Quebec City - Celebrating 400 years!

On July 3, 1608 at 11 a.m., Samuel de Champlain landed at the “Pointe de Quebec” and established Canada’s first city – Quebec City.  
The Mayor of Quebec City has invited all cities across the country to ring bells this Thursday at precisely 11 a.m. to mark Quebec’s 400th anniversary. In Guelph, St. George’s Anglican Church [...]

Farmers’ Market - Alive, Well and Safe

There was a letter to the editor today in the Mercury suggesting that the City of Guelph is working to close the farmers’ market.

I know this is going to have many people concerned, so let my response be unequivocal. Why on earth would we close the farmers’ market?  Period. Or, make any changes to the market without [...]

Multicultural Festival this weekend

This weekend marks the 12th Guelph and District Multicultural Festival in Riverside Park. You can find out more about the festival, including a schedule of events, here.
Here is a picture from the flag-raising ceremony at City Hall, along with a reflection from volunteer organizer Carmela Nini:

The raising of the One World Living Together Multicultural Festival Flag is [...]

Green Power at F.M. Woods Pumping Station

We launched another small step in the implementation of Guelph’s Community Energy Plan today.
We have joined several other municipalities in the Province, including Mississauga and York Region, to demonstrate leadership in the fight against climate change by purchasing some green power.
We are purchasing green power to run the F.M. Woods Pumping Station. The power is [...]

The Benefits of Municipal Investments

It has been an interesting experience as a newbie to the world of blogging to watch the posts that generate the most comments and traffic.  The anti-idling post is the hands down winner so far. 
I say this as I suspect that this post will have little drawing power (thanks for staying with me so far) yet it is of great [...]

Where is our waste going?

I continue to get regular correspondence asking where our waste is going so here is the answer:
The waste in the blue bag is being recycled through our own facility at the Waste Resource Innovation Centre on Dunlop Drive in the east end of the city .  We receive approximately $3 million for the recyclable materials [...]

Swim to Survive

Have you been following the news about the closure of school pools in Toronto?  Soon after hearing about these pool closures and the threat to kids learning to swim, I received this information about the situation in Guelph: 
“The Recreation service area has set a goal - “Every child in Guelph learns to swim to survive”. In [...]

Managing budgets

Normally,  Council finds out what the potential budget impact will be either at or just before having to make a decision on the budget.  Historically, this has not left a lot of time for Council to responsibly or constructively discuss ways to reduce a potential tax rate increase.  Instead,  Councils have increasingly dipped into reserves - specifically the rate stabilization reserve - [...]

Moving people out of cars

I just came from a very successful workshop aimed at engaging our business community in getting people out of their cars.  The workshop also discussed the important issue of ensuring the efficient  movement of goods within and outside of our community.  The workshop was co-sponsored by the Guelph Chamber of Commerce who did an amazing job at [...]

Weekend Charity Action

Lots of fundraising charity work in our city over the weekend.  I was able to flip some burgers for the 20th Anniversy of M & M Meat Shops Charity BBQ Day for colitis and Crohn’s Disease. 
I also joined walkers raising awareness and funds for Lupus.