Author: Adam A. Donaldson

When he’s not the main/only contributor to Guelph Politico, Adam A. Donaldson also contributes to GuelphToday.com as their city hall columnist and co-hosts a political and current affairs show on CFRU 93.3 fm called “Open Sources Guelph" as well as the movie review show "End Credits."

Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday April 7, 2016

mulcair

Stop us if you’ve heard this one, but it was a very busy news week here for Open Sources Guelph. No special guests today (but they are coming) but there will be lots of discussion on big topics. For instance, it looks like the one per cent is full of tax cheaters, some of whom you may know by name (stop us if you’ve heard this one). In other news, we bravely descend back into the muck of the U.S. Presidential Election, which marches on in perpetuity to find new levels of insanity. In the back half of the show, we’ll talk Canadian politics with a leadership test for a federal leader, and a leadership test passed for a provincial one. Continue reading “Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday April 7, 2016” →

Kitchener MP Does it Old School in TV Ad

MarwanTabbara

Just before the Federal Election was called last summer, Press Progress had a post about 13 Conservative candidates in 13 different campaign videos, but all, apparently, reading from the script, produced by the same production team with the same set designer. Call me kooky, but I think Marwan Tabbara learned a valuable lesson there. If  you don’t watch TV, or rather if you don’t watch local TV, you might have missed this. But the Kitchener South – Hespeler Member of Parliament has bought some air time on the local CTV station that he’s ready to believe you. Or something. Continue reading “Kitchener MP Does it Old School in TV Ad” →

The Weekender: Are We Too in Love With Our Cars?

marcomuzzo

Most fast food places have drive-thrus, a convenience invented for the purpose of allowing consumers to pick up food quickly and smoothly and take it elsewhere to be consumed, perhaps with family. Still, take a walk past a restaurant with a drive-thru and look at the parking lot, and you will see people, eating in their cars, after picking up their food. Why eat your meal crammed behind the dashboard of your car instead of eating it at a table or a booth inside the restaurant? It’s part of, what I think, is a dangerous fetishization of our cars. Automobiles are no longer a convenience, they are an extension of self that people feel they’re entitled to.  Continue reading “The Weekender: Are We Too in Love With Our Cars?” →

Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday March 31, 2016

brussels_attack

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we’ll consider the world, before going super local again. “Terrorism” is a watch word these days with everywhere seemingly on the brink of an attack or having just experienced one, so we’ll cram as much terror talk as we can into that first segment before we talk about talking. The City of Guelph is in negotiation with three Canadians Union of Public Employees (CUPE) locals, so we’ll see how that’s going. (Hint: not well.) Then, in the second half-hour we’ll talk to another of our politicians, Guelph’s long-serving representative at Queen’s Park. Continue reading “Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday March 31, 2016” →

The Weekender: Playing it Cheap Has its Costs

In a very busy news week, I saw a piece on the evening news that, in my mind, tied together two of the biggest stories, the untimely death of Rob Ford and the delivery of the Federal Budget. It was one of those consumer reports pieces that more often than not I find a venue for either Andy Rooney-style whining about how apples don’t cost a nickel anymore, or highlighting the bizarre naivety of the consumers they’re trying to protect. This one was more of the latter, so let’s begin by saying when you see a man selling iPhones in front of a suburban Toronto Costco, he’s not Tim Cook. Continue reading “The Weekender: Playing it Cheap Has its Costs” →

Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday March 24, 2016

robford

What a news week it was! Putting aside the Brussels attack (and we do because we can all agree that ISIS is terrible and no one deserves to die on the whim of a madman or men), it was a busy week of big stories, big decisions and big losses here for Open Sources Guelph. Consequently for everyday Canadians, there’s talk about the federal budget and its impact on our roads, and bridges, and pocketbooks… Also in Ottawa, there were money matters for the Red Chamber and the hope that there might be some class coming back there in the future. We also goodbye (hopefully) to over a half-a-century of hostility with the last enemy of the Cold War, and we say goodbye to a giant of Toronto politics who changed the landscape forever. Continue reading “Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday March 24, 2016” →