Saturday January 16, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 16, 2021

Why Doug Ford probably won’t regret expelling this rogue MPP

December 1, 2020

The forces looking to make martyrs out of every single person who faces consequences for foolishness are probably already at work trying to make Roman Baber, the now-independent, formerly Tory MPP for York Centre, into the next saint of free speech. Baber was defenestrated from the Progressive Conservative caucus Friday morning after having released a letter, addressed to the premier, calling for an end to lockdowns — so he’ll undoubtedly be lauded by the conspiracist set. This would be a mistake on their part, but, then, if these people had any ability to navigate the world without making obvious errors, Baber would still be in the PC caucus.

Baber, a lawyer who won the York Centre seat from the Liberals in the 2018 election, had not particularly distinguished himself as an MPP and had a habit of getting attention for the wrong reasons. There was his heckling of former premier Kathleen Wynne, which was so egregious that even the Tory leadership tried to disavow it. Earlier in the pandemic, he advised a constituent that that he could “see [his] parents,” despite the risks to the elderly from COVID-19.

June 15, 2018

The first time Baber appeared on my radar was probably during the ill-fated select committee the Tories convened at Queen’s Park to try to throw a show trial for former Liberal ministers — but especially Wynne. The day Wynne testified at the committee was only ever going to be antagonistic, but Baber’s performance was something else — as I noted at the time, he was so over the top that the chair of the committee (PC MPP Prabmeet Sarkaria) repeatedly told him to knock it off.

June 21, 2019

The select-committee episode wasn’t the PC party’s finest hour in government, but Sarkaria handled the dubious job of chairing that committee well, and now he’s a cabinet minister. Several other MPPs who at least took their jobs seriously that day are either in cabinet or have other substantial positions in the government. Wynne comported herself well, and, years later, even Doug Ford has respectful and kind words to say about the former premier — they are, after all, both members of what’s still a small political club.

Baber chose a different path: he played stupid games and won stupid prizes. And so his career in high-level politics is almost certainly over, at least for a while. Don’t feel too bad for him, though: he’ll get to collect a six-figure paycheque as an MPP until the next election, and, after that, there are always city councils and school boards (where, alas, the profoundly unserious can continue to have long careers further away from the media spotlight). And, if none of that pans out, he’s still a lawyer, though having seen the quality of his arguments, I would suggest that anyone looking for counsel shop around a bit more.

While he probably has friends in caucus who’ll regret his absence at the next meeting, at the higher levels of the Tory leadership, it’s hard to believe he’ll be missed: his primary skill seemed to be grabbing headlines the government came to regret, and his expulsion gives the Tories the opportunity to find someone better able to defend a seat the Liberals could mount a very serious challenge for in 2022. (Continued: John Michael McGrath , TVO) 

 

Friday January 15, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday January 15, 2021

Can President Trump issue pardons while impeached? Experts at odds

With just days left before the end of U.S. President Donald Trump’s presidency, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for a historic second time Wednesday, citing “incitement of insurrection” after a mob of supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol one week ago.

January 12, 2021

At the same time, the FBI has been making arrests across the country relating to the riots, prompting some to wonder whether Trump would try to squeeze in more pardons before his term is up, including pardoning his supporters, his family, and even himself.

Trump’s presidency has raised legal questions around pardons previously never tested in federal courts: the constitutionality of a self-pardon, for example, remains unclear since no president had ever attempted it before, with legal scholars divided on how to interpret the law.

Does Trump’s impeachment change anything when it comes to issuing pardons?

January 8, 2021

In Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, it states that the president “shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”

But legal experts appear divided in what the clause “except in cases of impeachment” means.

December 3, 2020

“The conventional wisdom and centuries of treatises and textbooks tell us that when the Constitution says that the president can pardon ‘except in cases of impeachment’ means that the criminal process and the impeachment process are separate, and the president can only pardon crimes,” Brian Kalt, an expert on constitutional law and presidential history, and a law professor at Michigan State University, told CTVNews.ca in an email.

“He can’t stop an impeachment or undo an impeachment conviction, but he can still pardon any related crimes.”

With the House voting 232-197 to impeach the president, a two-thirds majority is still needed in the Senate in order to convict and remove Trump, the only U.S. president ever to be impeached twice. But the earliest a Senate trial would begin is next Tuesday, right before president-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Kalt explains that Trump retains all of his powers until he is convicted or his term ends, meaning, “he can still issue pardons — whether related to his impeachment or not — while he is impeached.”

August 8, 1998

Kalt noted that former president Bill Clinton pardoned 34 people between his impeachment on Dec 19, 1998 and his acquittal on Feb 12, 1999.

