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.

Anger Over Water and the Arts

The Wonders of Water Anger

It almost slipped by them, but the Wellington Water Watchers mobilized quickly and used Facebook to get public reaction and outrage to the possible approval of a 10-year contract extension for Nestle Waters in Aberfoyle. The new contract could be approved by the Province of Ontario as early as March 5th, and if allowed would permit Nestle to take 3.6 million litres of water per day from the Grand River watershed.

“This is far too long and way too much,” states Mike Nagy, former Green Party candidate and board member for WWW. “In fact, there are many aspects of this proposed Nestlé-Ministry of Environment agreement that should raise red flags for all Guelph-area citizens who care about water issues.”

And care they do. As soon as WWW changed the name of their Facebook group to “Oppose Nestle Waters Canada's ‘Permit to take Water’ Renewal Bid!” a tidal of wave of member reaction was posted to the site. “The water Nestle pays $5,000 for in Aberfoyle would cost $5 million in New Jersey,” said former Mayoral candidate and local provocateur Ray Mitchell. “Who is getting paid off, the Provincial gov't. or Guelph City Hall?” Michael Wright, another poster on the site, was even more curt. “Our water is not for sale - F*ck off Nestle.”

Emotions concerning Guelph’s water and the private corporations that want access to it have always been high. In 2007, Wellington Water Watchers was formed to combat Nestle’s previous contract renewal for five years at 3.6 million litres per day. After nearly a year of back and forth, the Ministry of the Environment followed direction from Guelph City Council and renewed the contract for only two years, but the litre per diem mark remained at 3.6 million.

“At the very most, the maximum volume of water allowed in any new Nestlé agreement should be no more than the maximum taken in 2010, which was 1.6 million litres per day,” Nagy says. “And then it should be reduced by at least 1.56 percent per year after that, consistent with Ontario’s initiatives on sustainable water use.”

The period for public comment about the renewal closes today, and a decision could be made about the renewal as early as March 5th. To learn more about WWW’s objections to the permit and find out how you can help their cause, go to http://www.wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca

…Speaking of Negative Reactions

Last Tuesday was the public’s chance for input into the 2011 operating and capital budgets, and wouldn’t you know it, a lot of that reaction was of the negative variety towards transit’s service cuts and fee hike. The sum and total of the (stated) public reaction can be found on my blog at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com/, but the point is, it wasn’t all about transit.

Yes Virgina, the people of Guelph had other things on their minds about their city and how their local government spends money. For instance, Anastasia Ziprick spoke to council on behalf of several major arts festivals including the Guelph Jazz Festival, the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival and Hillside, remarking about how rental fees on the River Run Centre need to be lowered. Ziprick said that it’s hard to deal with mounting expenses and if fees at the River Run’s Co-operators Hall aren’t reduced, then the Jazz Festival may have to relocate.

Sandy Ferguson-Escott spoke next on behalf of the Guelph-Non Profit Housing Committee. She was looking for tax relief on the GNPHC’s development on Paisley Road. The problem for GNPHC is that they got a bad deal when the project was developed in 2005, which prevents them from seeking additional revenue by transferring it over from one of their other eight sites. Without the tax relief, Ferguson-Escott said, there won’t be enough money to pay for the bills, and the project will be effectively bankrupt.

On another subject, Konnie Peet, Executive Director of the Guelph Community Health Centre on behalf of the Wellington-Guelph Drug Strategy Committee, asked for $30,000 in new funding from the City and the County of Wellington in order to hire a co-ordinator and help fund overhead costs. This money would be an annual budget line item to help the WGDDSC with its outreach, treatment, harm reduction and prevention programs.

Before the end of the night, Guelph Chamber of Commerce President Lloyd Longfield took the floor to state his concerns about the City’s hiring of 87 Full-Time Equivalent positions saying that most businesses are continuing to act with an abundance of caution in these early stages of economic recovery. He also added that as much as he wants the City to help foster industrial and commercial development, he also wanted them to keep in mind residential growth, as many of the businesses he works with are telling him that they’re looking outside the city limits for skilled, and professional workers.

