Editorial Cartoon

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Saturday, July 5, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, July 5, 2014

Downtown task force seeks better ‘nuisance’ enforcement

The city’s downtown task force is looking into how to better enforce nuisance bylaws after a downtown property owner has formally complained about loitering.

Staff are looking at establishing a three-year pilot project between municipal law enforcement and Hamilton police to have staff dedicated to enforcing nuisance bylaws in the core.

Irene Hubar of Argon Properties Ltd. says it has been hard to attract new tenants to her property at 35 King St. E. — the former Right House — because of drug use and other unsavoury activities regularly taking place out front.

In a recent delegation to the Task Force on Cleanliness on Security in the Downtown Core, Hubar said that in addition to “visible” drug use, people have also been caught spitting on the sidewalk, urinating on the street and overflowing the garbage cans.

Knowing they can’t be forced to leave, loiterers use the bus stop as way to hang out there, she said.

Randy Gordon (who Councillor Jason Farr notes is a security guard for the building) says he’s caught people shooting up in the building.

Farr — who sits on the task force — says nuisance bylaws are already in place but that it’s a matter of enforcing them tactfully.

“I was of humble means my entire young life. You can’t judge a person by the cut of their jib,” he said, cautioning there are human rights issues that must be taken into consideration.

“We need to make sure we don’t prejudice any one segment of society … that’s crucial to me.”

At the same time, Farr said the property owners have “valid concerns” about illicit behaviour outside their doors.

“You have laws and bylaws in place for a reason … absolutely, we should do what we can to mitigate the issues.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Friday July 4, 2014

Friday July 4, 2014

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 4, 2014

McHattie launches 100-day tour of city’s neighbourhoods

While you’re daydreaming about summer vacation, the city’s politicos have a very different v-word on their minds.

Votes.

It’s been less than a month since Ontarians went to the ballot box, but local candidates are already ramping up their campaigns in advance of October’s municipal election.

Take Dundas, for instance, where, within days of councillor Russ Powers announcing his retirement, several candidates — including his longtime executive assistant — have unofficially thrown their hats in the ring. So far, more than 30 candidates are vying for a spot on council.

Hamilton Mayoral RaceThe competition for mayor is also heating up, with contender Brian McHattie unveiling his “high energy plan to escalate the mayoral race in a manner no other candidate has attempted before.”

Would he skydive? Fight a bear? Create a million jobs?

As it turns out, he’s hitting the pavement.

At a sunny announcement in Sam Lawrence Park Wednesday, the Ward 1 councillor told a small crowd of reporters and volunteers he intends to visit each of the city’s nearly 200 neighbourhoods in the next 100 days.

That’s at least one stop every single day for the next three-and-a-half months.

“I want to understand each neighbourhood — what it’s like to live there, what it’s like to raise a family,” he said. “What it’s like to be a Hamiltonian in those neighbourhoods.”

McHattie said he’ll attend community events and canvas door to door in order to meet residents and hear their ideas for the city’s future. He’ll also use the tour as an opportunity to reveal more details about his campaign platform. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Thursday July 3, 2014

Thursday July 3, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 3, 2014

Hamilton hospital parking will cost you up to $25 a day

For SaleHospital parking is up to $25 a day after both Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s Healthcare raised their rates.

“It’s a bit rich,” said cancer patient Lionel Morton, who travels from Welland to Hamilton for treatment between two and four days a month and already thought the fees were a “ripoff.”

“They know they have a captive audience,” he says. “It’s not right.”

The price jumped by up to 25 per cent at the acute care hospitals, which are struggling with deficits and aging parking structures.

“We understand that represents hardship for some of our patients and we’re sensitive to that,” said Heather Pullen, spokesperson for HHS. “It’s a decision we make very carefully and we try not to do very often. But the cost of every aspect of our business rises all the time. … It’s a difficult choice, but it’s one we feel we have to make.”

For most of the acute care hospitals, the daily maximum is now $20 after being $15 for the last five years. Premium parking off Charlton Avenue at St. Joseph’s Hospital and the emergency lot at McMaster Children’s Hospital is $25, up from $20. The prices changed June 16 at HHS and April 1 at St. Joseph’s.

