In the past 8 years, Guelph has become what I like to call a Triple A City: a City of Accolades, Awards and Achievements! Our city is now punching well above its weight in terms of being recognised provincially, nationally and internationally, and that is no accident. Our mayor, City Council and city staff have worked hard to make this city one that has a wonderful reputation, a city where people want to come and live, in short, a city with an enviable quality of life! Following is a list of only some of those Accolades, Awards and Achievements.
Accolades
2008 – Guelph was named Canada’s Most Caring Community by Maclean’s Magazine. The Royal City is the volunteer capital of Canada because 69.7 per cent of its population volunteers.
2009 – Statistics Canada named Guelph Canada’s safest city.
2009 The Canadian Council on Learning (CCL), ranked Guelph fourth among 4,716 Canadian cities in their Composite Learning Index, an annual measure that gauges learning conditions needed to foster social and economic well-being.
2009 – Guelph was ranked among Canada’s most liveable cities in Canada for three out of five demographic categories – university graduates, mid-career professionals and families with children, and one of the top ten for retirees, by Richard Florida, the director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management in his book Who’s Your City? The rankings were based on more than thirty (weighted) variables in five categories including the share of a city’s population at each life stage, the city’s economic strength, education and safety, and local amenities.
2010 – Maclean’s magazine ranked Guelph as the 7th smartest city in Canada, with Ottawa the only other Ontario city ahead of us in these rankings.
2010 – Guelph ranked lowest on the nation’s crime severity index for the fourth year in a row.
2011 – Guelph ranked number one in MSN’s report on Canada’s next most liveable cities. “Vancouver and Toronto may be Canada’s two highest priced cities, but there are other places to live that rank high in liveability… when it comes to raising kids, breathing relatively fresh air, buying a home, and walking happily around the streets”.
2011 – Amazon ranked Guelph as the number one romantic city in Ontario, with the second highest ranking in Canada.
2011 – Santa could find a ho, ho, home in Guelph! If Santa is looking to move away from his home in the North Pole, a Toronto economic prosperity think-tank has made a list of North American cities to suit his needs. After checking the list at least twice, first place went to Guelph, Ont., about 93 kilometres west of Toronto. The Santa relocation study ranks North America’s 378 metropolitan areas in five categories deemed necessary for Santa, said Jim Milway, executive director of the Martin Prosperity Institute, the think-tank associated with the University of Toronto that calculated the index. Researchers used data from Statistics Canada and the United States Census Bureau to determine the number of cookie factories; milk producers; doll, toy and game manufacturing factories; postal workers and couriers; and department stores in each city, calculating those numbers into a per-capita figure, Milway said. With a final score of .85, or 85 per cent, Guelph was declared the best city for Santa if he were to leave the North Pole. Kitchener was the only nearby city to make the top 10, at #10.
2012 – Waste Diversion Ontario announced that the City of Guelph achieved the best residential waste diversion rate in 2012. Guelph took the top spot with an overall residential waste diversion rate of 67.72 per cent, well above the 2012 provincial average of 47.19 per cent. Guelph also came in first overall in 2012 for diverting the highest percentage of residential organic waste at 31.63 per cent of all residential waste in their program.
2012 – Amazon ranked Guelph as the second best romantic city in Ontario, with the fourth highest ranking in Canada.
2013 – Compared to 422 cities in North and South America, Guelph has ranked fifth in economic potential for a small city, and tenth in business friendliness for a small city by fDi Magazine’s “American Cities of the Future” bi-annual rankings. The Hitachi expansion alone was recognized by fDi Intelligence as the top job creation project in the province for 2012. Guelph was shortlisted based on points awarded in investment readiness and economic stability such as a low unemployment rate, low inflation, high credit rating and the growth of the knowledge-based sector
2013 – Amazon ranked Guelph as the third best romantic city in Ontario, with the fifth highest ranking in Canada.
January, 2014 – Waste Diversion Ontario announced that the City of Guelph achieved the best residential waste diversion rate in 2012. Guelph took the top spot with an overall residential waste diversion rate of 67.72 per cent, well above the 2012 provincial average of 47.19 per cent. Guelph also came in first overall in 2012 for diverting the highest percentage of residential organic waste at 31.63 per cent of all residential waste in their program.
March 2014 – Guelph ranked 11th in Canada as one of the best medium sized cities (100,000-400,000 population) in which to live. This was ahead of waterloo, at 14th place, Kitchener, at 22nd place, and Cambridge, at 41st place.
