neighbourhood meeting behind close doors, that would be great. Just so long as we don’t have to see it.

A special on MSNBC last weekend called “Politics Gone Wild” showed debates in parliaments from India to South Korea where matters are settled more with melees than points of order. Say what you want about the practice of chair throwing to silence an opposition member, or eating a bill to stop its passing, but you can’t say that these people aren’t passionate about the government. And I have to tell you, going into election season, I hope that we the people of Guelph are even half that passionate.

Just keep the throwing of office furniture to a minimum.

Willow Facelift, Election News and Drugs in HCBP

HCBP open for (illicit) business

When politicians said that the Hanlon Creek Business Park was going to attract new business to Guelph, they probably didn’t have a recent discovery by Guelph Police in mind when they said it. On June 29th, the Drug Enforcement Unity was tipped off that on the city owned lands that will become home to the HCBP, there was an outdoor grow op. After investigating the police did indeed confirm that yes, there were several marihuana plants being grown in a section of HCBP. In fact, there were 340 marihuana plants in the early stages of maturation. The combined street value of those plants if they had been allowed to mature into dried marihuana would have been $340,000. So far, nobody’s been charged for the operation of this op and all plants have been destroyed by the police.

Getting a jump on Election Season

With the hot summer weather, it seems logical that there’s not going to be any big candidacy announcements, with maybe a few exceptions, until late August. (Ray Ferraro was the last person to make the plunge as of June 17th. At least at press time.) Still, there seems to be one person e chomping at the bit for the nitty-gritty excitement of electioneering to begin. In the last week, a few “David Birtwistle for Mayor” signs have popped up at strategic locations around Guelph. Too soon, some would say, considering polls don’t open till the morning of October 25th. Not at all, say the City’s election rules. Once a candidate has registered and paid a $200 deposit, a candidate is free to put up signs as they see fit. Apparently Sean Farrelly, Ian Findlay and Maggie Laidlaw have also paid their deposit, but their excitement is clearly no where near as palpable as Birtwistle is seems.

Willow West Getting Facelift

Apparently the owners of Willow West Mall are taking the departure of Zellers as a sign. Last week, it was reported in the Guelph Tribune that the mall’s owners, Bentall LP, had given notice to all stores within Willow West, with the exception of Roy’s No Frills and the R U Serious restaurant, till the end of August to say sayonara. “The idea is to redevelop the shopping centre and convert most of what is enclosed today into large-box retailers,” Angelo Di Palma, Willow West’s property manager, said to the Tribune.

Clearly the recent closing of Zellers, which anchored the south end of the mall, created an opportunity for Bentall to gentrify their holding at the corner of Willow Rd and Silvercreek. In May, the owners announced that a Leon’s Superstore would be filling the space vacated by Zellers, and currently developers are in the process to get the proper permits in order to begin the renovations on the 76,000-square-foot premises. News of a forced mass exodus of most other Willow West shops came as no surprise to business owners like Kirit Gohil of Guildcrest Jewelers, but the timetable, however, was. “If they had informed us when Zellers was going out, we could have had the closing sale (at the same time) and that would have helped,” he said about his end of August eviction date.

Reversely though, others think Bentall’s rejuvenation of the mall is excellent news. “This site has been tired and ignored for entirely too long,” said Roy Zannoni, the Roy of Roy’s No Frills. “I think the community deserves better.” Interestingly, Willow West Mall was the first enclosed mall ever opened in Guelph, and the Willow West area was one of the first commercial developments outside the downtown to be developed in Guelph. Willow West Mall itself has been marked for redevelopment for a few years now with a lot of commercial business heading to the south end of the city or further west to the Paisley and Imperial area. Exact construction dates and potential new retailers have yet to be announced.

Local Bomb, No Jefferson, and Pot Pulled

What is this? Beirut?

Guelph proved that there’s room for humour in the middle of a bomb scare last week, when the downtown found itself in the middle of an actual bomb scare. Now, I say “scare” even though things at the scene were rarely tense as police officers cheerfully answered residents’ questions about the situation while the explosives device unit (EDU) did their thing with the help of a special robot loaned from Waterloo Region.

Details about who did what and why were still sketchy at press time (like up-to-date info, try my blog at guelphpolitico.blogspot.com), but a suspicious package was found at the post office in St. George’s Square about noon, and police responded by closing down a large portion of upper Wyndham, and diverting buses to the River Run Centre alternate-stop. By 4 pm, the EDU had exploded the package safely, and it was back to business as usual in the Square.

