Adam Cloet

thumbs-up

827

267

thumbs-down

Poll: Trudeau, unlike Poilievre, lacks strong support

100

Canada's GDP 2015: 1.557 Trillion2023: 1.927 TrillionCanada's Debt2015: 619.3 Billion2023: 1.2 Trillion (and rapidly scaling) with 80 billion a year to service it ((that's 2k per annum per Canadian (including kids/seniors) just to cover the interest)That's all I need to see.

24

Poll: Trudeau, unlike Poilievre, lacks strong support

57

For clarity, PP has claimed "tough on crime" on REPEAT offenders. That is very different than south of the border where a first time offender with an ounce of green lands behind bars for years... It's the dangerous repeat offenders who commit dozens of crimes a year - they need to be locked up... PP also claims more support for social programs... Now... is any of this going to be a reality? time will tell...

10

OPINION: Council readies its most disgusting attack on the homeless yet

GuelphToday

32

First issue with this "opinion" piece - you're grinding council/Cam/DGBA and anyone else (who by the way NEVER said they didn't want to support shelters/services elsewhere) with this broad stroke that they're cruel to the homeless - and are influenced/owned by some sort of capitalism/elitism. That's not fair - nor productive. Cam's right (which I rarely say lol) about the essence of a downtown core. There's nothing wrong with considering the wants/needs of different stakeholders - you can consider the needs of the homeless community AND surrounding businesses/residences/safety - that's not cruel or as you call it "limousine liberalism." It's just complex decision making.Your call out of Amazon and shoppers buying behaviours shows how out of touch you are. Last time I checked downtown Guelph didn't have mass/club retailers - it's speciality retailers/bake shops/cafes/pubs/restaurants/floral/weed/service/experience businesses - Amazon doesn't compete against them.

12

Two more Guelph councillors sign opposition to use of notwithstanding clause

GuelphToday

36

As someone who had an office downtown for 10 years - I find your comment extremely shortsighted and ignorant. There are all types of people who have ended up homeless - I used to find early in the morning almost weekly someone sleeping in the hallway - usually a young adult going through some stuff and I'd toss them ten bucks for their breakfast... sometimes I'd smell crack in the hallways and be met with aggressive individuals (they would tape over the door lock during the day so they could sneak in at night)... and then sometimes someone with severe mental health/addictions sleeping out front of the door... If you think that business owners downtown "don't want to see the current reality," then maybe you should talk to them as you'll hear some wild stories of individuals they've had to deal with - it's safety and rights for EVERYONE... Government getting ahead of this - 100% their failure ... Business owners being blamed is nonsense.

8

'Bullshit'? Artists in residence pull exhibit after city removes word from their work

GuelphToday

31

So the city invited and paid these artists to make something thought-provoking.... then got nervous when it actually provoked thought....I don't believe this would have been done out of hate... but it’s def. bureaucracy kicking in instead of understanding... If your goal is to showcase lived experiences, you can’t censor out the parts that make you squirm. That’s not partnership...that’s PR.

9

Poll: Trudeau, unlike Poilievre, lacks strong support

32

@Corey - that's why I said "time will tell..."

5

OPINION: 'Downtown Guelph isn't failing, it's asking us to show up'

GuelphToday

30

I leased an office downtown from 2015–2020. In that time, property taxes rose 170% - and parking costs shot up - that’s on the City of Guelph, not the landlord. So I bought a building, because of Guelph’s “bird policy” I paid $16,000 extra to install dotted glass on the windows. These aren’t landlord issues - they're city-imposed costs on those trying to invest. Commercial leases don’t have residential protections, nor should they. They're negotiated contracts, reviewed legally. You know what you're signing.This is another idealistic narrative missing real data and feasibility - meanwhile business owners face rising costs and safety concerns. And coming from a councillor who once justified a by-law variance simply because "they were there first," we need more than sentiment - we need sound policy.Being “rooted in community” means little when people don’t feel secure. It’s time to stop sugarcoating challenges and start holding everyone - including council - accountable.

3

City hall flails as they move fast and break things

GuelphToday

29

For the betterment of the City - I would like to think it's time to move away from part-time council members to full-time members. From my personal experience with regards to a by-law variance (which I know wasn't a major issue, but was about the only topic of discussion of that day's meeting), not a single council member, nor the mayor did any diligence beforehand. Zero. From what I can see, most of the part-time members are more concerned about their personal causes/biases instead of utilizing any objective data from their ward residents - and that needs to stop - we need them to just manage the darn city.I could care less about the transparency of "the snow plow tracker," and more interested into the transparency of the cities workback schedules/gantt charts and the decisions made by council members (let's see who's really doing work) - you're not going to fix "moving fast and breaking things" unless proper systems/frameworks are present with a culture setup for success.

2

DELETED

Downtown patio season returns, with half the interest

GuelphToday

25

"Asked why there’s a 50 per cent drop in participation, Jaworiwsky said she didn’t know." .... Maybe just call and ask them?

4

Fireworks for personal use could be banned in Guelph

GuelphToday

20

Although I think that fireworks in a dense residential area should have some regulation.... I just absolutely hate the hogwash survey's the city staff conduct... Survey participants should be completely randomized... The way in which they send these out you end up with the average respondents that are on the far side of Pro Vs Against... the other 100,000 plus residents are just too busy to care. Council is going to push the bylaw through no matter what... so why waste tax dollars on a flawed study...

