Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday January 21, 2016

If last week’s show was a major bummer, we try to lighten things up on this week’s Open Sources Guelph with some news that’s a little more hopeful, or at the very least head-scratchingly unbelievable. We look ahead to the coming week as Parliament gets back down to business, and we look at the Official Opposition’s upcoming leadership race and the surprising entry into that race. In other news, relations with an old enemy have thawed a little further, while another damp chill falls over the Canadian media landscape. We said we’d try! Continue reading “Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday January 21, 2016” →

Game On! Conservatives Officially Call the Leadership Race

Rona Ambrose has been keeping the blue light of conservatism burning bright, but she is, in the end, only the interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. Well, the search to permanently replace Stephen Harper begins today with the announcement from the CPC that they’ve saved the date for their leadership convention: May 27, 2017. Continue reading “Game On! Conservatives Officially Call the Leadership Race” →

Well that Was a Terrible Week for Media

Last week will go down as the seven day stretch that saw the passing of both David Bowie and Alan Rickman, but there was another “death” last week that portends very tough times for this increasing shattered and intangible media landscape. In Canada, and the United States, media companies once again had their knives out as the hammer fell on hundreds of media jobs on both sides of the border. (I know we’re mixing metaphors there, but it’s been that bad.) Continue reading “Well that Was a Terrible Week for Media” →

The Weekender: That Stupid Lottery

I’ve never understood cross-border shopping. Sure, when you live in Windsor or Niagara Falls, it makes some kind of sense, but living here in Guelph, doing the five-hour round trip, waiting in line at the border, the cost of gas, and basic losing a day to base commerce, the math has never seemed to add up. I had a similar feeling this week watching Powerball madness grip not just those in the U.S., but those Canadians that got in their cars and headed south to play along in the 1 in 292 million chance that they might become billionaires. Continue reading “The Weekender: That Stupid Lottery” →

By-Election Called in Whitby-Oshawa

While everything seems to have settled from last October’s Federal Election, the people of Whitby-Oshawa are about to catch election fever all over again, this time in a provincial way. The Liberal government officially called the race to replace former Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Christine Elliott Wednesday, and the election date is set for February 11. Continue reading “By-Election Called in Whitby-Oshawa” →

Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday January 14, 2016

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we’ll save a spot, and a thought, for David Bowie, a truly unique individual that spanned the realms of music, movies, fashion and culture in incalculable ways. And like the Man Who Fell to Earth, we will forge our way through an alien world we barely understand and hardly comprehend in order to bring you the best analysis of the week’s news. Right to die, the State of the Union, water issues, and el Chapo all make the cut this week. As they say, the show must go on. Continue reading “Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday January 14, 2016” →

Tony Clement Masters Both Hypocrisy and Self-Awareness

When Saudi Arabia began 2016 by executing 47 people, it cast an almost immediate spotlight on Canada. Not because of our own predilection for beheading our criminals no matter the crime, but because of a 2014 deal by the Canadian government to have the London-based company General Dynamics Land Systems build armoured vehicles for the Saudi government. The details of that agreement were never released, and now that former Treasury Board President Tony Clement isn’t in the government anymore, he’s pretty ticked off about it. Continue reading “Tony Clement Masters Both Hypocrisy and Self-Awareness” →