But who’s responsible? I don’t know, but I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you. Now watch this drive.

Jeff’s Not Here, Man

Well, it seems that the first best reason not to build the Hanlon Creek Business Park has been disproved, according to a City press release last week. According to the salamander monitoring program, no trace of the reptile has been found on the HCBP lands so it’s time to drill, baby, dr… I mean, let the construction begin on the Business Park without any further interruption.

Not necessarily. On May 7th, a group opposing the HCBP marched on City Hall and a local developer and articulated their continued opposition to the planned development, and already their tone had moved to an overall environmental cause. “This is our drinking water at stake … clean air … the Earth,” spokesperson Marcie Goldstein said in an interview with the Guelph Mercury.

Still, the city says all precautions are putting put into place to protect the local wildlife. “The City will be moving forward with the development of the HCBP subdivision as approved by the Ontario Municipal Board in November 2006,” said the press release last Monday. “The 2010 salamander monitoring program has provided additional information on the location and movement of other amphibians within the HCBP subdivision. This additional information will be used to consider design refinements and to undertake measures for wildlife protection during construction activities.”

Cannabis Calamity

On May 6th members of the Guelph Police Drug, Intelligence Unit, Co-ordinated Enforcement Team and Uniform Division executed Controlled Drugs and Substances Act search warrants at the Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph at 62 Baker Street as well as 5 residences, which resulted in the arrest of four people for trafficking, possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and production of a controlled substance. Apparently, the bust of these tax-paying, pot-selling citizens have been under police investigation for some time, after all, they were selling medicinal marijuana to the sick to ease their suffering.

What’s more mysterious is the Police Service’s restraint. The Medical Cannabis Club has been in operation since 2006, and are duly recognized members of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Chamber of Commerce, and the Downtown Guelph Business Association. (I have the links on Politico, look it up if you don’t believe me.) “Our investigation has revealed that The Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph has illegally sold marihuana and hashish” said Sgt Doug Pflug-Guelph Police Media spokesperson. “Health Canada sets clear guidelines and regulations for the use of medically sanctioned marihuana use and these individuals operated outside those guidelines and regulations.”

While he’s technically right, it begs the question about why it took so long to lower the boom on the Medicinal Cannabis Club. As well, it ignores the fact that one of the defendants did have a license to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes, and that nearly half of the Club’s membership had the proper permits to procure it. And most importantly, this does nothing to rectify the still sorted grey water that’s our government’s pot policy. For the latest info, and scenes from last Saturday’s protest in St. George’s Square go to guelphpolitico.blogspot.com

Old Fight, New Candidate

Hanlon Creek Fight Gearin’ Up Again

Last Friday, opponents of the Hanlon Creek Business Park gathered at Goldie Mill Park to distribute information and talk to the public about why they think the business park should be shuttered. It’s another sign that this might be another long summer for the development project in the city’s southwest end. This comes just a couple of weeks after a press conference in front of city hall where the Hanlon Creek 5, the five people charged in a SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) suit for last summer’s occupation of the HCBP lands, decried being bullied by the City for acting, as they say, in the public interest. During my interview with the Ward 6 councillors for last week’s “Better Know a Ward,” Coun. Karl Wettstein said in no uncertain terms that the HCBP will move forward this summer, and there will be repercussions for anyone disrupting work on the site. Stay tuned for more because this issue is far from resolved.

New Candidate Enters Ward 1

Last week, Eugene Gromczynski threw his hat into the ring to become the fourth candidate running in Ward 1 for the municipal election this fall. Gromczynski ran in the 2006 election and finished fifth out of five candidates. If you're interested, I did a questionnaire with Gromczynski during the 2006 Election when I was editor of thecannon.ca. You can read it at http://thecannon.ca/page.php?id=22&v=1522. If you want to see the full slate of candidates thus far, then you’ll want to click on http://www.guelph.ca/votes, or you can check out my blog at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com

Transit Workers Try to Rally Support

If you've rode on transit lately, you'll have witnessed a growing, but silent, sense of disgruntlement from the drivers. You might recognize one of three flyers, either taped up on bus shelters, left out in public areas or slipped to dedicated riders on the Q.T. In no uncertain terms these flyers say that the members of the transit union are fed up, and they're trying to rally support from loyal transit users to kick up a storm. Smart strategy considering that the city's bus lines are returning to 30 minute service all week long for three months starting in June, there's going to be no Sunday service at all in August, and from the U-pass to adult tickets, everybody's seen a fare increase in the last couple of months.

