mackaycartoons | Editorial Cartoons by Graeme MacKay

Monday March 3, 2015

Posted on February 27, 2015 Leave a Comment

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday March 3, 2015

The definitive TV marathon binge-watching survival guide

With House Of Cards season three launching on Netflix on 27 February, legions of Frank Underwood fans around the world will be limbering up to binge-watch 13 hours of brooding political drama.

The act of thundering trough an entire season of television in a short period of time has boomed in popularity since the rise of Netflix, other streaming services and DVD box sets.

Whether it is House of Cards this weekend, True Detective next weekend or Mad Men in the run up to the final few episodes that will air in April (my own personal TV goal for the next month) there’s a fine art to binge-watching television and some important warnings to be dished out.

Start Small. If you’ve never marathoned a TV series before, it is probably best not to start with 50 years’ worth of Doctor Who or the accumulative 204 episodes of 24. At 13 episodes, a season of House Of Cards is a good place to start.

Break it up. Breaking a TV marathon up over the course of a weekend will not lose you any street cred. There is no street cred associated with this kind of nonsense anyway and I am not even sure if street cred is a thing people say anymore, so go at your own pace and stop every now and then just to rest your eyes if nothing else.

Binge-watching is stupid by its very nature but laying or sitting there doing literally nothing while you watch is plain dumb. You may leave an arse groove that would out-last the Sphinx but it is unhealthy and you will only feel uncomfortable laying around for so long.

So find something to do while you watch – ironing, dusting, tweeting about the colour of ugly dresses, something to split your focus for a while. Starring at a TV set uninterrupted will turn your eyes into squares. (Continued: International Business Tiimes)

Friday, February 27, 2015

Posted on February 27, 2015 Leave a Comment

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, February 27, 2015

Net neutrality passes in landmark FCC decision

With a bang of the gavel, the internet in the U.S. now has ground rules and a “referee on the field” to enforce them.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted today in Washington to regulate internet service like a public good, the way it has been treated in Canada for years.

“The internet must remain open. We will protect the values of an open internet, both in the last mile as well as at the point of interconnection,” FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said at the long-awaited hearing on net neutrality — the concept that all online traffic must be equally accessible.

“The internet is the most powerful and pervasive platform on the planet,” Wheeler said. “It’s simply too important to be left without rules and without a referee on the field.”

The ruling delivers a blow to senior Republicans and large U.S. cable providers such as Comcast and Verizon, which poured $44.2 million US into lobbying efforts to allow some internet users to pay for zippier connectivity.

Grassroots activists had mobilized online to oppose such preferential treatment for “fast lane” access, with more than four million people filing public grievances to the FCC.

Thursday’s long-awaited vote, which passed 3-2 in favour of net neutrality, ended the debate.

However, the broadband industry has hinted that it may challenge the decision in court.

In a statement following the vote, Verizon’s senior vice president of public policy Michael Glover slammed the ruling as “badly antiquated,” characterizing it as a regulatory overreach that would restrict internet service providers from offering the best access. (Source: CBC News)

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Posted on February 25, 2015 Leave a Comment

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, February 26, 2015

Sex education debate at Queen’s Park gets nasty

As several hundred social conservative protesters loudly rallied against Ontario’s new sex education curriculum outside the legislature, the debate inside was even more heated.

Progressive Conservative MPP Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Essex), a leadership hopeful, attacked Premier Kathleen Wynne on Tuesday for not doing enough to consult parents before implementing the new syllabus that takes effect in September.

McNaughton told the house that the premier should not be imposing views upon mothers and fathers concerned about the revised program designed to protect children by better informing them about sex.

Wynne, Ontario’s first openly lesbian premier, suggested the Tory MPP was being homophobic.

She rhetorically shot back at McNaughton that perhaps he thought she wasn’t qualified to weigh in on the subject because she’s a woman, a mother, a grandmother, a former school trustee, a past education minister or that she has a masters of education.

As Wynne thundered at the Tory member, Liberal MPPs heckled that that wasn’t “the real reason” he was complaining.

Outside the chamber, McNaughton said it was “ridiculous” to accuse him of homophobia and said the main reason the premier is unqualified is that her government faces so many scandals that are being investigated by police, including the Sudbury byelection, the ORNGE air-ambulance fiasco, and the deleted gas-plant emails affair.