Poster Peril and Water For All

Sign of the Times?

That sound you heard last Wednesday was the book being thrown at three Guelph businesses for actions that they had nothing to do with. In another example from the “Sometimes I Don’t Think Government Knows What It’s Doing” file, comes the court case last week of the City of Guelph versus anybody that tries to promote their small-scale indie arts/awareness/charity event.

You see, the City of Guelph has a by-law regarding postering in that you’re only allowed to poster in three designated places downtown. Since everybody postering in the same three places is neither efficient nor effective, sometimes promoters like to put their posters up in numerous places so they can get the maximum eyeballs possible. But the City of Guelph seems to want to designate this as criminal, and as such brought the owner/operators of Ed Video Media Arts Centre, The Bookshelf and The Palace nightclub to court for the better part of the day last Wednesday.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’d like to add here that I have a personal stake in this story given that I was one of the organizers of the event that was held at The Bookshelf Cinema. We took our lumps and reimbursed The Bookshelf their fine of $85 plus assorted processing fees, but Ed Video, an artist run organization that lives off fundraising and grant dollars had to eat the $250 fine. This despite the fact that contracts for use of their gallery space have a clause noting that the event runner will obey all city postering by-laws.

Perhaps most egregious though was the story behind the origin of The Palace’s fine. Basically, The Palace is out $100 because a young woman put up 11 posters for a charity fashion show for kids with cancer that she was putting on at the night club. And not only were there a mere 11 posters for a cause as benign as “kids with cancer” but from what one source tells me, the by-law officer was standing there watching and laughing as she was putting up the posters. He was quite content to not let her know that she was in the wrong.

Regardless the reasons and what-fors, the City’s grand total for the day’s court proceedings was less then $500. I realize that the city’s got cash flow issues, but didn’t I read a couple of weeks ago that Guelph-Wellington has 10,395 cases of defaulted fines from moving violations that comes out to a grand total of approximately $5.3 million? If something here seems hinky to you, you’re not alone. Why these groups? Why now? How can a city that portends to support the arts dump on the independents that give the city’s culture its diversity? All good questions, no good answers.

A W. We Can Get Behind

If you've been turned on to the joys of simple old tap water, and convinced that bottle water is a long con perpetuated by multinationals selling a resource you already pay for back to you, then you might interested in this. Now, thanks to the Blue W program, finding local restaurants, City facilities and businesses willing to fill reusable containers with municipal tap water free of charge is easy.

"Refill your reusable bottle—anywhere. It's really that basic." said Evan Pilkington, the Director of Blue W in a press release. "Guelph is a city full of people who appreciate tap water. Helping provide residents and visitors greater access to safe, clean municipal tap water is what Blue W is all about.”

The Blue W program is a not-for-profit initiative that lists locations in numerous Canadian cities, via computer connection or Smartphone application, where people can get free tap water in refillable containers. All you have to do is log on to bluew.org or look for the Blue W at one of your favourite Guelph establishments; there are about 30 around town.

And if you need another reason to get off the bottle, there’s always an article published in the Globe and Mail a couple of weeks ago. I believe it was called “Bottled water has high level of bacteria, researchers find.” Happy drinking.

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.

Water Related News

They do exist

Throwing salt in the game of developers anxious to break ground on the Hanlon Creek Business Park was the announcement that a salamander collected near Laird Road is part Jefferson Salamander. The endangered salamander has long been believed to have a habitant within the borders of the proposed development, but evidence, aside from odd sightings and conjecture, has been rather scarce. But the DNA analysis done on this salamander proves that a full-blooded Jefferson male has been in the area and recently.

"This discovery is the result of our rigorous, ongoing monitoring program in this area. The City remains committed to protecting the habitat of endangered species, and we will work closely with the Ministry of Natural Resources," said Mayor Karen Farbridge in a press release.