July, 2014 New crime statistics from Statistics Canada shows that Guelph is still one of the safest places to live in Canada. Almost all metropolitan areas in Canada saw a drop in the crime rate in 2013, especially Guelph. Guelph has the lowest Crime Severity Index in Canada for a community greater than 100, 000 people, only just below Barrie. In Guelph, the crime rate dropped 16% in 2013, compared to 2012. In Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, the crime rate dropped 4% in 2013 compared to 2012.
August, 2014 Guelph was called “the brightest kid in the class” by Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy Bob Delaney during a meeting to discuss Guelph’s Community Energy Plan at the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference. Mr. Delaney encouraged Guelph to share its community energy expertise with municipal colleagues across Ontario at an AMO session to be held next year.
October, 2014 A full-page article in the October 18th edition of the Toronto Star, authored by Don Tapscott, adjunct professor at the Rotman School of Management and Chancellor of Trent University, began with the header “As Toronto dithers, Guelph sets sights on 21st Century”. Tapscott goes on to write: “There is a city in Ontario that is well on its way to reimagining the role of local government. And it’s not Toronto. So Toronto mayoral candidates please take note. My vision is achievable. Here is what Guelph is doing in seven key areas I outlined in my original article”. Her goes on to list these areas, which are rethinking transportation, creating a sustainable city, transforming social services, open government, promoting entrepreneurship to achieve prosperity, turning public safety inside out and reinventing local democracy. He praises Guelph for being ahead of the pack on all seven key areas.
A few of these accolades are funny and frivolous, such as the “Santa” one and the “Romantic City” one, but many of these accolades put Canada at or near the “top of the class” among similar sized cities across the country!
Awards
(beginning in 2011 – otherwise too many to list!)
Recent Awards to Mayor Karen Farbridge
February, 2013 Mayor Karen Farbridge was honoured with a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal in recognition of her contributions to the local community and Canada. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) selected Mayor Farbridge to receive the medal. FCM President Karen Leibovici said, “FCM chose you to receive this distinction for your exemplary efforts to make your community a great place to live.” President Leibovici further noted that, “In partnership with other local leaders, and with federal, provincial and territorial governments, your municipality is helping to build a safer, stronger and more prosperous future for your community and all Canadians.”
February, 2014 The Large Urban Mayor’s Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) has elected Mayor Karen Farbridge as its Vice-Chair. Mayor Farbridge will serve with LUMCO’s newly elected Chair, Barrie’s Mayor Jeff Lehman. She will become Chair in two years. LUMCO is made up of 26 mayors representing cities with populations of over 100,000. Their members collectively represent 67 per cent of Ontario’s population.
June 2014 The Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) has honouring Mayor Karen Farbridge with its City Builder Award, which recognizes “a leader whose bold vision and ability to implement change represents true city building.” In announcing the award, the CUI congratulated Mayor Farbridge for “leadership in sustainability, community energy and the revitalization of downtown Guelph.” The annual Awards recognize individuals who are making profound impacts on the quality of life in Canada’s urban regions. Mayor Farbridge noted that “ Competition for investment and talent is global. An enviable quality of life that balances economic, environmental, social and cultural priorities is distinguishing Guelph and ensuring sustained prosperity of our city. City building is hard work, but the alternative – complacency and short-term thinking – carries too high a cost.”
September, 2014 – Mayor Karen Farbridge was named a member of Canada’s Clean50 for 2015 for leadership at a municipal level that makes city living more sustainable, and further as a member of Canada’s Clean16 for being the most outstanding honouree in the Clean50′s Cities category. The awards are announced annually by Delta Management Group to recognize 50 people from 16 different categories who have “done the most to advance the cause of sustainability and clean capitalism in Canada over the past two years,” said Gavin Pitchford, Chief Talent Officer of Delta Management Group. This year’s honourees were selected from a pool of more than 550 candidates. “The 2015 Clean16 are truly the leaders of the leaders in sustainability in Canada,” said Pitchford. “To be selected from amongst such a strong group of peers is truly a testament to the contribution these individuals have made to helping make living well in Canada more sustainable for all Canadians.” The award citation notes that Mayor Farbridge “is changing the way we think about what cities can do.”
Awards to the City of Guelph
April, 2011 Guelph won two prestigious Pinnacle Awards from the regional chapter of the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS.) The City’s Guelph Remastered campaign won the Pinnacle Award for Communications Management. Senior Issues Management and Communications Co-ordinator Stacey Hare was a big part of the campaign’s success and accepted the award on the City’s behalf. In a gesture of special recognition, Mayor Karen Farbridge was honoured by CPRS as PR Professional of the Year. Throughout her leadership, Mayor Farbridge has modelled her belief that communications is an important management function, a crucial organizational planning tool and an important part of corporate decision-making.