Transit workers have got their own reasons to be ticked too. About 31 transit employees will be laid off between June and August, or otherwise have their hours severely cut back. This, while the City talks about the priority of transit and all its future plans, which kind of comes off looking like a lot of double speak. In the meantime, the drivers, the front line workers, probably are taking the brunt of the abuse for all of transit's recent shortfalls. If you want to take a look at the flyers, if you haven’t already, checkout Politico.

Get the lead out…

Interested in water issues? Well, tonight is your night. Members of the community are invited to a public information session to learn more about lead in our drinking water.The information covered will include Ontario drinking water regulations, health risks of lead in drinking water, options on reducing lead levels, and details about the new grant pilot program for Guelph homeowners replacing their private lead service lines. City staff, consultants and representatives from the Ministry of the Environment and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Unit will answer questions and ask residents to provide their feedback about the City’s lead reduction options. The info session begins at 6 pm at the Guelph Waterworks at 29 Waterworks Place, off York Rd.

Goodbye 09, Hello 10

While You Were Sleeping…

After the year it’s been in Guelph, it would make sense that the Royal City would get one last lick in before the books were closed on 2009. Our fair city made national news last week when one of the runners in the Olympic torch relay fell while carrying the torch downtown during an apparent clash between torch security, police and anti-Olympic protesters. There was a galvanizing effect as a result of this issue as many junk-piled on the protesters for either precipitating the clash or out-and-out tripping the torch bearer, 28-year-old Courtney Hanson from Milton. Arrested for assault was 19-year-old from Kitchener, and before I go into the division of perspectives, can we at least take a moment to find the oddity in a Milton woman being tripped by a protester from Kitchener during the Guelph leg of the relay. Anyone?

Okay, so I think we can all agree that what happened to Ms. Hanson was horrible. No matter how you feel about the legality or morality of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, ruining a once in a lifetime experience for someone, not to mention the thousands of people that came out to share it with you at the crack of dawn,is the epitome of a dick move. But having said all that, the exact details of the altercation are still a little fuzzy as of the writing of this column. Some say it was a direct provocation by the protestors to the torch’s security and RCMP escort, others say that it was a crowding issue as tempers on all sides flared. Unfortunately, nothing less than the Zapruder film equivalent of this incident will prove anything one way or the other, and such evidence has yet to surface. Just consider the whole thing proof that the wackiest stuff always happens when you’re taking time off from your column.

Newsmakers of ’09 Named

The Guelph Mercury named their male and female newsmakers of 2009 last week, and on the one hand the choices can almost be taken as a case of David versus Goliath. The female newsmaker was Mayor Karen Farbridge who was cited for a busy year that included the protest over the Hanlon Creek Business Park, legal battles over waste processing and city hall, and a year end budget crunch. “If I’m newsmaker of the year it’s because of my role as mayor and spokesperson for council,” Farbridge said. “I think (the honour) reflects a lot more on our CAO, council and senior staff who support the spokesperson’s role.”

For male newsmaker of the year, the prize went to Matt Soltys, one of the organizers of the opposition against the HCBP. Soltys was also recognized for his work with local groups like Groundworks and the Apple Seed Collective. “My hope lies in more people recognizing the need for that,” Soltys said. “I think a lot of people know very well the futility of always playing by the rules that are set out for us.”

Countdown to Indecision 2010

Yes friends, 2010 is an election year, and in October Guelphites will be asked to go to the polls and elect the next Guelph city council and mayor. Nominations officially opened on Monday January 4, but there’s already been speculation as to who amongst the current slate of councillors will run again. Before the holidays, the Guelph Mercury talked to several councillors and the Mayor about their re-election plans and their answer, for the most part, was a definite maybe. Ward 1 Councillor Kathleen Farrelly said that she’ll most like run so long as her health holds up, while Ward 6 Councillor Karl Wettstein says that he’s leaning towards running, but won’t firm up his plans until March. Karen Farbridge said that she’s “obviously giving (another run) serious consideration,” but has not yet dedicated herself either way. If you’re interested in seeking local office, the list of appointments and rules and guidelines for the nomination process are available on the city website at http://guelph.ca/cityhall.cfm?itemid=78368&smocid=1594

