This week’s Open Sources Guelph is sandwiched by change, with violence and sadness in the middle. On the outside, we’ve got a new government in Ontario that’s been sworn in and been making changes, along with a new government in Mexico that’s hoping for the same. On the inside, we’ll look at another mass shooting event in America, this time against reporters, and those allegations against our feminist PM that just won’t go away.
This Thursday, July 5, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Finally, a Government for the People!(?) Doug Ford was sworn in as the newest Premier of Ontario Friday, and the self-described, first ever, government for the people was introduced. Putting aside the rather insulting insinuation that Ford is the first Premier in the history of Ontario to represent “the people”, Ford’s cabinet is notable for several reasons. Former leadership candidates Caroline Mulroney and Christine Elliott got plum positions, former interim leader Vic Fedeli is the new finance minister, and Scotty’s arch-nemesis Sam Oosteroff is a parliamentary assistant. So now that we know the players, what is the game? And what will the opening moves of the Ford government be when they return to the legislature later this month?
Annapolis. It’s all been leading to this… Being a journalist has never been an undangerous profession, when “danger” takes on a whole new meaning when a gunman walks into your offices and kills five of your co-workers. The scene of the crime was the Capital Gazette, a local newspaper that covers the area in and around Annapolis, MD, home of the U.S. Naval Academy. Although the case seems connected to the perpetrators own personal issue with the paper, you can’t help but make a connection between this, and a President that says the press is “the enemy of the people.” So are reporters legitimate targets now? And what about that push to stymie the almost non-stop plague of gun violence and mass shootings in the United States?
The Young Grope. It’s been in the ether for a while now, but nearly 20-year-old allegations that Justin Trudeau groped a woman at a B.C. music festival in 2000 were dogging the now PM during his Canada Day tour. Finally going on the record about the matter, Trudeau said in a scrum that, “I don’t remember any negative interactions that day at all,” but former colleagues of the accuser at the Creston Valley Advance believe her, and the unnamed reporter told the CBC that she doesn’t not want to comment, or even discuss it any further. SO what do we do now? #MeToo justice has been brutal and swift, but this is one, old accusation against the proudly feminist Liberal prime minister. Where do we go next?
Un nuevo presidente. There’s a new amigo in town, and his name is Andrés Manuel López Obrador! Obrador won in a landslide after 12 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (P.R.I.), which saw two different presidents struggle with corruption, poverty, and an expanding and violent war with the Mexican drug cartels. Anger about the status quo, and a swing of left-wing populism ushered Obrador to power, but what can he do about such intractable problems? Also, how will this effect the Mexican relationship with Donald Trump? The U.S. President said he and Obrador had a good conversation, but how likely is it that the guy who wrote “Oye Trump!” is going to be 45’s new best friend?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.
Open Sources Guelph 