JUSTCAWS

  Seeing many tributes and even some criticism after our Mayor, Guelph’s Cam Guthrie announced he would not be seeking re-election. I have known Cam personally throughout his time as Mayor and Council. He has always been passionate for this city and wears his civic pride on his sleeve, treating Guelph like it was his extended family.  Early on, I appreciated Cam’s efforts to be a voice of fiscal restraint on council. Later as more capital projects were added to the city’s operating budget, Cam tried to sell being pragmatic, but as the tax bill grew and grew so did frustration from his supporters. During the rough road ahead fiscally responsible voices are needed more than ever on Council to keep Guelph on the financial rails ensuring that money flows into this city and not out.  But regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, decent, hard-working elected public servants deserve our recognition and respect. It is the civility in our disagreement that makes for...

  Have been taking the time to listen and understand Guelph citizens’ concerns over the upcoming City budget. My wife attended a Ward town hall, I jumped on the live stream to listen to public delegations speak to a variety of issues and I also attended the Guelph Chamber of Commerce Budget breakfast to hear viewpoints from the business community. In hearing and reading fellow Guelphites competing concerns it is clear that Guelph, like many Ontario cities, is under significant social and financial strain from forces outside our control. People have genuine concerns with affordability and the threat of another big property tax increase. Many have legitimate concerns about the most vulnerable in our city and the challenges they face gaining accessibility to services and basic mobility. While others want to move past the annual budget squabble and want to see a plan to spark the strong economic growth needed to fund a prosperous and just city. In all of this, one issue stood out as a ...

  Just woke up from the screeching tires of another late night street race. Now that I’m up, I might as well write about something where everyone seems to have an opinion. When it comes to the issue of speed cameras there should be enough space for middle of the road consensus. Ontario Doug Ford says he will ban them while other politicians have put their finger in the air and banned them already - see former Provincial Liberal leader Steven Del Duca (now Mayor of Vaughan) have  already done so. They see a political winner in going against the cash grab and the surveillance state vibe cameras create. Those in favour of the cameras rightfully point out one clear fact - they work. Perhaps too well for their survival. Cities that once deployed a few in trouble spots expanded them in community zones where there was a need or a vocal neighborhood who wanted them. Here in Guelph 4 cameras became 12, but at least here we have kept them where they belong - in school zones. Other place...

  While times of crisis are something to endure and not celebrate, they do provide an opportunity for us to be reminded of what’s really important. The chaos of Trump and the economic pain he has inflicted thus far on Canada has been manageable, but the toll from the uncertainty grows each day. The threat of the tariff hurricane still looms and if our current trade deal is scrapped next year - look out. It is for this reason governments have to look at their upcoming budgets and make some tough choices. Governments like everyone else have to manage money coming in and going out. Just like many of us, they pay interest on the debt owed. When governments spend beyond their means they add to the debt and more of the money coming in from taxes is eaten up just servicing that debt. Last year the feds spent more debt payments than they did on healthcare transfers to all the provinces! To fix this fiscal mess, governments could simply raise taxes, but asking people to pay more when they ...

  The Ontario Ministry of Education is hoping to address the inequality issue within its secondary schools by treating everyone the same. The result has been that everyone is suffering.    Rather than continuing to let parents and students decide what level or stream (academic, applied, workplace) they wanted to take their mandatory Grade 9 courses, now students must take these courses all at the same level, regardless of ability.  This approach relies heavily on the elementary schools preparing students to have success in high school. But for far too many students under this new de-streamed system - it doesn’t.   The reasons for this are varied and not necessarily the fault of the changes to an elementary education system that has moved away from failing students and deemphasized grades. I am not here to debate the merits of that decision, but the idea of holding students back and not allowing them to progress with their peers is now viewed as being exces...

  Time to take a break from politics and discuss the benign…. Recent discussion among Yankee fans debated if Juan Soto signed a long term deal with the team, where he might end up on their list of greatest Yankees ever. Obviously, with an iconic franchise with such a deep pool of hall of farmers and all stars any discussion of the greatest evers can go on for a while.  Instead of going down that rabbit hole, I decided to think of the Blue Jays best evers. Sadly, it didn’t require that much time. In terms of criteria, I decided to first look at position players that had played a minimum of 500 games for at least 2500 at bats as Blue Jays. So while the Jays have had some quite notable hall of farmers either start their careers, Fred McGriff, or play with them later on in their careers, ie. Paul Molitor - they are not eligible. For offensive reference used https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/stats/all-time-totals I can’t be bothered to rank them, as everyone will have their own weightin...

  With so many skills that can be done by AI much faster and and sometimes better than humans, it does beg the question what’s left for us? Under this uncertain future, it is no wonder the Ontario Ministry of Education is pushing a greater emphasis in technical, trades based education. As for students who aren’t hands on learners the opportunities in the future seem much less certain. It may even require governments to set parameters on what work humans will never relinquish. We have all read and seen what AI can do. It writes books, reports, essays, and generates art within seconds after be given a few basic commands. In this reality is it worth spending time building skills that will never match the power of artificial intelligence? Of course it is from an intellectual and humanity perspective - but what about practically? Education to a large degree is about teaching the skills necessary for the jobs of tomorrow. Many jobs today simply will not exist in the future for humans i...

The dawn of a new school year comes with a new cell phone ban that has already generated plenty of discussion. Be interesting how this will play out, but parents will play a key role in determining how well enforced the ban will be. Right now, much of the concern has been about getting student and parent buy-in. My experience is that most kids and parents get it by now, that cell phones and classroom learning don’t go well together. Share There will still be some holdout parents who want all day access to their kids, but I believe school administrators will hear more from engaged parents if the phones are not banned in class. Will also be interested in seeing if teachers themselves can practice what they preach. Listen to latest Public #onted for more on implementing the ban.

At the beginning of the Blue Jays season, I said this season’s slogan “to the core” should be called “wait and see”. Well we looked, and nobody has liked what they saw. Too many good starts were wasted by both the continued anemic offense and the average at best, when healthy bullpen.  Fans' frustration has finally registered at the gate, so perhaps someone or some people will be held accountable. Don't hold your breath on that one.   The core players it seems aren’t going anywhere and management isn’t going to fire itself. The only ones with the power to make changes is Rogers and while I believe they are concerned, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro has done enough to earn for them, to earn a mulligan for himself. While most discontent is directed at Shapiro’s hand picked GM, for better or worse he is tied to Shapiro.  The term Shatkins didn’t happen by accident.  Even the most angry Blue Jays acknowledge it's the baseball operations, not the business side that nee...

Back  in 2020 made some suggestions of what Rogers could do if they were going to build a new stadium or make some major renovations. We all know now that they chose the latter. They did most of the heavy lifting already, but there’s always more that can still be done. The kids, well not kids anymore, and I have toured quite a few ballparks prior to the pandemic. We’re up to 17 now. Love doing the tours and taking notes of what works and what doesn't.   Had noted some of my observations for ideas on how to improve the Rogers Centre for baseball. Here were my Top 10 suggestions and a comparison for what they did and what still may be to come.   1.  Angle the Seats  - they did do this - but the steep incline has now created a significant blind spot down the line. So expect these seats to be in less demand than the better value ones in the upper deck.  2. Permanent Team Standings Display  - idea here is to have the courage to show everyone where...