He and his rival PC leadership candidates — MPP Christine Elliott (Whitby-Oshawa) and MP Patrick Brown (Barrie) — met with the raucous protesters, many of whom brandished anti-abortion signs. (Source: Toronto Star)

Wednesday February 25, 2015

Posted on February 24, 2015 Leave a Comment

Wednesday February 26, 2015 Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 25, 2015

The ‘sophisticated’ Toronto ‘mystery tunnel’ no one can explain

It’s damp. It’s dim. It’s underground. Welcome to the Toronto “mystery tunnel.”

On Monday afternoon, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation released a breathless dispatch soaked in intrigue, underground hovels and mystery. They had found a tunnel! And no one knows why it’s there!

Nearly eight feet tall, the tunnel extended more than 20 feet near York University in north Toronto. Sitting close to the Rexall Center, which will host the Pan American Games this summer, the tunnel was equipped with lights, a power generator, reinforced walls and ceiling.

Unnamed sources told the Canadian journalists that unknown persons had spent weeks of work on the tunnel of unknown origin. The operators had hauled away the dirt to veil their tunnel-making process. The National Post, another Canadian news outlet that hopped on the story in terrorism-rattled Canada, estimated someone had spent “thousands of dollars” on the tunnel.

So who was behind it? Well-heeled drug dealers looking for a secluded spot to cultivate a drug empire? No, the CBC found. Not that: “Authorities have essentially ruled out the possibility that the tunnel was going to be used as a drug lab or marijuana grow-op, according to sources…Toronto police have refused to comment on the mystery tunnel.”

Many questions went unanswered. “First and foremost is the question around the context of the tunnel – where is it positioned?” Ray Boisvert, a Canadian security intelligence expert, asked the CBC. “How deep was it? How accessible was it? And what sort of things could be sent through that tunnel, being people or material?”

Boisvert discerned darkness in the mystery tunnel. It seemed to be too close to the Rexall Center. “I would want to be able able to have some sense that we know what the purpose of that particular tunnel was and who was likely – if not who, precisely – was behind it,” he said.

The mystery tunnel, which the CBC called “sophisticated” and has since been filled in, was discovered when a member of the grounds crew saw a slab of corrugated steel and inspected further. He lifted the metal and found a tunnel nearly nine feet beneath the surface. A snow-trodden path led to a nearby tear in a fence, pictures showed.

Authorities are holding a news conference today to discuss the tunnel. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Tuesday February 25, 2015

Posted on February 23, 2015 Leave a Comment

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 25, 2015

Liberals push for draft doctor-assisted death law

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals want the outlines of a new law governing doctor-assisted dying to be clear by mid-summer — before Canadians head to the polls in October.

They’ll try to get the ball rolling Tuesday, introducing a motion that calls for creation of a special parliamentary committee to consult experts and Canadians on the potentially explosive issue.

They want the committee up and running by March 11 and they want it to report back to the House of Commons by July 31 with a proposed legislative framework.

The Liberal motion, to be put to a vote Tuesday or Wednesday, follows a landmark ruling earlier this month by the Supreme Court of Canada, which struck down the ban on physician-assisted suicide.

The top court gave Parliament 12 months to draft new legislation that recognizes the right of clearly consenting adults who are enduring intolerable physical or mental suffering to seek medical help to end their lives.

The Harper government appears to be in no rush; Justice Minister Peter MacKay has said the government will take its time to thoroughly study the details of the court ruling and look at how other jurisdictions, including Quebec, have dealt with the issue.

The government’s response has sparked speculation that the ruling Conservatives would rather not open debate on the issue, which could expose divisions among their ranks, before the election.

However, the Liberal motion notes there’s not actually much time left to deal with the matter before the court-imposed deadline, pointing to the summer parliamentary break and the fall election.

Parliament is scheduled to sit for just 12 more weeks before taking a 13-week break starting June 24. The campaign for the federal election, slated for Oct. 19, will start in mid-September, before the planned resumption of Parliament. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Posted to Yahoo News Canada.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Posted on February 20, 2015 Leave a Comment

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, February 21, 2015

Stephen Harper rejects calls for more oversight of new spy powers

Prime Minister Stephen Harper rejected calls for more political oversight of broad new spy and police powers, saying his Conservative government has “strengthened” oversight by turning to Canada’s judges.