The City's been monitoring the area using the services of Natural Resource Solutions Inc. The release went on to say that no salamanders were observed in the Hanlon Creek Business Park area during surveys conducted this spring, but one salamander was found while crews were monitoring amphibian movement on the other side of Laird Road. Under the presumption that salamanders don’t recognize man-made borders, DNA extraction and analysis was performed on a tissue sample by Dr. Jim Bogart from the University of Guelph. Bogart confirmed that the individual salamander was a hybrid. However, genetics indicate that a pure Jefferson salamander is present.

So what happens next? Well, the City of Guelph and Ministry of Natural Resources has yet to formulate a plan. Bogart told the Guelph Mercury that decisions can’t really be made until the salamander’s breeding ground is discovered. "We don't know where the breeding ponds are," Bogart said. "It's pretty hard to protect an area if you don't know the general habits and the habitat."

Bogart added that according to the Jefferson Salamander Recovery Strategy, which he actually helped write thank you, if a Jefferson salamander is on site, then a 300-metre buffer from development must be built and vernal ponds, or temporary pools of water created by the seasons, must be preserved. All this for a salamander? You bet, last summer construction on a $57 million road project was halted in Kitchener when Jefferson salamanders were discovered.

Keeping water water everywhere

Guelph City Council voted to adopt the policy recommendations of Water Conservation and Efficiency Strategy Update (WCESU) at last week’s Council meeting. The policy recommends formally endorsing the three water reduction goals of the City’s Water Supply Master Plan (WSMP), the formation of a Water Conservation and Efficiency Advisory Committee to provide ongoing public consultation throughout strategy implementation, and an enhanced public education program. One of the effects will be further rebates for the installation of water-efficient toilets, washing machines, humidifiers, outdoor water timers, rain barrels, as well as grey water reuse systems snd the like. “Local residents and businesses do an excellent job of conserving water, and the recommendations in this strategy will help support those efforts even more,” said Mayor Farbridge.

Curtain rises on main stage again

All but one of June’s performances on the main stage of the River Run Centre will go forward as temporary accommodations have been made for safety following the Victoria Day long weekend’s mysterious flood. A full restoration and any necessary equipment replacements will happen in July and August when there are no events scheduled. The flood, which unleashed between 6 to 8,000 gallons of water in the vicinity of the stage, forced the cancellation, postponement or relocation of the entire remaining slate of performances for the Centre’s mains stage for May. An exact cause is still not known, but the safe bet is an equipment malfunction, rather than a human cause.

Water, Water (Issues) Everywhere

The persistent issues surrounding our local water resources was one of the topics at a day long roundtable last Tuesday hosted by Guelph Member of Parliament Frank Valeriote. Valeriote’s special guest was Liberal Water Critic Francis Scarpaleggia, and together they gathered over a dozen community members from city employees to University of Guelph Profs to conservationists and activists. Valeriote began by saying that the issue needed to be discussed because, as in the ancient past, we may be looking at “wars over wells.”

“If we continue to take this (water resources) for granted – quality as well as quantity – it’ll be coming much sooner than we think,” he said.

Much of the early discussion focused on the issue of water as a human right. Last year the United Nations Human Rights Council removed references to access to water as a human right after countries like Canada refused to support the measure. The stand of the Harper government was that support of the human right to water would open the door to bulk exportation of our water resources. Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians, continues to criticize the Conservatives for this stand and believes, along with others, that part of the reason for it is so that the door to commoditization of water in this country could be kept open.

A reasonable suspicion, but as brought up at the meeting, Barlow and others have been doing research into whether or not the recognition of water as a human right would be in exchange for being relieved of sovereignty over our own water supplies. According to several legal opinions, what deeming water a human right would mean is that every country would be responsible for making sure that their citizens have access to safe and reliable drinking water.

"Unsafe water and sanitation are the source of 85 per cent of all disease and one in every six people on Earth has no access to clean drinking water," said Barlow in a statement on the Council of Canadians website last month. "A UN covenant on the right to water would serve as a common, coherent body of rules for all nations, rich and poor, and clarify that it is the responsibility of the state to provide sufficient, safe, accessible and affordable water to all of its citizens."