Fighting Over Budgets and Climate Change

Budget fight begins

With all the deep cuts potentially on the table in regards to the 2010 city budget, it came as no surprise that council’s first look at the document would come with some apprehension. The major areas that got air last Monday night were transit and downtown parking, but considering the variety of cuts proposed, there isn’t a single area under city management that isn’t saved from belt-tightening. The debate should get much more interesting in the next week as public debate is opened up on the matter. It was expected that as many as 26 delegations had requested time to speak to council at the meeting this past Tuesday. But public forums are seeing their share of debates as well.

The Guelph Arts Council was quick to react to potential cuts, sending out a mass e-mail last week asking all its members to speak out in defense of arts funding in the City of Guelph. “We are not at the top of the list but we are on the list – in other word, we are threatened, and we do need to make our case,” said the e-mail. The GAC further asked its members to send letters and e-mails to Guelph city councillors and local media as part of a co-ordinated effort to make it known that the arts matter in the Royal City.

Meanwhile, University of Guelph students are rallying to save the universal bus pass, after it was suggested in the budget proposal that it be eliminated and replaced with a cost per month plan like the one high school students have to pay for. Comparatively, the U of G universal bus pass costs roughly the same per semester what it costs for a high school student to get one student pass for a month. The city feels that that there’s a pretty big gap there where a few extra dollars can be made. “It’s sad that a program that Guelph Transit has won awards for, for innovative ways of getting people out of cars and into buses, is being dismissed without any discussion,” said Brenda Whiteside, the university’s associate vice-president (students affairs) to the Guelph Tribune. The universal bus pass has been part of the student experience at the U of G since 1994, and it won’t go quietly. As of Sunday, the “Save the Bus Pass” Facebook group has over 6,400 members.

For up-to-date blow-by-blows go to my blog at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com/

McKitrick feels “vindicated”

The recent “Climategate” mess where thousands of e-mails and documents from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England were hacked and then leaked has cultivated a Guelph connection. No, no one from Guelph was involved in either being hacked or doing the hacking, but a University of Guelph professor has gotten a shot of renewed notoriety out of the fallout. “My phone’s been absolutely ringing off the hook,” economics prof Ross McKitrick told the Guelph Mercury last week. McKitrick has for a long time been a climate change skeptic (or denier depending upon your slant), believing that all the talk about end of the world consequences from global warming was much ado about nothing. “There’s a sense of vindication there,” he added in response to the allegations that the e-mails prove climate change scientists were cooking the books to make the problem seem much worse than it is. But perhaps the real conspiracy here is that all this came out just days before the UN Climate Change conference began in Copenhagen.

Another hurdle for HCBP quietly leapt

Posted quietly on the City of Guelph website Friday was news that funding assistance from Industry Canada for the watermain and utility highway crossing construction for the Hanlon Creek Business Park project had been approved. The city submitted an Environmental Assessment to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, and from that report and the “implementation of appropriate mitigation measures,” the Feds decided to grant the request for funding. According to the city press release, appropriate implementations of mitigation measures included in the Environmental Assessment include: fauna at risk; human health and safety; structure, site or thing of historic, archaeological, paleontological or architectural significance; air quality; noise levels; soil quality; vegetation; and water quality. "We are pleased that this project has cleared this level of environmental review with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency," said Peter Cartwright, General Manager for Economic Development and Tourism.

Woods Closes, Protest Remembered and Bike Lanes Info

Manufacturing Hit again as Woods Closes Down
After 75 years in operation, the W.C. Woods plant on Arthur Road in Guelph closed its doors and put 250 workers out of a job last week after a deal to sell the company fell through. To add insult to injury, those same workers received no official notice from the company and many showing up for work at the plant Monday morning business as usual. A former Woods’ employee told me that he learned about the plant’s closing by trading rumours on Facebook, and showed up early Monday to collect his things before the doors were locked. Other employees not so informed had to make an appointment to come in to the closed plant and collect their belongings.

Ultimately though, the closure of Woods came as no surprise to many of its former employees. The plant’s been on the proverbial bubble for much of the last year with employees having been part of a government work share program in order to compensate for lost hours at the plant. For frustrated workers, the loss of their job was exacerbated by a wall of silence from the company as to the status of their pensions, holiday pay and severance cheques. Before the employees can even get EI, their paper work on the work share program had to be finished, but it appears this at least will give workers some relief. As for the rest, Woods has been mum as to what the people that used to make their factory run can expect.