“Nobody batted an eye at that because, again, the standard reading of the impeachment exception to the pardon power … is uniformly understood and accepted.”

Based on Clinton’s example, Trump could still issue pardons during his final week in office. Prior to his impeachment, he had already discussed issuing pardons for himself and his children, according to a CNN report this week, citing multiple sources. The report noted Trump, his allies and family members who partipated in the rally at the Capitol could potentially face legal exposure following the riots.

2020 Gallery – Trump

Trump could, in theory, issue a blanket pardon that covers himself and his children up until the time he leaves office, according to CNN’s source. Another source indicated that Trump may extend it to others outside the family as well, including Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Already Trump’s previous pardons — which have included four American men convicted of killing Iraqi civilians, his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, ex-adviser Roger Stone, and his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner — have generated enormous outrage. (CTV) 

 

Inauguration Day 2021

Sketches from the 2020 Democratic National Convention

Wednesday January 20, 2021 – By Graeme MacKay

Four years ago I reflected on a day in democracy that we just saw pass today, when the transfer of power from one U.S. President to another sets a new tone in the most powerful nation on the planet.

Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States yesterday.

While things were bad enough leading up to November 3, since the election day two and a half months ago, the nation has been led by a petulant toddler, feeding a myth that the vote tally was fraudulent and stolen from Republicans. The lies and vitriol that Donald Trump drummed up on an constant basis through Twitter and his other social media platforms worked up his most brainwashed cult members to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

The United States, long a beacon and promoter of democracy, endured an insurrection by domestic terrorists hell-bent on imposing one party rule. Even now, with the dust still settling in the aftermath of that humiliating day in U.S. history, some Republicans, blind to the wretched legacy left by its leader, justify the act while continuing to spew the falsehood that Joe Biden’s Presidency is illegitimate. 

Just to compound matters is a deadly global pandemic, with a virus that has killed more than 400,000 Americans, more deaths than any other country on the planet. Many of those deaths can be linked to a lack of a centralized federal effort to contain the infection.

The result is a patchwork of differing guidelines and range of safety restrictions throughout the States. Whereas, here in Canada, where for 10 months we’ve accepted wearing masks, working from home, not vacationing abroad, and avoiding holiday gatherings, Americans have clearly prioritized individual freedom over science, or, livelihoods over lives. The most significant marker contrasting the differing approaches to COVID-19 is the fact that the U.S.-Canada land border has remained closed to non-essential travel since March, 2020.

So much of the spread could have been avoided if Trump hadn’t equated the simple act of wearing a face mask to limit the potential inhalation and exhalation of virus as weakness.

President Biden, on his first day signed a series of executive orders reversing several of the Trump administration’s most contentious policies.

POTUS placemat (2021)

The monumental tasks ahead includes tackling a number of crises that the former President ignored or neglected to deal with during his 2 month long temper tantrum. The pandemic, unemployment and the economy, race divisions, and a cultural divide of identity politics that’s been growing increasing violent. 

The final task will be the trickiest, in uniting his country in what he called in his address yesterday as an “uncivil war.” He’ll have to fend off earnest progressives in his own party while tackling the MAGA hat wearing zealots on the right. To do this while bringing the disgraceful former President to justice for his lies and undemocratic antics will rile up his most rabid base, however fractured it may be, and ensure the Senate rubber stamps Trump’s second impeachment. To ensure Trumpism and its ilk never occupy the Oval Office again, may be the most challenging Biden may face.

Time will tell, but I do look forward to drawing more domestic content instead of the distraction to the south, and I think the Biden tenure will put America on the right track.

Wednesday January 13, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 13, 2021

With new stay-at-home order, Ontario admits previous COVID-19 lockdown was too weak

The Ontario government is ordering everyone in the province to stay at home except for essential reasons, while also allowing non-essential businesses to keep operating.

2020 Gallery – Ontario

For anyone struggling to reconcile this, Premier Doug Ford has a blunt message. 

“There’s no confusion. It’s very simple,” Ford said Wednesday. “Stay. Home. Stay home. If you’re questioning, ‘Should I go out,’ you got the answer: stay home.” 

And then, in case Ontario’s hundreds of thousands of francophones failed to comprehend, Ford glanced down at his notes and said: “Restez à la maison.”

Since the second wave of COVID-19 began building in Ontario in September, this is the clearest Ford has been in telling people what they must do to rein in the pandemic. 

It makes you wonder: if he’d said this a month or more ago and imposed a stay-at-home order and new state of emergency then, how different would things be now? 

November 12, 2020

The wording of the order was published Wednesday evening, more than five days after the news conference in which Ford promised that new restrictions were on the way. 