May, 2011 – The City of Guelph received the Roger Brown Award from the Canadian Public Works Association, for its efforts in encouraging participation and educating residents on Public Works Operations.
September, 2011 – The Ontario Parks Association has recognized the City of Guelph with the “Protecting Tomorrow Today” Award for its significant contribution to the betterment of parks and the environment in the restoration of the Town of Goderich following the August tornado. City staff volunteered their expertise and assisted with clearing debris from streets, enabling service providers such as Goderich Hydro to make repairs and restore service to area residents. The City’s forestry crew worked tirelessly to safely remove damaged trees using aerial devices and tree climbing techniques.
December, 2011 – The City of Guelph, in collaboration with the University of Guelph’s School of Engineering, Evolve Builders, Fusion Homes and Reid’s Heritage Homes has received the Ministry of the Environment Award for Environmental Excellence, in the Community Category. The city received special recognition its Residential Greywater Field Test – an innovative pilot to evaluate the viability of reusing residential greywater, wastewater generated from baths and showers, to satisfy water needs to flush toilets in the home. As part of the pilot, the City and project partners educated homeowners about the importance of water conservation and provided a $1,000 rebate to those who installed a greywater reuse system. This process can save an average family 30 per cent on their water bills and conserve up to 69,000 litres of water per year.
December, 2011 – The City of Guelph’s Paint+ Reuse Program was recognized with the 2011 Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) – Bronze Award in the Special Waste category. The SWANA Excellence Awards recognize outstanding solid waste programs that advance the practice of environmentally and economically sound solid waste management. The City’s Solid Waste Resources Division competed against other North American municipalities.
December, 2011 – Guelph Hydro Inc. has won the “Large Company of the Year” Award from the Ontario Energy Association (OEA). The OEA recognized Guelph Hydro Inc. for setting higher standards for best practices and demonstrating excellence in several areas, including sustainability leadership, producing the Guelph Hydro Sustainability Report and installing one of Ontario’s first rooftop solar facilities at City Hall. Guelph Hydro Inc. continues to develop community-based energy projects that support Ontario’s Green Energy and Economy Act and Guelph’s Community Energy Initiative, and hopes to inspire other companies, including non-government, to pursue sustainable business practices in both day-to-day operations and long-term planning.
November, 2012 – The City of Guelph was recently selected to receive top honours for their five-day series of public awareness events held during May 2012. The City will be honoured with the first place award in the “Medium Centre” category in the Canadian Public Works Association (CPWA) National Public Works Week (NPWW) awards program. The CPWA recognized the excellence of Guelph’s National Public Works Week events. Guelph’s public awareness series of events provided both community outreach and a special focus on educating the future workforce about public works.
April, 2013 – Guelph was honoured for excellence in communications at the Canadian Public Relations Society Pinnacle Awards in Hamilton. The City’s multi-year communications campaign—Give waste a new life—to support the conversion of Guelph’s curbside waste collection system won the Pinnacle Award in the communication program (external communications) category. The award recognizes the very best communications programs that span various disciplines of the practice to help organizations achieve overall goals.
October, 2013 – The City of Guelph’s Community Wellbeing Initiative has received a 2013 Impact Award at this year’s CIC Impact Summit in Chicago. The City and Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) were selected by the Community Indicators Consortium leadership to receive the award which celebrates projects that demonstrate the power of indicators to drive positive community change. “Receiving the Impact Award is a clear indication of how the Guelph community strongly values wellbeing,” said Mayor Karen Farbridge. “It is gratifying to see our Community Wellbeing Initiative being recognized internationally. The Initiative is a model of how residents and government can work together and share accountability to achieve better outcomes.”
October, 2013 – Guelph was recognised by the Recycling Council of Ontario for its waste diversion achievements. The RCO’s annual Ontario Waste Minimization Awards recognizes exceptional results in waste reduction and recycling among municipalities and regional governments. Out of 11 submissions, the City received the highest score and was awarded gold in the combined category of diversion achievement and communication and promotion in recognition of its excellence and commitment to a sustainable environment.