Speaking in Surrey, B.C. Harper shrugged off calls by four former prime ministers and a growing chorus of critics who want a more robust role for parliamentarians in guarding against potential future abuses by security agencies.

The NDP and Liberals and now a group of 22 prominent Canadians have called for the establishment of a committee of elected officials that would oversee CSIS’ exercise of its proposed new mandate to disrupt emerging terror threats — as exists in the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

On Thursday, Harper said the current watchdog agency, SIRC, already provides “independent expert third-party advice” about CSIS’s compliance with the law. He said Bill C-51, a sweeping bill that expands CSIS powers, would require CSIS to get a warrant from a judge on a case-by-case basis if its actions to disrupt threats will violate constitutional rights.

“We as a government are not interested in politicians doing that oversight,” said Harper.

Other senior Conservative ministers echoed the prime minister’s new line of defence, cited the evolving “mutating” threat, and broad public support for the bill reported by pollster Angus Reid.

Canada faces a “high probability” of a jihadist attack from homegrown terrorists, Defence Minister Jason Kenney warned Thursday as he defended the bill and hinted Ottawa will extend the military mission in Iraq.

In his first major address since taking over the national defence portfolio 10 days ago, Kenney said that while risk of conventional war has diminished, “the threat of terrorism has never been greater.”

Harper and Kenney spoke as the government voted to limit the initial debate in the Commons on the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act 2015. Bill C-51 would give CSIS agents broad new powers to actively disrupt suspected threats to Canada’s national security; criminalize the “promotion of terrorism,” ease the government’s ability to ban suspects from airline travel, and provide greater protection to secret witnesses and classified evidence. It would allow more information sharing among 17 federal agencies related to any “activity that undermines the security of Canada” — a definition the NDP says is overly broad and could be used to target First Nations and environmentalists, or the government’s political enemies. (Source: Toronto Star)

Friday, February 20, 2015

Posted on February 19, 2015 Leave a Comment

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, February 20, 2015

Elections Ontario finds ‘apparent contravention’ of Election Act by Liberals

Elections Ontario has found an “apparent contravention” of anti-bribery provisions in its Election Act probe of allegations two Liberal operatives offered a job to a former Grit candidate in the Sudbury byelection.

The case has been turned over to the Ministry of the Attorney General, which must now decide whether to refer the case to police, in what Elections Ontario chief Greg Essensa called “unprecedented circumstances.”

“This provision concerns bribery in connection with inducing a person to become, refrain from becoming, or withdrawing from being a candidate,” he added in a statement.

“No chief electoral officer of Ontario has ever conducted a regulatory investigation into allegations of bribery.”
Timeline: Sudbury byelection

The bombshell revelation fuelled opposition demands Premier Kathleen Wynne fire one of the people in question, her deputy chief of staff Pat Sorbara, and have Sudbury Liberal organizer Gerry Lougheed removed from the city’s police services board, which he chairs.

“Cut these two bad apples loose,” Progressive Conservative House Leader Steve Clark said in a raucous question period in the legislature.

“If you stand with these two, you’re going to fall with these two.”

Wynne defended Sorbara and said “we will let this process unfold.”

“We’ve all just received this information,” said Wynne, adding “this is just the next stage in Elections Ontario’s process.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath was aghast at the premier’s response and demanded the case be referred to an independent prosecutor.

“This is a shameful demonstration by a government that will simply not take responsibility for its actions,” she said, noting the OPP is also investigating the deleted emails in the government’s $1.1 billion gas plants scandal and questionable business practices at the ORNGE air ambulance service.

“The people of Ontario deserve better than this.”

Wynne has repeatedly maintained “there were no specific offers” of a job to Andrew Olivier in conversations he taped with Sorbara and Lougheed. (Source: Toronto Star)

Thursday February 19, 2015

Posted on February 18, 2015 Leave a Comment

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 19, 2015

Via terror suspect pondered triggering Yellowstone volcano, court told

A man accused of plotting to derail a Canadian passenger train also thought about triggering a catastrophic volcanic blast in the United States, his trial heard Tuesday.

