Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday February 4, 2016

The clown car has sprung a leak. On this week’s Open Sources Guelph we’ll journey to the Hawkeye State where the weird and wild journey of the American presidential race finally lead to some actual voting. Meanwhile, there’s some voting here in Ontario too as a by-election comes to a head, to say nothing of the debate around one of the most controversial trade agreements ever negotiated in total secrecy. Perhaps that’s a lesson to learn as the Royal City begins sitting down with its outside workers, officer staff, and librarians. This week, as it turns out, the show is one big segue. Continue reading “Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday February 4, 2016” →

Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday January 28, 2016

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we’re all about tragedy. From the terrible loss of life in a small Saskatchewan community, to the end of a Guelph institution and another casualty in the slow decline of the printed news. In between, we’ll talk about the very loud sometimes comedic but terribly passionate debate about pipelines. Continue reading “Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday January 28, 2016” →

The Weekender: What Happens When Money is Top of Mind

The narrative of the 2016 Presidential race in the United States has been that the problems in America can only be solved by people how have had no previous dalliance in the political class, at least on the Republican side. Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Florina have all, to varying degrees, enjoyed success with voters looking for an outsider to tell Washington what to do. This populist movement has somehow managed to tie itself to people that have a lot of money and in the is imbued the hope that they can restore balance to the world, and it’s working so well, they’re apparently giving it a try here in Canada. Continue reading “The Weekender: What Happens When Money is Top of Mind” →

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” →