November, 2013 – Guelph was awarded gold and silver from the Municipal Waste Association. The City received the 2013 Gold Promotion and Education Award for Calendar (distributed to over 30,000 households) for the City’s 2013 edition of the Conservation Calendar. Five other municipalities’ waste calendars were also submitted. The City also received the 2013 Silver Promotion and Education Award for Campaign (municipalities over 30,000 households) for the Give Waste a New Life campaign for the waste cart rollout. Eight municipalities submitted entries in the category.
November, 2013 – The City of Guelph’s Downtown Secondary Plan has received the 2013 Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) Excellence in Planning Award, within the category of Municipal Statutory Planning Studies, Reports and Documents. The award names the City of Guelph and its consultant on the project, Urban Strategies.
January, 2014 – In recognition of its waste diversion successes, Guelph became the first recipient of the annual Ron Lance Memorial Award.
February, 2014 – The pavilion at Market Square has earned an award of merit from the Canadian Architect magazine. Members of the jury at the magazine praised the pavilion’s functionality and simple, elegant design.
February, 2014 – The Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program has bestowed to Guelph two new awards for its effort to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The Sustainable Communities Awards recognized Guelph for its Community Energy Initiative and for championing of Greenhouse Gas Reduction.
April, 2014 – Guelph received a Bicycle Friendly Community Award during the sixth annual Ontario Bike Summit in Toronto, Ontario. The Share the Road Cycling Coalition recognized the City of Guelph with a silver Bicycle Friendly Community Award this year. Guelph won the bronze award in 2012.
Achievements
This is a mere sampling of some of the highlights.
December, 2011 – Berry Vrbanovic, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and councillor for the City of Kitchener, Ont., and the Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, today announced a Green Municipal Fund TM grant of $142,252 to the City of Guelph. The grant will help fund the development of a secondary plan to guide the creation of the 453-hectare Guelph Innovation District.
May, 2013 – Guelph’s award-winning Organic Waste Processing Facility (OWPF) is functioning well and has successfully achieved all testing and compliance approvals required by the Ministry of the Environment. “We’re pleased all commissioning is now complete, the facility is performing as intended, and its construction came in $1.3 million under budget,” said Dean Wyman, the general manager of Solid Waste Resources.
July, 2013 – The city and the University of Guelph partnered to successfully bring the Hamilton Ticats to Guelph for the 2013 season. The University and city took on the challenge of playing host to the CFL team and its attendant fans, traffic, tailgating, media and national TV audience. As quoted in the Toronto Globe and Mail, “Skeptics wondered how a small Canadian Interuniversity Sport football stadium could be reconfigured and what the ambience would be like in a venue with half the capacity of a typical CFL stadium. How would Guelph embrace the team, and would the fans from Hamilton make the trek some 50 kilometres northwest? The team’s preseason game on June 20, a 52-0 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, was a rehearsal. “I’ve had more fans stop me tonight to tell me what a great experience they’re having than I’ve had in five years at Ivor Wynne Stadium,” Scott Mitchell, president of the Tiger-Cats, said at the preseason game. “They didn’t know what to expect, but there has been a resounding enthusiasm for the experience here so far.” The Ticats blitzed Guelph for months, working with businesses, restaurants and minor football teams, partnering with festivals and planning game-day street parties with the city. Guelph buses had “Go Ticats Go” signs and brought fans to games for free. Banners were hung around the city, and some Ticats fans spoke about some of Guelph’s restaurants calling them personally, hoping to be their postgame hangout. The preseason game was nearly sold out, and Guelph police practised ushering traffic while their chief, Bryan Larkin, tweeted a welcome to fans. Fans “in the thousands” from Guelph, London, Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge bought season seats, as did local businesses”.
July, 2013 – Guelph’s innovative open government action plan—the first of its kind in Canada—is now underway. “The City is committed to pursuing an even more open, accountable, transparent and engaging municipal government—one that empowers the Guelph community to work together on innovative solutions and ultimately, all civic decisions,” said Mayor Karen Farbridge. “A tailor made open government action plan developed for Guelph and co-produced with residents and businesses will position this plan to resonate locally and be used by other jurisdictions as a model for success.”
September, 2013 – TD Friends of the Environment fund donated $15,000 grant to the City of Guelph to distributed free trees to city residents. Guelph was one of 25 communities from across Canada to receive a 2013 TD Green Streets grant, and the city matched the grant to provide new trees to 300 Guelph households.
October, 2013 – The City of Guelph and its partner organizations have identified the need for a formal Business Retention and Expansion (BR+E) program in the Guelph business community. The Grow Guelph BR+E program is a community-wide effort to investigate opportunities that improve the profitability of local businesses, acknowledge their inherent value to the community, develop relevant business resources and programs and further the economic development of the region.