Scarpaleggia, the MP for Lac-Saint-Louis, PQ, was first elected to Parliament in 2004. He started the party’s National Water Caucus in 2005 and has chaired the committee ever since. Scarpaleggia says that the Opposition Liberals have taken a leading role in advocating for the protection of Canada’s water resources. “I’m not an activist, I’m a politician,” he explained. “I’m an activist within my party in trying to get them to pay attention to the issue, and they’ve responded well. […] I’d like to see the issue become a priority.”

Scarpaleggia added that despite the government’s point blank refusal to support human rights recognition on water, they’ve done so without studying the issue. Meanwhile, his special Liberal caucus met with Barlow just weeks ago in order to explore the issue further. “My job as a policy maker is to make sure some due diligence in done before we respond,” he said, adding that the Harper government, as of yet, have not done the due diligence, and are unqualified to respond either way.

See Guelph Buildings

“Guelph’s New City Hall is likely to be one of the most popular buildings during this year’s Doors Open Guelph event,” according to a City of Guelph press release. This Saturday, the city will open the doors to a number of buildings of historical value in the Guelph Arts Council’s annual Doors Open Guelph event. On this year’s tour, along with the new City Hall, is the former Guelph Correctional Center, the Boathouse Café, Hastings House, St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Guelph Little Theatre. For more information, and a complete list of sites, go to the GAC’s website at http://guelpharts.ca/doorsopenguelph/section.php?sid=766

The Fight’s Not Over for Water Watchers

The Wellington Water Watchers celebrated not just a year of existence, but a year of triumph last Tuesday night as members gathered at Norfolk United Church for the group’s first AGM. The WWW started making waves last summer (pun intended) by coming out strong against the Aberfoyle Nestle Bottled Water plant’s application for a five-year renewal of their contract.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of the Environment announced that they would only be renewing Nestle’s contract for only two-years and part of the new contract is the requirement for better monitoring of the Mill Creek, from which Nestle pulls it water. As well, the Ontario government is considering making the Galt-Paris moraine protected land. “We’ve had some real successes and we have some really ambitious plans too,” WWW Board member James Gordon told the crowd.

Amongst WWW’s ambitious plans is to expand its “Klean Kanteen” program. The stainless steel canteen is free to everyone when they buy a membership in the WWW, which includes over 750 Guelph and area residents. But now, the group is looking at putting their canteens into the hands of every kid in the county as part of an overall campaign to promote tap water over bottled.

Two other components of the plan are “Emergency Use Only” and “L’Eau Municipal.” The former is a guerrilla promotion gimmick wherein WWW is encouraging members to really enforce the idea of bottled water being reserved for emergency purposes; bottled water being of primary importance in situations where the tap water’s been compromised. The second part, “L’Eau Municipal,” will be a campaign working with local restaurants to push the serving of tap water over bottled in their establishment.

Basically, the group is going to throw their focus on reversing the trend, pervasive in this generation, that carrying around and drinking water out of a plastic bottle is cool. Beyond that, the notion that bottled water is cleaner and safer than what comes out of the tap is a popular myth that WWW wants to dispel. One member held up a plastic water bottle and said that he considers the contents “plastic water” and reinforced the toxic effects these bottles have on our environment.

The evening was rounded out with a speech by activist, author and Blue Planet co-founder Maude Barlow, who had high praise for the group she calls part of a growing movement of “water warriors” and that WWW is an example she cites in her speeches worldwide. She reinforced the need to protect water from encroaching elements who want to see its commoditization, particularly NAFTA. Barlow’s speech was followed by a screening of the new documentary FLOW: For the Love Of Water.

Greens got a plan

Following-up to my interview with Elizabeth May in last week’s Echo, here are some details of the Green meeting at Guelph Youth Music Centre on May 26. The main point of the event was a kind of rally to garner local support and get May into the next televised leaders debate in the eventual Federal election.

Drawing on history, May hopes that if Guelph Green candidate Mike Nagy were to make it to the House of Commons via a by-election, than a sitting Green MP would force the hand of all those keeping May out of the debate. The same strategy worked for Preston Manning when, as Reform leader, he was invited to the 1993 debates after Deborah Grey was seated in a by-election in Alberta.

