March 30, 2014
Since presentation of the petition by GrassRoots Guelph requesting a Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing audit of Guelph’s municipal finances and operations, the daily traffic on the guelphspeaks blog has tripled and continues to grow.
The MMAH has confirmed that the figures in the petition present to the Minister are accurate.
This blog startup coincided with the inauguration of Mayor Karen Farbridge’s new council elected in the fall of 2010. The thrust of guelphspeaks turned to commenting on the actions of the Farbridge administration that were becoming more controversial and of concern by citizens.
Now there is a trend developing in which supporters of the Mayor are attacking my credibility. In seven years, I have never had one complaint about my commentary from the administration. There is nothing new here. The same forces employed similar tactics to defeat the Mayor and council in 2006
Now, we’re in election mode and negative commentary is spreading not only on guelphspeaks but also in other blogs and twitter. This blog will not accept contributions or comments that are untrue, inaccurate, personal attacks, anonymous, or promotes the views of the city administration, the mayor and her supporters.
This is my blog and my views are well established. I will not allow it to be used to promote statements and manufactured concepts and policies. Issues that I, and hundreds of others, believe are contrary to the best interests of citizens. Those views are already out in the open being considered throughout the city.
It has nothing to do with free speech. The guelphspeaks blog has a definite point of view and will welcome comments that support the retirement of the mayor and her cohorts next October. Along with GrassRoots Guelph, the growing number of members indicates that there is great support for change in the governance of our city.
There are ample outlets available to those who support the Farbridge administration and its re-election. Buy an ad, hire a hall, use the council chambers or Civic Museum or tap into a friendly blog.
Sorry, [romoting the Farbridge party line isn’t welcome here.
Gerry Barker, editor
Guelph Speaks 
The only Farbridge supporters are the 2000+ city employees plus the local MP and MPP. The rest of us are sick of her reckless spending!
My family all the time say that I am wasting my time here at net, except I
know I am getting familiarity daily by reading such nice posts.
yea , we also need to get rid of the MP and MPP as well they are both useless, we need someone other than Liberal in Guelph I don’t care if people are thinking I am supporting Harper or Mulcair, we just need something other than Valeriote and Sandals representing Guelph, just like how we need someone other than Farbridge running (or ruining) the city
I’ve been browsing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours.
It’s pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all website owners and
bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be
a lot more useful than ever before.