November, 2013 – Guelph’s Community Energy Initiative report showed lower energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The city’s per capita energy use and greenhouse gas emissions have fallen significantly since the introduction of the Guelph Community Energy Initiative (CEI) in 2007. According to the 2012 Energy Usage and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Summary Report, released today, Guelph’s per capita energy use has dropped 26.3 per cent against a 2006 baseline and greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 17.6 per cent against the same year. These numbers were achieved despite a population growth of 21.7 per cent—projected from 2006 Statistics Canada data. The CEI calls for per capita energy and greenhouse gas emission reductions of 50 and 60 per cent, respectively by 2031.
January, 2014 – Guelph begins building North America’s first city-wide district energy network. The new high-efficiency heating and cooling system in the Sleeman Centre in downtown Guelph is an important first step toward building North America’s first city-wide district energy network. While district energy technology dates back to ancient Rome, and there are thousands of individual systems across the world today, Guelph is the first community in North America to establish and announce a plan for an interconnected thermal grid to serve industrial, commercial and residential buildings across an entire city. The plan is centred on a city-wide thermal energy network allowing neighbourhoods to share a more sustainable heating and cooling system. It’s all laid out in Guelph’s District Energy Strategic Plan.
April, 2014 – Council approved a contract with Recyclable Material Marketing (ReMM) and Rizzo Environmental Services to process up to 28,000 additional tonnes of recyclables from Detroit, Michigan at Guelph’s Material Recovery Facility (MRF). To process the additional recyclables, the City will operate a second work shift at the MRF and hire up to an additional 36 employees. This shift will run Monday to Friday from 3:30 to 11:30 p.m. in compliance with the facility’s Environmental Compliance Agreement issued by the Ministry of the Environment. The operational efficiency of the MRF will also increase with the addition of up to 28,000 tonnes, as it will allow the facility to use 95 per cent of its processing capacity.
June, 2014 – Guelph City Council has endorsed the 29 recommendations outlined in the City’s 2014 Solid Waste Management Master Plan (SWMMP) that will build on Guelph’s leadership in waste minimization and diversion for a sustainable, service-focused and economically viable future. This provides strategic direction for the next 20 years and focuses on developing and enhancing waste minimization and diversion initiatives that will help the City meet the plan’s reaffirmed waste diversion target of 70 per cent by 2021.
July, 2014 – Partners in the Innovation Supercluster consortium – including the Mayors of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Guelph and the Chair of Waterloo Region – are pleased that two-way, all-day GO train service is part of the provincial.
July, 2014 – The Elliott is now the long-term care home for Guelph. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has approved the City of Guelph’s request to transfer its municipal long-term care home responsibility from Wellington Terrace in Centre Wellington, to the Elliott Long-Term Care Home in Guelph.
August, 2014 – The Canadian Public Works Association (CPWA) Board of Directors has unanimously elected City of Guelph’s City Engineer Kealy Dedman, P Eng., to serve as President of CPWA for a two-year term (August 2014–August 2016). CPWA serves as the voice of public works in Canada and its 2,200 members represent all aspects of public works across Canada.
August, 2014 – Standards & Poor’s Rating Services (Standards & Poor’s) announced that the City of Guelph’s credit rating continues to be strong and remains at AA+ with a stable outlook. “We are very pleased to see Guelph’s credit rating reaffirmed this year,” said City Chief Financial Officer, Al Horsman “The AA+ rating reaffirms our belief that the City ‘s financial position remains very positive.” According to the Standard & Poor’s Ratings Direct Research Update the rating reflects Guelph’s, “very strong economic fundamentals, budgetary flexibility, exceptional liquidity position and low debt burden.”
September, 2014 – Guelph received $1.1 million in provincial funding to promote healthy, active lifestyles among children and youth. The city was chosen to participate in Ontario’s Healthy Kids Community Challenge program, which provides $1.1 million in provincial funding along with training and other resources over four years. This will enable the City of Guelph to implement community-based programs and activities to promote children’s health, including healthy eating, physical activity, and healthy lifestyle choices such as the importance of getting adequate sleep.
October, 2014 – This is the city whose economy TD Canada Trust’s Chief Economist described as “In good shape”. He added, “I would expect the Guelph economy to be growing in that 2.5 to 2.8 per cent range over the next couple of years — which is a perfectly healthy base of growth.” He also said that Guelph has a very diverse economy.
Maggie Laidlaw 