In an attempt to get some answers, about 75 employees and supporters gathered at the plant Thursday morning. The only one dolling out answers however was a representative of BDO Dunwoody, the firm that’s overseeing the liquidation of Woods’ assets. The business’ creditors will be the first to receive money from the sell-off, but how much that is and how much will be made from the sell-off is not yet known. In the meantime, the workers are getting more information from each other and third part sources then they are from the guys that used to sign their paycheques. For late breaking information head over to my blog at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com

Week of Events Remember HCBP opposition

Local activists have planned a whole week of activities to keep up awareness over the Hanlon Creek Business Park project. Hanlon Creek Celebration Week began this past Monday with HCBP protestor Kelly Pflug-Back serving the Guelph police department with a plaintiff's claim on behalf of herself and Julian Ichim. Pflug-Back and Ichim are claiming that police defamed them while investigating a supposed threatening letter that was dropped off at the home of one of the developers. Events continue today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday) with a protest at Xterra Construction’s Kitchener office, and a lunch hour hootenanny at Guelph City Hall. For more information and a full schedule go to http://hcbpoccupation.wordpress.com/

City wants your notes about bike lanes

The City of Guelph is hosting a public information session to present plans for the construction of bike lanes on Stone Road from Scottsdale Drive to Victoria Road South, and on Gordon Street from Stone Road to Harts Lane. The session takes place between 5 pm and 7 pm Thursday November 26th at the Delta Hotel on the corner of Gordon and Stone. After a presentation at 5:30, attendees will be given the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback to city officials and planners. Construction is set to begin early next summer and will last at least seven months. This is another fine “shovel ready” project brought to you by Federal and Provincial Infrastructure Stimulus Funds.

Protests at Hanlon as Bell Goes Green

Definitely not your father’s groundbreaking

Given the rather contentious nature of the issue, it was a bit surprising that the City would have so public an event in honour of the Hanlon Creek Business Park like a ground breaking. When the announcement was made Tuesday, you could practically smell trouble in the air. The proverbial ink was barely dry on the press release when LIMITS (Land Is More Important Than Sprawl) sent out a flyer calling for a peaceful demonstration at the Downey St entrance to the site. The flyer further declared that instruments and street theatre were welcome.

Well there was certainly theatre, but the calls for a peaceful demonstration seemed to fall on deaf ears. About 75 people were there for the rake out on the other side of the barricades at the groundbreaking as several city officials and other guests there by “invitation only” had to walk past shouting protesters, at least one grim reaper and “Barnie,” the purple Jefferson salamander dinosaur. As Mayor Karen Farbridge and others overturned the sod for the future business park, protestors dug an effigy grave for Barnie and his brethren.

But if getting in was rough, getting out was murder. Or at least there were shouts of it, anyway. “You will pay for this. Your life is on the line,” shouted a hooded protester according to the Mercury’s Rob O’Flanagan. Over on his Ward 2 blog, Councillor Ian Findlay said that while returning to the bus with a city staff member, “We were greeted by what could be described as a feral mob of protesters, dressed in Halloween costumes chanting ‘F**k You Scum! F**k You Scum!’” Buses were only able to leave the site once the police had cleared a path. In a City press release celebrating the groundbreaking, there was no mention of any troubles on the site.

Bell goes Fed for the Greens next election

After Mike Nagy’s three at bats for the Federal Green Party in Guelph, Ward 1 Councillor Bob Bell will step up to the plate for the team in the next federal election. Bell was acclaimed at a meeting of local Greens last week. The first-time federal candidate said that he was drawn to the idea of taking more action on the environment and feels that it’s the most important issue facing Guelph and Canada. “Climate change is an issue that I find is the biggest driver,” on other issues, Bell told me by phone on Saturday. “It trickles down to transportation planning, energy pricing, food security and international trade.”

Bell added that he thinks that the way environmental issues and how people see them is continuing to evolve. “Most people have thought of issues as independent but my perspective is that other issues all fit into the environment, but I think that’s typical of the Green Party.” The newly minted Green candidate also said that he thinks a federal election is far off, but in the mean time he’ll be learning the fine art of a federal campaign along with getting some helpful pointers from his predecessor Nagy.