Testifying for a third week, an undercover FBI agent said Chiheb Esseghaier pondered the possibility of getting the volcano in Yellowstone National Park to erupt.

Esseghaier, who is charged with various terror-related offences along with co-accused Raed Jaser, spoke of the “death and destruction” a blast could cause, court heard.

“Wouldn’t it be great if my enemies’ worst national disaster could happen?” the agent cited Esseghaier, 30, as saying.

The Montreal PhD student from Tunisia was “very passionate” about the volcano in the park, the agent said. The volcano, which last erupted 640,000 years ago, straddles the borders of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

Ultimately, however, he decided the idea was not feasible.

“No. We cannot do anything to make the volcano erupt. It’s very deep. I don’t have any access,” Esseghaier apparently told the agent.

“It was his conclusion that we need to focus on the project or projects,” the agent told Superior Court.

“The train plot was a better bet than the volcano,” defence lawyer John Norris, who represents Jaser, said by way of clarification.

The idea of a train attack, apparently, had come from “The Responsible One,” a man Esseghaier had met in Iran who supposedly had close ties to top Al Qaeda leaders. (Continued: Toronto Star)

Wednesday February 18, 2015

Posted on February 17, 2015 Leave a Comment

Wednesday February 18, 2015

Canada’s Iraq mission has cost $122 million, military says

Canada’s air and ground mission battling Islamic State extremists in Iraq has cost $122 million so far, new figures show.

Defence Minister Jason Kenney on Monday overturned weeks of silence by the Defence Department on the issue and revealed the price tag of the mission to date.

“We think these costs are entirely reasonable given the importance of this mission,” Kenney said in a statement.

Kenney, who took over as defence minister a week ago, said the final cost will be higher but the final tally depends on when the mission, now due to end in April, wraps up.

“Costs will ultimately be higher than that, but how much higher will depend on whether we wrap up the operation at the end of March, or extend it, so total final costs are still difficult to calculate,” he said.

He said Canadian special operations forces soldiers — working as advisers on the ground — and Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft are having a “meaningful impact against this genocidal terrorist organization.”

Kenney cited the latest atrocities — the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya by an Islamic State-affiliated group and the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot — as further justification of the Conservatives’ decision to launch the military mission over the objections of Liberals and New Democrats.

“This is a vicious death cult that is a threat to regional and international security, they have declared war on Canada and our allies, and that’s why Canada has a responsibility to be there,” Kenney said. (Source: Toronto Star)

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Posted on February 13, 2015 Leave a Comment

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Saturday, February 14, 2015

Trudeau says Tory defector Adams must prove herself, win over lots of Liberals

Tory defector Eve Adams’ willingness to prove her mettle in a difficult Toronto riding was a key part of the decision to welcome her into the federal Liberal party, Justin Trudeau says.

Adams confirmed Wednesday she intends to seek the Liberal nomination in Eglinton-Lawrence, hoping to take on Finance Minister Joe Oliver in the election scheduled for October.

She currently represents Mississauga-Brampton South but last year attempted to switch to the newly created Oakville North-Burlington riding, where she became embroiled in an ugly Conservative nomination fight last year.

She and her opponent were forced to withdraw amid allegations of dirty tricks on both sides. Late last month, the governing party barred her from running anywhere due to the alleged misconduct in Oakville.

In an interview Wednesday with Winnipeg radio station CJOB, Liberal Leader Trudeau conceded Adams’ baggage did give him pause when she approached him about switching parties.

“Certainly, there is always a reflection to be had around this. But Eve has been a very strong local voice, municipal councillor for many, many years, deeply committed to service.”

Trudeau indicated that Adams’ willingness to do some tough slogging in a difficult riding was central to his decision to welcome her into Liberal ranks.

“One of the things that we agreed is that she’s going to have to convince an awful lot of Liberals and local folks that she is the best voice for them … and then she’s going to take on someone who is a pillar of the Conservative party to demonstrate her strength and her value as a politician.”

Oliver did not appear overly concerned, noting in a statement that the Liberals have yet to nominate a candidate to run against him. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)