Written by Dan O’Keefe
It might be the only place around where parking is still free.
Present estimates suggest that over 750 million people have rolled the dice on the classic board game Monopoly, purchased property, and spent time in jail, even if they were just visiting. Many of us can recall late nights fighting to control the world’s most exclusive real estate, located on less than three square feet.
Hasbro Games is now in the process of designing a new Canadian Monopoly board, and they want Canadians to vote for their favourite cities.
Guelph is one of 65 cities from across the country in the running to occupy one of the highly coveted and contested spaces on the new Monopoly: Canada Edition board.
But with only twenty spots, does Guelph have the right combination to get on-board?
Well, here’s a little history. The city is named after one of the royal families of England, hence its nickname the Royal City. Throughout the years, Guelph has been home to many famous and influential people including: Col. John McCrae, author of the famous poem “In Flanders Fields,” Victor Da
vis, Olympic gold medalist in swimming, A. J. Casson, member of the Group of Seven, Robert Munsch, famous children’s author, Thomas F. Ryan, inventor of five-pin bowling, and Stephen Truscott, victim of what is possibly Canada’s greatest miscarriage of justice. Charley Fox, born in Guelph and a former member of the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War, is credited with wounding Erwin Rommel, one of Hitler’s top Field Marshalls and his right-hand man.
By population, Guelph is Canada’s 25th largest city. The University of Guelph is consistently ranked as one of Canada’s best middle-sized universities. Guelph was the first municipality in Canada to have its own federally charted railway junction, and has one of the most advanced and efficient transit systems in the area.
The competition spans the country and will include a city from every province and territory. Ontario alone has 24 cities in the running, followed by Quebec at 12 and British Columbia at eight. Guelph has its work cut out for it, going against every provincial and territorial capital, as well as the nation’s capital. Some of these cities have populations close to 40 times that of Guelph’s.
But this doesn’t mean Guelph’s out of it.
“The support of the city ultimately determines the location,” said Marisa Pedatella, manager of marketing at Hasbro Canada.
At the beginning of the week, Guelph sat in 50th place with 0.8 per cent of all Canadian votes. Saint-Jean-sur-Richellieu, QC holds first place with 5.3 per cent of the votes. Chatham-Kent, ON, and Calgary, AB sit in second and third with 4.6 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively. Ottawa and Vancouver occupy the last two spaces on the board as each holds 2.1 per cent of the votes. Toronto, Winnipeg, and London aren’t far behind.
Mayor Karen Farbridge believes Guelph still has a stong chance.
“Guelph placed fourth of 5, 500 [communities] in education [and] has the lowest crime severity index in the country…[but Guelph] still needs a bit of a push,” said Farbridge. “[If anyone] can bump that up, it’s the University of Guelph community.”
Around campus, opinions were generally optimistic.
“If we pull together as a city, [we] can accomplish anything. I think we are getting Oriental Avenue,” said Evan Lusty, a U of G student.
If you want Guelph on the board, you have to go to www.monopolyvote.ca and vote for Guelph. The number of votes a city receives will determine its position on the new board. First place gets Boardwalk, second place gets Park Place, and the pattern continues to the 19th and 20th place cities receiving the spots usually occupied by Vermont Avenue and Oriental Avenue respectively. Baltic and Mediterranean Avenues are a little different though. These spaces will go to wildcard entries. If you’re from a municipality not listed amongst the 65 currently in contention, such as Flin Flon, MB, Corner Brook, NL, or Marathon, ON, but you still want to see your municipality on the board, you can submit its name for the wildcard vote. The top 20 cities will be announced in June, and the new board goes on sale for Canada Day, July 1.