8

City hall flails as they move fast and break things

GuelphToday

19

To be fair - I do think the current council has a lot more to deal with in 2024 then back in the 70's/early 80's... rapid population growth (with infrastructure not ideal to handle it), numerous economic hurdles, severe drug/addiction, cultural shifts... trying to high-level manage this from part-time councillors with full-time careers elsewhere isn't really setting up for success.

7

Guelph mayor looks to pause new bike lane installation

GuelphToday

22

While on the topic of transportation infrastructure failures in Guelph... Has anyone else noticed the city hasn't updated the collision dashboard for their "vision zero" goal? It's still incomplete from 2023... I wonder if all those millions spent on new speed limit signs has changed anything at all? It's kinda sad that they spent these resources building out this dashboard - promote it - and then do absolutely nothing with it ...

3

Guelph, don't fall for the #Abundance boondoggle

GuelphToday

10

Politics (and Trump) aside... Saying Poilievre had no clear policies is false. He clearly laid out his policy positions with housing, smaller government, faster approvals, and accountability... You may not agree with his viewpoint, and you don't have to, but your article mislabels him. Just like the book, his position isn't anti-regulation, it's about improving regulation, reducing excessive red tape, and failed policies...

15

OPINION: Guelph Transit is a failure; we need a real transit option.

GuelphToday

10

Last summer our family traveled through Europe - high-speed trains from Edinburgh to London to Paris were seamless. Yet even there, city streets were still clogged with cars.Guelph wasn’t built around transit, we know that - and while the current system needs work, scrapping it entirely isn’t a cost-effective or realistic solution - especially without a clear alternative...Here’s the thing: manufacturing a single car can generate more emissions than it will emit through fuel in its lifetime. Instead of doubling down on car culture, maybe we should explore smaller solutions as a first step - microtransit, insurance reform to support carpooling (obviously federal), and rideshare integration.When AI and full self-driving evolve, my guess is that's going to be the biggest climate change needle mover in our generation wrt to automobiles...

12

Challenges ahead for Guelph’s 'very scary' housing situation

GuelphToday

9

Although it's a lever we can pull, the reality is a vacancy tax in Guelph is more symbolic than anything else… maybe a marginal improvement… and it’s a one-time bump, not something that solves YOY shortages.Yes, Toronto has one...but only about 0.5% of homes were even taxable. And that's in a city with more than 2X the investor-owned housing share compared to Guelph.It also adds a lot of work to city staff… for very little return.

12

OPINION: Was 2024 the year politics stopped working for the people?

GuelphToday

11

Definition of cruel - "intentionally," causing pain or suffering to others. I think Donaldson's stretching the word "cruel" too far here. It's funny to see some anti-conservative's label that side with increasing derogatory identification the more the polls sway. I'd challenge the author who has once claimed "who cares about the economy," to determine how the heck all these social services will continue when our national debt passes our GDP this year... Maybe ask some developing country citizens what they think? Meanwhile, Argentina climbs out of the recession... We have massive public sector bloat. It's created ridiculous levels of overreach and gatekeeping. It's not "cruel," to cut if the long game is to fix the economy before it crumbles and come back with a more intelligent approach to solve the failures. Maybe the Libs have learned that budgets don't balance themselves, you can have equal opportunity or equal outcome - you can't have both, and transparency matters.

10

ICYMI: One in 20 local automated tickets challenged in court

GuelphToday

16

Yeah let's ignore that it's the owner of the car that gets the ticket, not necessarily the driver - just pay up and move on right? Meanwhile, NYC cameras (the best case study in North America) waits until 10 ish mph, targeted and effective, that's sound policy - which btw has been shown to lead to better safety outcomes and public acceptance.

4

Don't let your light shine through, recommends city staff

GuelphToday

16

What a repulsive waste of taxpayer resources. Fun fact. Last fall, city council allowed a variance for an LED sign to be significantly closer to residences. When the LED sign that was installed was too bright - I discovered the city didn't even have the instruments to measure the light being emitted. I had to buy a device myself to have the matter resolved. Total incompetent disaster.

3

Charlie Angus slams Trump during Guelph 'elbows up' event

GuelphToday

9

I run a Canadian business that’s brought revenue from the U.S. into Canada and helped support Canadian jobs - real economic impact, not just talk. And yet, a federal agency told me I had to pay to use the Canadian flag on our website. That’s the kind of overreach and bureaucratic absurdity we should also be talking about. “Elbows up” sounds good on stage, but what does it mean in practice - and what does that mean for the average Canadian? If we want to protect Canadian sovereignty and growth, we need to start by fixing what’s broken here - bloated red tape, outdated policy, and the ego of policy makers to double down when they've made significant errors.

9

Is it time to rethink home ownership? This U of G prof says yes

GuelphToday

16

It would be nice if G.T. would either a) ensure the claims of the expert source are backed up with some objectivity/research that is credibly published and/or b) have another expert source with opposing views as part of the article - instead this article is just another one dimensional fluff piece. ie.:""Ownership is often viewed as a financial move, “an instrument to gain financial wealth,” Mok said, acknowledging it can come with a sense of financial security and provide a way to pass wealth on to the next generation."" - Context? Ownership of your primary home, or that of investment properties? Historically speaking (pre 2010), homes generally appreciated at the inflation rate... and a net vs buy analysis was pretty darn close... but owning provides the security of your home improvements and not uprooting your family... And new mindset approach doesn't fix massive immigration surges when supply can't be met.Every paragraph of this article could be debated heavily.

1