The rate for 30 minutes or less remains the same at $3.50 for the acute care hospitals.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal urged hospitals in 2011 to scrap paid parking, calling them “a user fee in disguise.”

“Parking fees are a barrier to health care and add avoidable stress to patients who have enough to deal with,” stated the editorial by Dr. Rajendra Kale, the editor-in-chief at the time.
However, the Ontario Hospital Association rejected that call, saying hospitals rely on parking for at least one per cent of their revenue.

“Every year, St. Joe’s, like many hospitals, face the continued pressure of bridging a gap between our annual funding provided by the Ministry of Health and our operating pressures like increased hydro bills or medical supplies,” said spokesperson Megan Bieksa. “One of the ways we generate revenue is through parking.”

St. Joseph’s needs to make up about $12 million to balance its $600-million budget for the fiscal year that started April 1. HHS has to find $25 million to keep its $1.2-billion budget in the black. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

SOCIAL MEDIA

Wednesday June 25, 2014

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 25, 2014

Wednesday June 25, 2014

Family of jailed Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy blames Harper for outcome of ‘sham’ trial in Egypt

Fadel and Wafaa Fahmy entered a courtroom in Cairo Monday to hear the verdict on their son, journalist Mohamed Fahmy, expecting an acquittal and a prompt return to their home in Montreal where the family has lived for 23 years.

Instead, a surprise finding of guilt on terrorism-related charges and a sentence of seven years in a harsh prison sent Mrs. Fahmy into turmoil, bursting into tears and stomping her feet on the floor.

The entire family was stunned, most of all Mohamed Fahmy himself, the Cairo bureau chief with broadcaster Al Jazeera English. The dual Canadian-Egyptian citizen was found guilty along with two journalist colleagues, an Australian and an Egyptian, of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which is outlawed in Egypt, and with fabricating news reports that undermine Egypt’s security.

On Tuesday, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said he will not interfere in court rulings, despite an international landslide of condemnation and calls for el-Sissi to intervene. Egypt’s constitution gives the president the right to issue a pardon or commute the sentences.

He said he called the justice minister late Monday to repeat that sentiment, despite what he described as debate over the rulings against the journalists.

After a trial and verdict, declared by Amnesty International to be “a complete sham” where no evidence of a nefarious conspiracy was heard, Mr. Fahmy was instead declared guilty and returned to his cell, but not before he angrily called out from behind the bars of the prisoners’ cage: “I swear they will pay for this.”

The anger was a reflection of how crushed his brother was by the verdict, said Mr. Fahmy’s brother, Sherif.

“It’s insane. There is nothing that makes any kind of sense at all. The evidence is insane,” Sherif said in an interview from Kuwait. “It was a very, very heartbreaking scene. We were very optimistic. We never thought this was coming.”

Sherif said he holds Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, responsible for the outcome because the Canadian government failed to aggressively address the case.

“If you compare what Canada has done to what the Australian, English and Dutch have done, it is not much. [Mr. Harper] did not mention Mohammed once,” Sherif said. (Source: National Post)

 

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

City wants to push ahead with Randle Reef work

Mayor Bob Bratina says Randle Reef project partners are searching for a way to begin work this year despite delays caused by over-budget construction bids.

April 27, 2002

Environment Canada recently revealed all construction bids have come in over budget for the first stage of the $138.9-million project to trap more than a million tonnes of coal tar sludge in Hamilton Harbour.

Work on building a steel-walled containment facility was supposed to start this spring, but may now be put off until sometime next year.

Bratina said he and city manager Chris Murray met with federal officials over the weekend and confirmed “absolute support” for the project, including the contentious decision to contain rather than dig up the pollution.

November 9, 2007

He said federal officials are also convinced the $139-million budget for the project is on target, despite “significant” budget overruns from all bidders.

Federal officials will meet with bidders in July to go over the disparities in detail.

But in the meantime, Bratina said the city and other project partners are keen to “push ahead” on some aspect of the stalled project this year, if possible.

December 20, 2012

He conceded any decision to hive off a portion of the project would need federal approval, but expressed hope more options would come out of talks with bidders next month.

“We really need to show the public that our commitment is there and we’re willing to start the project and deal with disparities as we go along.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator)