GUELPH POLITICAST #285 - Take a Hike!

08/04/21 • 42 min

There's still a lot of summer left, so what are we supposed to do with some of our extra down time? How about enjoying some local paths and trails for a nice hike? It’s never not a good time to take a walk and enjoy the natural splendor of the Guelph area, but a warm day, a cool breeze, a clear trail, and a sensible pair of shoes is not a bad way to pass some time, and no one knows that better than the current head of the local hiking club.

The trails of Guelph have been the subject of a lot of discussion lately as walking and hiking, like a lot of outdoor activities, have seen an increase in interest during the pandemic. At the same time, the City of Guelph was putting the finishing touches on the Trails Master Plan, an ambitious program to make local trails more accessible, and improve their connectivity across the city. One of the community groups at the forefront of pushing the City on those improvements is the Guelph Hiking Trail Club.

In their own words, the Guelph Hiking Trail Club is a non-profit organization established in 1970 dedicated to stimulating an interest in hiking, establishing and maintaining trails, and encouraging conservation and awareness of the natural environment. They organize group hikes, promote social connections between local hikers, and advocate for a better hiking experience, like they did earlier this year when they successfully raised $50,000 for a bridge over the river along the James Street Trail.

John Fisher, current president of the Guelph Hiking Trail Club, is the guest on this week's podcast, and he will talk about how he got involved, and where the good hiking is for beginners and more advanced people. He also discusses the need to have good hiking etiquette, and whether or not the pandemic has had an impact on the number of hikers on area trails. And finally, Fisher will talk about what kind of work that the local trail network needs, and how City Hall can help make the most out of the Trails Master Plan.

So let's take a hike on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!

To learn more about the Guelph Hiking Trail Club, you can go to their website, or connect with them on social media through Facebook and Twitter. To find the location of different trails in the city, you can visit City of Guelph website here, and to look at the Trails Master Plan on the City's website, click here.

***The Guelph Politicast will return with new episodes on August 24.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.

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. .

So let's take a hike on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!

***The Guelph Politicast will return with new episodes on August 24.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.

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. .

Previous Episode

Open Sources Guelph #337 - July 29, 2021

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we wonder about going too far. In Toronto, if could be argued that they definitely went too far "helping" homeless people get out of the park, and some people will say that it could be going too far to demand vaccine mandates. Some people are also saying that our city's mayor has gone too far, and we'll ask him about that and other stuff as we joins us for this week's show.

This Thursday, July 29, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

Intolerable Cruelty. Last week, the Toronto Police Service and City staff cleared a couple of homeless encampments from parks with, well, let's call it "extreme severity." For added authoritarian shades, the police tried to keep protestors and media out of the area, and a Canadian Press photographer was even among the people arrested. Why the use of force, and is this really how John Tory wants to handle homelessness?

Iron Mandate. As the Delta Variant ravages unvaccinated populations in the United States and around the world, governments are now flirting with vaccine mandates. It's the same thing here in Canada. Even though the rate of people who are fully vaccinated continues to grow, there are certain areas where politicians and advocates want 100 per cent of people to be vaccinated, and they have to mandate to do it. So why not?

Summer of Cam. Guelph City Council went on summer break last week, which means that the mayor now has nothing better to do then appear on this show. Joking aside, there are some serious issues to discuss with Mayor Cam Guthrie, including the development of social housing, the use of MZOs, and the upcoming conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). We'll talk about all that, and how the mayor feels about being called a tyrant over COVID measures.

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

Next Episode

End Credits #210 - July 28, 2021 (The Fear Street Trilogy)

This week on End Credits we feel the chills. This August day, we will shut ourselves indoors, turn off the lights, and binge an entire new horror trilogy on Netflix. This week, we are tackling each and every entry of the Fear Street trilogy! Will Fear Street offer the spine-tingling delights we want? Let's hope so, we're throwing a whole episode at it.

This Wednesday, August 4, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:

REVIEW: The Fear Street Trilogy (2021). Summer is a great time for horror movies,so why not take in three of them back-to-back. Netflix had an unusual weekly release schedule for this ambitious horror trilogy set in three different time periods. We meet the disadvantaged teens of Shadyside in 1994, then flashback to Camp Nightwing in 1978, and then go all the way back to the village of Union in 1666. Can our 90s heroes overcome the ancient evil that's ravaged their unfortunately named town for over 300 years? Let's binge the trilogy and find out!

End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.