Flu shots come to those who wait

Swine flu fever hit Guelph last week… Oh, wait. Poor choice of words. Okay, so swine flu vaccination fever hit Guelph last week as the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Unit began flu shot clinics last Friday, including the controversial H1N1 shot. The shot was recommended, as per usual, for pregnant women, children between the ages of six months and five years old, people with chronic health conditions and health care workers but because of the looming, media-hyped threat of pandemic, 2,000 people and a four hour wait were what people showing up at the former College Avenue Public School got. Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has received two allotments of the vaccine. The first was 12,000 doses and the second was 14,500. For clinic times and locations go to http://www.wdghu.org/ or follow updated info on wait times on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wdgph

New HCBP Developments

City looking at amendments to HCBP plan

From the Weirdness of the Week file, it seems that talking softly does work after all. A letter signed by many prominent environmentalists was sent to city councillors and staff stating that while the project “has appreciable merits,” it also has “significant shortcomings” that could end up being harmful to the environment. In response, the city is bringing in consultants to review some of the proposed changes. “The decision was really made in 2006 with the signing of the OMB minutes of settlement,” Farbridge told the Guelph Mercury adding that the City is open to compromise as long as terms of settlement aren’t breached. “It is now at a technical stage and a lot of (residents’) suggestions would have to be dealt with at a technical level.”

Norah Chaloner, a member of the Guelph chapter of the Council of Canadians said that with the City announcing suspension of work until the spring, the time was ripe to explore a more conciliatory process. Of course, she refers to the occupation of the construction site in the HCBP land this past July, which lead to a court ordered suspension of construction for further investigation of environmental concerns, which, by the time it was over, was too late for work to continue on the site. But while groups like Land Is More Important Than Sprawl and the HCBP occupiers want a complete cessation of construction on the land, the signatories of the letter are looking for a third path. “I’m satisfied that there is good potential in the Hanlon Creek Business Park proposal,” said Hugh Whiteley adding that there is “not an ideal balance” between proposed development and natural areas.

Meanwhile LIMITS is gearing up again to take full advantage of the winter months to continue to push for their goals. A meeting was held at the ebar on Tuesday looked to such action as organizing an information sharing event, tabling at local events, poster campaign, and walking tours. Stay tuned for more.

A Quick Dose of Updates

Because you demanded it (I assume since I got no factual demands), here’s the latest news on a couple of stories I previously reported about.

First, it seems that the frogs are on their own once again. Last week the City announced that the nightly closures of Laird Road for amphibian migration had ended after being closed two weeks earlier when local residents brought some 200 dead frogs and toads to the front door of City Hall in protest. So did the City just give up on the frogs? Well no, environmentalists say that amphibian movement stops when the nightly temperature dips below 10 degrees celsius. The plan to install a culvert below the road and drift fencing above is scheduled to proceed next month in anticipation for the even bigger spring migration which can start as early as March and end as late as June.

Meanwhile, the hammer came down on the two people being investigated for leaving an allegedly threatening letter at the home of someone connected to Drexler Construction… only it was one of those inflatable novelty hammers. Police Chief Rob Davis told the Guelph Mercury that no charges would be filed against Julian Ichim or Kelly Pflug-Back, who outed themselves as persons of interest following the delivery of the letter over the Labour Day long weekend. The chief said that there was no evidence against Ichim and Pflug-Back even despite their admission. As for their intention to file defamation suits against the police, there’s been no word on how that’s going.

Next Federal Candidates and Protest Fall-Out

Parties move on next election

As Michael Ignatieff continues to try, unsuccessfully, to bring down the government of Stephen Harper, two local riding associations are lining up the people their putting forward once the writ is cast. Last week the Guelph Federal Conservative Party Association nominated Marty Burke to be its candidate in the next federal election. The 49-year-old Air Canada pilot, who moved to Guelph with his family in 2000, has solid Conservative credentials as a professional, and a family man; additionally, Burke has 23 years of service in the Canadian Armed Forces under his belt. It’ll be interesting to see how Burke will fair up against Liberal incumbent Frank Valeriote who’s well-liked with years of community involvement to his credit as well as being a natural born Guelphite. In the 2008 election, then Conservative candidate City Coun. Gloria Kovach lost by a little over 3,000 votes.