During that news conference last Friday, Ford said the latest modelling for the pandemic was so grim “you’ll fall off your chair.”

Many health experts are questioning why Ford needed that modelling to see the tsunami of COVID-19 cases hitting Ontario, threatening to fill intensive care units beyond capacity. 

The government can’t say it wasn’t warned — repeatedly — about what was coming unless tougher restrictions kicked in. 

Modelling in late November from the province’s COVID-19 science advisory table projected the province would see an average of 2,000 cases per day sometime in December. Ontario crossed that threshold Dec. 17. 

November 5, 2020

Modelling made public on Dec. 10 warned the province would surpass 300 COVID-19 patients in intensive care later in the month and approach 400 in early January. ICU occupancy passed the 300 mark just after Christmas and hit 400 on Jan. 9, according to the official daily reports by Critical Care Services Ontario.  

The real kick-in-the-teeth modelling was published on Dec. 19. It presented evidence that “soft lockdowns” were failing to slow the pandemic in many jurisdictions, including Ontario. 

The government’s own scientific advisers said by imposing what they called a “hard lockdown” immediately, Ontario could start to bend the pandemic curve within a week and prevent many thousands of new cases. 

At the same time, Ontario’s hospitals were calling for stronger lockdowns in all public health units with high rates of transmissions. 

October 3, 2020

Instead, even as the province was reporting more than 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day, the Ford government delayed imposing any new measures until Boxing Day. 

The advance notice of the lockdown softened the sense of urgency, undermined the government’s message that things were getting serious, and implicitly told Ontarians it was perfectly okay to go finish their Christmas shopping. Little wonder that Google data showed a sharp spike in movement by Ontarians in the pre-Christmas week.  (CBC)

 

Thursday January 14, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday January 14, 2021

Based on new lockdown measures, Doug Ford isn’t getting it

The latest version of Ontario’s quasi-sort-of-not-quite lockdown will be remembered more for what it does not do than what it does do.

January 13, 2021

First, the usual disclaimer: Few people would disagree that the Ford government is working feverishly at changing trajectory of this pandemic. Whatever it is doing wrong, it’s not for lack of effort.

But the latest measures really amount to a little of this and a little of that.

Ontario is in a state of emergency, which demonstrates that the government fully appreciates the seriousness of the situation, but does little else. The government has issued a “stay-at-home” order which certainly sounds serious but really amounts to what most of us are already doing: locking down, not having people into our houses and venturing out only for essential reasons like food and exercise.

It gave police the authority to oversee that order, but has not made details clear.

It is telling employers that anyone who can work from home must do so, which is the status quo for the most part. And it is requiring masks in workplaces that do remain open, which again is largely the status quo.But let’s consider what the province is not doing.

It is not ordering non-essential retailers to close their doors, as was the case at the outset of the first wave. Instead they must close for curbside shopping by 8 p.m. Non-essential manufacturing businesses can stay open.

It is not directing the closure of things like libraries, playgrounds and skating rinks as was the case in the first lockdown.

And critically, it is not mandating paid sick leave to vulnerable workers in sectors like manufacturing, transportation and warehousing.

June 9, 2020

We know that many people in these sectors, who are working in low-paying, low security jobs, with few or no benefits, are either working poor or close to it. It’s easy for Ford to say that when they feel sick they should stay home. He is fond of pointing to his government’s policy that prohibits employers from terminating employees who are absent for reasons to do with the pandemic. He also likes to refer to the federal program that can provide paid leave, but he doesn’t mention that public health experts and advocates alike acknowledge that is not adequate.

We know that neighbourhoods where these workers live have been hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic. But in many cases, if they don’t go to work, they don’t get paid. And they cannot afford to not get paid, so they work even when they should be staying at home.

Public health experts including epidemiologists agree this is a major factor behind COVID-19’s continuing spread. And yet the Ford government will not budge.

This is a prime example of an increasingly troubling reality. Ford, who is the face of the government, talks an increasingly urgent and desperate game, but his government’s actions say something else.

The government is continuing to seek a balance between fully cracking down on the pandemic and preserving what little economic redemption is left at this point. It is now clear that balance does not exist.

Here is one thing we know for sure. At the outset of the pandemic, a hard lockdown — which has become known as a circuit-breaker — succeeded in flattening the curve, which has become a terrifying spike at this point in the second wave. While it is understandable that the government is so reluctant to shut down the economy entirely, there is nothing to suggest more half-measures will help. Which means we could be back here in two weeks or a month contemplating a circuit-breaker and why we didn’t do it sooner. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)