May also spent the day canvassing in Guelph neighbourhoods along with Nagy and former Green leader Jim Harris. Harris remains a consultant for the Green Party and participated in the event by enthusiastically getting members to commit to 40 hours of campaigning for Nagy when the writ is dropped.

Still no sign of that happening though.

Hanlon Drag and Mayor Blogging

The Hanlon becomes mainly a drag

The Hanlon Expressway made the news a couple of times this week, neither necessarily in a good way.

First, a number of by-invitation-only workshops began last week to discuss concerns about the Ministry of Transportation Ontario’s plans to upgrade the Hanlon. Basically, the current MTO proposal says that all traffic lights are to be removed from the Hanlon so that they can turn it into a high-speed connection to the Highway 7 expansion to Kitchener-Waterloo.

Now, this may come as something of a shock to the hundreds of people that use the crosswalks at the Hanlon everyday, all over Guelph, from north to south. Well, you haven’t been forgotten in the plan. The original version unveiled in December called for the development of a whole new interchange at Stone Rd., a partial redo at Kortright/Downey and an underpass at College St.

But aside from access for pedestrians and cyclists, residents’ concerns also include questions over how these changes will affect business and services at several intersections and general concerns about noise impact and property values. Questions of necessity have also been raised in council. Ward 3 Councillor Maggie Laidlaw, for one, has been very vocal about her opposition to expanding the Hanlon.

The MTO has said that if it’s deemed necessary from the workshops that significant changes need to be made in order to address residents’ concerns, then a new public consultation process will be struck.

Meanwhile, the Hanlon was at the centre of another protest on Monday April 29 when a group of 20 people blocked the southbound lanes near Paisley to show camaraderie with the Tyendinaga Mohawks who are involved in a land dispute near Deseronto, Ont. The group placed branches on the road and set them on fire while displaying a banner declaring “Solidarity with Tyendinaga.” Both the Guelph Police and the OPP attended the scene, but no arrests were made.

This was the second protest in Guelph that was committed in the name of the Tyendinaga. The Friday before, three Bell Canada vans on Cork St. had their tires slashed. A post written anonymously on the website anarchistnews.org stated “SOLIDARITY FOR TYENDINAGA! 2 BELL TIRES FOR EVERY PRISONER TAKEN!"

Brant Bardy of the Bay of Quinte Mohawks told the Guelph Mercury that when it comes to this kind of solidarity it’s, thanks, but no thanks. “We're a peaceful people . . . and conflict and violence do not move our claim forward. The issue is a lawful obligation owed by the Crown to the Mohawk people. It's not about protests and blockades."

Blog with the Mayor

Last Friday, the City of Guelph officially launched Mayor Karen Farbridge’s blog, which the Mayor herself believes is a “great way to boost the accessibility and transparency of the Mayor’s office.”

The Mayor’s blog can be found at http://mayorsblog.guelph.ca, and so far it’s covered about a week’s worth of activities for Farbridge including last Friday’s trip to Queen’s Park with members of the Guelph community. The delegation met with several Ministers and attended Question Period in the Assembly. Readers are invited to leave comments in order for the Mayor to “engage citizens in a positive dialogue about the issues and opportunities in our city,” said Farbridge

But Guelph’s Mayor needs to be careful. The New York Times reported last week that blogging might be dangerous to your health after three well known bloggers suffered heart attacks, two fatal, citing crushing deadlines and competition pressure as stress factors. Many bloggers have spoken out though saying that there’s no evidence that blogging directly leads to death, so the Mayor is safe… for now.

But what about Park Place?

As water once again makes it back into the headlines (see last week’s Guelph Beat), the Guelph Waterworks is opening its doors to the public this Saturday. The City invites everyone to come out to the facility at 29 Waterworks Pl. (off York Rd.) to learn how Waterworks, well, works and get handy tips on conservation. There’ll be refreshments, door prizes and fun stuff for the kiddies.