Meanwhile, Guelph’s Federal Green Party will be holding its nomination meeting on Tuesday, October 27th at 7:00 pm at Norfolk United Church downtown. Nominations are now open, and anyone that’s currently a member of the Green Party is eligible to put their name forward for the consideration of the riding association. Remember to allow at least a week for the Green Party of Canada to review your nomination, so don’t doddle with your paper work. Unfortunately, for potential Greens sitting on the fence, one must become a member, or renew their membership, 30 days before the nomination meeting to be able to vote. For more information, head to the Guelph Greens’ website at http://www.guelphgreens.ca/
 

Remember when I said “This ain’t over…?”

Two little nuggets came out of the orbit of the old Hanlon Creek Business Park controversy from last summer. One involved two activists that delivered a letter to the home of the owner of Drexler Construction asking him to part ways with the City in developing the HCBP lands. Julian Ichim and Kelly Pflug-Back returned to the police station where they tried to surrender themselves early in September to let Guelph PD know that they’ve filed two "notices of action," each seeking $30,000 in damages. The dynamic duo say that police defamed them, were negligent in their "investigation of criminal charges" and violated their Charter rights. “[T]he premise of our recent actions has to do with the fact that the media's vilification of activism is unacceptable, as is the police force attempting to take on a political role rather than one of impartial law enforcement,” said Pflug-Back in a response on the Mercury’s 59 Carden St Blog. Paradoxically, the one thing that Pflun-Back didn’t address is that it was she and Ichim that identified themselves to media, they weren’t named in any police press release.

Later that week, a concerned citizen tipped of the Mercury to some movement of dump trucks and heavy equipment on the HCBP lands. The concern was that maybe work was being done on the DL (that’s down low) to avoid a fuss from protesters. After some investigation, City staff told a Mercury reporter that the mounds of top soil dropped off at the site was being used to stabilize the Road A culvert site and would be spread evenly between McWilliams Drive and the Road A Culvert and then it will be seeded to prevent any erosion and sediment issues over the winter/spring months when the development (and the development protests) are expected to continue. Case closed.

Linamar, Frogs and Irony

Harper brings cash to Linamar

Last Monday, Linamar had its grand opening for the Frank Hasenfratz Centre of Excellence in Manufacturing, a new Teaching and Technology Centre at 700 Woodlawn Rd., and the guest of honour was the Prime Minister himself, Stephen Harper. Harper’s gift to the company: $54.8 million in a repayable interest-free contribution to fund the development of the company’s green and fuel efficient powertrain projects. That’s a pretty big slice of the Automotive Initiative Fund, a provision from last year’s budget that provides $250 million over five years to car and part manufacturers in order to support strategic, large-scale research and development projects.

“The auto sector is an essential part of the Canadian economy. It has created hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs for Canadians,” Harper said in his remarks following a photo opportunity. “Parts and assembly plants fuel the growth and prosperity of cities like Guelph… they are a major contributor to the wider economies of Ontario, Quebec and Canada as a whole.” Linamar CEO Linda Hasenfratz added that the pursuit of green technologies made good environmental sense as well as good business sense and she estimated her company will have spent a total of $365 million of such projects by 2013. “We should never wait for the good old days to come back and wait for (auto) production volumes to resume,” she said. “You have to be proactive and find new markets and new products… and continue to grow the company. You have to be proactive about staying ahead of the curve.”

Quick action saves frogs

After weeks of warm, dry weather, a rain finally fell last Monday. Now normally rain is a good thing for plants and animals alike, but for several amphibious animals in the Laird Rd. area between the Hanlon and Downey Rd. it mean a high stakes game of Frogger. Confused? Let me explain. The migratory path of several species of frogs and toads crosses from one side of Laird Road to the other. At this time of year, during particularly warm and wet weather, the amphibians travel from one side of the street to the other, retuning to the waters in which they’ll collect food and hunker down for the winter. Literally hundreds of the animals were killed by passing motorists on Laird Road at the beginning of last week until action by environmentalists and local residents forced the City to close the road to traffic last Tuesday.

