Month: March 2023

Wednesday March 22, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 22, 2023

Fingerprints and a mugshot: What happens if Trump is arrested

December 21, 2022

Donald Trump is hunkering down in Florida ahead of his widely anticipated arrest this week on charges stemming from an investigation into a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.

He would be the first US president to face criminal charges.

In 2016, adult film star Stormy Daniels contacted media outlets offering to sell her account of what she said was an adulterous affair she had with Donald Trump in 2006.

Mr Trump’s team got wind of this, and his lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to Ms Daniels to keep quiet.

This is not illegal. However, when Mr Trump reimbursed Mr Cohen, the record for the payment says it was for legal fees. Prosecutors say this amounts to Mr Trump falsifying business records, which is a misdemeanour – a criminal offence – in New York.

Prosecutors could also potentially allege that this breaks election law, because his attempt to hide his payments to Ms Daniels was motivated by not wanting voters to know he had an affair with her. Covering up a crime by falsifying records would be a felony, which is a more serious charge.

September 24, 2022

Even advocates for prosecution acknowledge that either way, this is by no means a clear-cut case. There is little precedent for such a prosecution, and past attempts to charge politicians with crossing the line between campaign finance and personal spending have ended in failure.

“It’s going to be tough,” says Catherine Christian, a former financial prosecutor for the New York City district attorney.

The decision on whether to file charges rests with New York City District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He set up the grand jury to investigate whether there was enough evidence to pursue a prosecution, and he is the only one who knows if – or when – an indictment will be announced.

Last week, Mr Trump’s lawyers said that the former president was offered a chance to appear before the grand jury, which is considered a sign that the investigation is close to finishing.

The lawyers have downplayed suggestions that they or Mr Trump have any advance notice of an impending indictment, saying his comments about it being Tuesday were based on media reports.

However, there are other signs that the grand jury is wrapping up.

January 6, 2022

Both Michael Cohen and his former legal adviser Robert Costello have given testimony in recent days.

Mr Costello was put forward by Mr Trump’s defence team on Monday in an attempt to discredit Cohen’s testimony.

If Mr Bragg decides to move ahead with charges, he will first inform Mr Trump and his lawyers, setting off negotiations over how and when the former president will appear in New York City for his formal arrest and first hearing in court.

As part of those negotiations with prosecutors, the court may also agree to grant him a private entrance to the court, instead of the more typical “perp walk” in front of the assembled media.

Once inside, however, Mr Trump will be fingerprinted and have his mug shot taken like all defendants in criminal cases. He will also be read his “Miranda” rights, reminding him of his constitutionally-protected right to a lawyer and to decline to talk to police.

October 12, 2016

Defendants charged with a felony are typically handcuffed temporarily, although Mr Trump’s lawyers will try to avoid that for their client. Throughout the booking process, he will be accompanied by Secret Service agents.

Mr Trump would then wait in a holding area or cell until his appearance before a judge. The arraignment – the moment where a defendant enters their plea before a judge – is open to the public.

Once the case is booked and a judge is selected, other details will fall into place, such as the timing of the trial and possible travel restrictions and bail requirements for the defendant.

A conviction on a misdemeanour would result in a fine. If Mr Trump were convicted on the felony charge, he would face a maximum sentence of four years in prison, although some legal experts predict a fine is more probable, and that any time behind bars is highly unlikely. (BBC) 

 

Tuesday March 21, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 21, 2023

The UN just released a landmark climate-change report. Here’s the grim timeline it gives us

November 18, 2022

By 2030, scientists warn, countries such as Canada must slash carbon emissions by almost half to prevent that fifth-grader from living out her old age in a world with increased floods, fires, crop failures, forced migration and infectious disease outbreaks, and to zero by 2050.

That was the conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Synthesis Report.

Climate change may have once felt like something you had to squint deep into the future to see. Monday’s report shows that the choices we make now will profoundly alter the planet today’s children live in.

“Let’s hope we make the right choices, because the ones we make now and in the next few years will reverberate around the world for hundreds, even thousands of years,” Hoesung Lee, chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said Monday.

Alongside new, near-term targets, the report also reaffirmed the goal of net zero emissions by 2050, a goal enshrined in the Paris Agreement. But on Monday, UN Secretary General António Guterres suggested wealthy countries such as Canada need to reach net zero even sooner — by 2040.

September 20, 2022

“This can be done,” Guterres said. “Some have already set a target as early as 2035.

“In short, our world needs climate action on all fronts — everything, everywhere, all at once,” Guterres said at a news conference for the report’s release.

Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault affirmed the conclusions of the IPCC report Monday afternoon, but did not say Canada would move to a net-zero 2040 target.

“This is a new request from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, obviously one that we will study very carefully in Canada,” Guilbeault said. “It’s one thing to simply say, well, you know, we want to reach this goal, but we have to give ourselves the means to get there. We do that now in Canada for 2050.”

August 13, 2021

While Guterres referenced a science fiction movie in his remarks, the solutions to this crisis are both well understood, already in use and, in some cases, almost embarrassingly simple. Protecting intact forests, wetlands and other natural ecosystems would have massive payoffs. Solar and wind power are already contributing energy to power grids, even in fossil-fuel-friendly places such as Texas. Bike-riding made the list.

The report is the world’s most comprehensive assessment of the current state of climate change. The last synthesis report came out in 2014, and acted as both a major impetus and the scientific underpinning for the historic Paris Agreement, when nearly all the world’s governments agreed to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. That goal is necessary to keep the world within 1.5 degrees of warming, a critical guardrail that, if overshot, will lead to increasingly destructive planetary outcomes, some irreversible.

The synthesis report released Monday concludes years of work by hundreds of scientists around the globe, and will set the stage for a different kind of momentous meeting later this year: a conference at which nations will assess their Paris commitment progress so far.

