Essay on Explore Guelph: A Quiet Canadian City of Peace and Welcome

Introduction

The city of Guelph is located in Ontario, Canada. The town served as a suitable location for the headquarters of Canada Company, which was a British firm that facilitated development activities. Notably, the city is a tourist destination from people in different parts of the world due to the prevailing peace in the area. The people of the region tend to be welcoming and social. The city, as it shall be discussed, lacks many social and political scandals hence making it a suitable destination for most persons. Primarily, this paper seeks to analyze the historical political overview of the city of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

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Key Historical, Social and Political Concerns

Guelph lies along the Speed River towards the west of Toronto. Currently, Guelph is a significant producer and manufacturing region. Besides, the region is known for its industrial and agricultural practices. The varied items produced in the area are cigarettes, clothing, transformers, glass yarn, and chain. The numerous industries have created historical concerns in the area. Most of the sectors release their industrial wastes in water bodies, hence leading to pollution. Mainly, this is a common condition in the entire region of Canada. Canada is one of the most polluted nations in the world today. When the water is consumed, the people suffer from an array of water-borne diseases. Thus, the public is often seeking help from the city and local governments to assist in alleviating their situations by ensuring that wastes from industries remain treated.

Some of the social issues affecting the people of the area include the poverty gap. The poverty gap in Guelph is significant, with the wealthy having excess wealth while the poor are in extreme lack. In addition to that, discrimination is a cause of concern in the region, having in mind that the Guelph area comprises of people from a variety of races (Saxon, 2014). The white-dominant tend to infringe on the rights of people from other races. Lastly, the political concerns in the area include corruption from leaders evident from their failure to deliver their promises and manifestos. The elected persons are hardly concerned with the main issues affecting the population.

Socioeconomic Demographics

The city of Guelph is growing, vibrant, and diverse. The majority of the people residing in the city are educated. The city has a population of over 120,000 people ('Guelph Population 2020 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs,' 2020). The city is the center for a variety of institutions that focus on life sciences, agriculture, advancing manufacturing, technology, and environmental technology. The number of women exceeds that of men. Whites are the dominant race in the region. A majority of the population is between the ages of 20 to 24 ('Guelph Population 2020 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs,' 2020). The married people in the city account for about 46.77% of the population ('Guelph Population 2020 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs,' 2020). Married couples tend to have a higher income and net worth as compared to single persons. In addition to that, they aid in boosting the liveliness and labor force of a community. Most people are above the low-income cutoff showing that at least most of the people are above the poverty line.

Current Major Issues Affecting the Municipality

Importantly, several issues are facing the region. The problems range from air quality, affordable housing, and lack of mental health funding the people residing in the city feel that the government fails in tackling most of these issues with accountability and integrity. Air quality is one of the main problems facing the city of Guelph. The air pollution results from the continued burning of fossil fuels in the area (McIntyre, 2012). In consequence, this leads to smog and greenhouse gas emissions that yield adverse climatic changes. More so, air quality has affected the respiratory health of most of the people residing in the city hence causing health burden.

Consequently, the cost of living in Guelph has been rising, and people are concerned about the city's economy in the future. The continued rise of the cost of living could be unbearable for some of the residents if it persists. Most residents claim that buying necessities such as groceries and gas, to mention a few, keeps getting expensive as time passes. However, the cost of living in Guelph is much lower when compared to other cities in the world, such as New York. For instance, Parizeau, von Massow, and Martin (2015) argued that Guelph's cost of living is lower than that of New York by about 32%. If the rising costs of living in the region are curbed, then the economy of the city is likely to shape up in the future.

Political Culture

Guelph is an electoral district located in the region of Ontario, Canada. The part is primarily represented in the legislative assembly of the Ontario area. The city hardly had any political disputes. The people in the area are dedicated to selecting a leader that will satisfy their needs. The region has an array of issues disputed by people in authority, such as the low air quality and resultant climate change and the rising cost of living. Apart from one political scandal that shall be discussed later, the region is politically calm and has rarely had any forms of political disturbance.

Significant Political Figures and Actors

The mayor is in charge of managing and overseeing the activities in the city. Notably, a mayor-council system governs the municipality. The structure of a municipal government is stipulated in the Ontario Municipal Act. The city has twelve councilors and a mayor. Two councilors are in charge of representing the six wards in Guelph. The mayor and councilors serve four-terms in office. Asides from that, the city council of Guelph has the mandate of making policies and decisions, monitoring the operations and performance of the city, analyzing and approving budgets, and determining the ways of spending. It is worth noting that Guelph is in the province of Ontario, headed by Mike Schreiner in the legislative body.

Political Scandals and Controversies

Guelph does not have immense political scandals and controversies. However, one of the major political scandals that hit the region occurred in the year 2011 (Seto, 2015). The outrage emanated from the events of the 2011 general election (Seto, 2015). The scandals involved the suppression of voter rights. The investigations that followed showed that claims had been made to dissuade voters from voting by falsely informing them that their location at the poll station had changed. The constitution of Canada is against any act that prevents an elector from casting a vote during the elections. The reports of voter rights suppression were prevalent in Guelph city. A computer was located in Guelph during the investigations. The machine was used by perpetrators to call the voters hence allowing for the channeling of the falsified information. Such actions depicted signs of election fraud. Asides from that, Guelph has not been the center of political controversies and scandals hence making it a suitable place to reside.

Conclusion

Guelph is a district and city in the province of Ontario, Canada. The city comprises of people from different ethnic and diverse groups. More so, the city's population is slightly above 130,000. The number of women is higher than that of men. In addition to that, the city is politically calm when compared with that of other cities in the world. The main issues in the area are the rising cost of living and the low air quality due to air pollution from industries and the burning of fossil fuels due to the extensive use of fossil fuels. The conclusion that one can derive from this analysis is that Guelph is a developing city that has faces a variety of city issues such as political scandals and adverse climatic changes just like any other city in the world.

References

Guelph Population 2020 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs). (2020). http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/guelph-population/

McIntyre, J. H. (2012). Community-scale assessment of rooftop-mounted solar energy potential with meteorological, atlas, and GIS data: a case study of Guelph, Ontario (Canada). Energy, Sustainability and Society, 2(1). doi: 10.1186/2192-0567-2-23

Parizeau, K., von Massow, M., & Martin, R. (2015). Household-level dynamics of food waste production and related beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours in Guelph, Ontario. Waste Management, 35, 207-217. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2014.09.019

Saxon, T. (2014). Social issues, classroom politics take centre stage at all-candidates meeting. https://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/4558616-social-issues-classroom-politics-take-centre-stage-at-all-candidates-meeting/

Seto, C. (2015). Guelph residents gather at rally against voter suppression tactics. https://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/5960177-guelph-residents-gather-at-rally-against-voter-suppression-tactics/