Norah and Richard Chaloner along with friend Judy Martin were amongst the people trying to save the frogs and petition the city to close the road to prevent further deaths. But Rajan Philips, manager of transportation planning said that closing the road was not an option because advanced notification was required and appropriate detours needed to be established. On Tuesday afternoon, the Chaloners and Martin, along with members of the group LIMITS brought the remains of 200 dead animals to city hall to prove how big a problem it was. By late afternoon the City’s chief administrative officer, Hans Loewig, told citizens that the city will indeed be shutting down a section of Laird Road between McWilliams Road and Downey Road, from dusk till dawn, for the duration of the migratory season. A more permanent solution of a culvert under Laird Road is being considered by the city.

Other notes in brief

Ward 2 Councillor Ian Findlay posted some statistics on his blog from the first half-month of operation of the pissoirs on Macdonnel and Carden Streets. Between September 1 and 14 over 1,500 litres of urine had been collected between the two locations, over one-third of that total was collected on the weekend of September 11-13, or the first weekend after the University of Guelph opened for business again. So far the only downside is some damage to the privacy screens and one instance of graffiti on signage.

Then, last week in an act of cosmic irony, a vote to end street parking on Elizabeth St. in order to install bike lanes was defeated in a tie in a meeting of the emergency services, community services and operations committee. The tie breaking vote belonged to Coun. Maggie Laidlaw, one of City Hall’s most outspoken advocates for biking in the city, who was in Waterloo that night attending the Ontario Bicycle Summit. The Summit was billed as being dedicated to a vision of "creating a bicycle friendly Ontario for everyone.” Oh, the humanity!

City Hall Official Opens While HCBP Battle Continues

Reminder: The Opening’s Official this weekend

The New City Hall will get its official christening this weekend as city staff and dignitaries roll out the red carpet at 1 Carden Street on Saturday. "Everyone is invited to be part of this historic occasion, as we officially open our new City Hall and come together to celebrate this remarkable new civic facility," says Mayor Karen Farbridge in press release. Farbridge will kick off the festivities with an official greeting at 10:20 am. From 10 till 4 there’ll be entertainment of all sorts and a barbecue lunch that will be served starting at noon. Farbridge will be joined by our local MP Frank Valeriote, Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong, our MPP Liz Sandals, Executive Director Association of Municipalities Ontario Pat Vanini, as well as members of Heritage Guelph and Moriyama & Teshima Architects. And bonus, city buses will run for free from dawn’s early light till 6 pm. So there’s no reason not to go. Ahem.

War of Words or Much Ado About Nothing?

The Hanlon Creek Business Park pot continued to stir last week when things seemed to get a little personal. As you’ll recall, the Mayor said in a city press release about the cancellation of this year’s phase of the project that the city was “held hostage” by a group that occupied the site to stop construction. Next up to bat where a group called “Friends of the Hanlon Creek” who delivered by hand a letter to the home of the owner of Drexler Construction in which they ask him to reconsider doing business with the city on this project. Next thing you know, a police press release said that these Friends, “Verbally and in a written warning, they advised that ‘it would be in his best interests to cease dealing’ with the city on this construction project.”

And now we’re off to the races with police saying “Attempts to intimidate or extort are criminal acts and will not be tolerated by this Police Service,” the release said. “Guelph Police are taking this issue very seriously and appeal to those associated with the protest to cease, desist and discourage this type of action.” And then they asked for anyone with information to call either Guelph Police or Crimestoppers.

Last Wednesday evening, two of the Friends tried to turn themselves in but found the doors to the station locked. Then when they called to switchboard they were told that the investigating officer was not on duty. Julian Ichim and Kelly Pflug-Back were accompanied by their lawyer Davin Charney, and when they couldn’t get into the station, they read the so-called intimidating letter and told their side of the story. “We wanted to go and inform Mr. Drexler about what is going on and appeal to him as a person. There was nothing illegal in our actions,” said Ichim. “We read the letter to the person that answered the door, we gave them the letter, wished them to ‘have a nice day,’ he did the same and then we left.”

The home visit occurred late afternoon on the Friday before the long weekend, and Ichim said that the exchange with the person that answered the door at Drexler’s home was cordial enough. “There is no intimidation in this at all,” Ichim said. “It was an appeal from one concerned citizen to another concerned citizen.” Charney however was less diplomatic in his remarks to the press. “This, to me, seems like another example where the Guelph Police are taking on a political role rather than simply a law enforcement role,” Charney said.

Guelph Police told the Mercury that they’d be having the investigating officer follow up with Ichim and Pfung-Back the next day. Stay tuned for more wackiness on this issue and go to Guelph Politico at guelphpolitico.blogspot.com for background info.