GUELPH POLITICAST #254 – Guelph Stuff (2020 Year in Review)

When we look back at 2020, we will remember the pandemic. Full stop. We will remember locking down, making masks a regular part of our wardrobe, and the economic tumult created by so many people losing their job, or working from home, or having to radically reorient their business models in order to stay afloat. But what about the rest of the year's news?

The year started with a pair of violent homicides downtown, which made everyone in Guelph question the safety of the core. Before Black Lives Matter, Guelphites came out in big numbers for another matter of social justice, supporting the hereditary chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en territories. And do you remember when Public Health had to test a thousand people because of contaminated tools at Stone Road nail salon? It really was quite a year, wasn’t it?

Graeme McNaughton, who is the city hall reporter for the Guelph Mercury Tribune, knows it's been a busy 12 months because he was on duty to witness most of this year's news as it was happening. On this week's podcast he’s going to talk about the news, his impressions of the year's events, and the challenges he experienced covering them in the midst of the global pandemic.

McNaughton will go in-depth on his Freedom of Information requests to the Guelph Police, the reaction they provoked from the Service, and why these insights into the operation of Guelph Police should matter. He will also consider if there's anything else from 2020 that’s not COVID or social justice related that will float to the top of our minds in the years to come, and what stories we might have come up short on in the last 12 months. And finally, he will talk about his thoughts on virtual council meetings, and why we might not go back to in-person meetings until after the next election.

So let's get into some Guelph Stuff from 2020 on this year end edition of the Guelph Politicast!

You can check out Graeme McNaughton work on the Guelph Mercury Tribune website, and you can follow him on social media @iamgmcnaughton. You can also visit Guelph Politico for more Year in Review coverage, including the Top 10 News stories that are neither COVID nor social justice.

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Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.