The actions pledged by nations so far are insufficient to keep the world within that guardrail, and would result in 2.8 degrees of warming by the end of the century, the UN’s initial assessment found. The world will gather again in Dubai starting in November to conclude that global “stocktake.” (The Toronto Star)

Saturday March 18, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday March 18, 2023

Ontario experienced its darkest winter in more than 80 years

October 15, 2021

If you felt Ontario had an abnormally dark and dreary winter this year, the science backs you up.

In fact, parts of the province saw the least amount of direct sunlight in more than eight decades.

Data by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) shows that between December 2022 and February 2023, some regions of Ontario recorded the lowest levels of solar energy since 1940.

Brian Brettschneider, an Alaska-based climatologist with the U.S. National Weather Service, analyzed the data published by the ECMWF and presented the findings in several maps.

“There’s kind of this bullseye over southern Ontario, where the solar energy was quite a bit lower than, comparatively speaking, anywhere else,” he said, in an interview with the Star.

Though Ontario had “unremarkable” levels of sunlight in December, it was in January when the province experienced “exceptionally low” amounts of solar energy, said Brettschneider. It was followed by a February season which also had lower-than-normal levels of sunlight.

Looking back at the weather in Toronto this season, the city experienced 14 consecutive days in late January without the sun appearing, according to David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada. Earlier in the season, between Dec. 30 and Jan. 13, there was only one day that was described as mainly clear.

August 25, 2021

“It’s hard to imagine a year that was so cloudy and overcast,” said Phillips. “We also had fog, drizzle, snow, freezing rain, blowing snow and snow showers — a whole litany of precipitation types.”

The wet and overcast conditions were due to persistent flows of moisture arriving from the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, said Brettschneider.

“You just get a lot of efficient cloud production when that happens,” he added.

Phillips also noted that southern Ontario had an unseasonably warm winter season, except for this March. But the low-pressure systems that bring these balmy conditions usually bring clouds and moisture as well, he said. (The Toronto Star) 

 

Friday March 17, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 17, 2023

Trudeau calls David Johnston ‘unimpeachable’ as Conservatives attack his impartiality

March 9, 2023

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended his choice of former governor general David Johnston as special election rapporteur Friday, arguing that Conservative attacks on him show the party is more interested in creating chaos than tackling foreign election interference.

“David Johnston has served this country in many, many different ways through a long and unimpeachable career,” Trudeau said in Guelph, Ont. of the man he appointed to investigate reports of foreign election interference.

“When we are looking to someone who will put the country first, and put the interest of Canadians at the core of everything he does, there is no better name than David Johnston.”

Citing classified Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) sources, multiple media reports have alleged that China tried to ensure the Liberals won a minority government in the last general election. Those reports also said Beijing worked to defeat Conservative candidates who were critical of China by interfering in the last two federal elections.

March 2, 2023

A panel of top civil servants concluded that attempts to interfere with the 2021 federal election did not affect the results. Trudeau has announced multiple investigations into foreign election interference and appointed Johnston as special rapporteur earlier this week.

Among other things, Johnston has been tasked with advising the prime minister on whether to call a public inquiry — something all of the opposition parties have demanded.

Trudeau has said he will abide by Johnston’s recommendations. The Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois pushed back against Johnston’s appointment Thursday, arguing that he is too closely linked with the prime minister.

March 19, 2015

“Trudeau has named a family friend, old neighbour from the cottage and member of the Beijing-funded Trudeau foundation to be the independent rapporteur on Beijing’s interference,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a media statement.

“Get real. Trudeau must end his cover up. Call a public inquiry.”

Trudeau said Poilievre is “hoping that if he attacks our institutions with a flamethrower, maybe he’s going to be able to win. That sounds like a really great way of ensuring that all Canadians lose.”

The prime minister said the Conservatives under Poilievre are only concerned with turning the election interference issue into a partisan circus.

“We need to stand up for our institutions, we need to reassure Canadians that everything has been done and will be done to make sure that they are focused on serving Canadians, and keeping people safe. (CBC) 

 

Thursday March 16, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 16, 2023

Transport Minister pledges to close passenger compensation loophole used by airlines

January 13, 2023

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Tuesday the federal government will close a loophole that allows airlines to deny customers compensation for cancelled flights.

The reform will come as part of an overhaul of passenger rights to be tabled in Parliament this spring, he said at a news conference.

Asked whether he would end the exemption that lets carriers reject compensation claims by citing safety issues, Alghabra answered in the affirmative.

“The short answer is yes. We are working on strengthening and clarifying the rules to ensure that we make a distinction,” he said.

“Obviously we don’t want planes to fly when it’s unsafe to do so. But there are certain things that are within the control of the airlines, and we need to have clearer rules that puts the responsibility on the airlines when it’s their responsibility.”

Alghabra’s pledge came during a news conference at Toronto’s Pearson airport Tuesday morning, where he promised an additional$75.9 million over three years to reduce the backlog of complaints at the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).

May 25, 2022

The money will allow the transport regulator to hire 200 more employees who can chip away at the 42,000 complaints currently filed there, he said.

“The backlog is huge.”

The announcement comes after the government topped up the agency’s funding by $11 million last year – shortly before travel chaos erupted over the summer as flight demand surged, prompting another wave of complaints.

Gabor Lukacs, president of the Air Passenger Rights advocacy group, expressed skepticism that the new cash will make a big dent in the backlog.

“The government is throwing good money after bad,” he said. “It will not improve lack of enforcement on its own.”

Alghabra hinted at other changes upcoming in a revamped passenger rights charter, including potential reforms to the regulator’s role as an investigative and enforcement body.

“We are looking at strengthening the rules, as I said, and perhaps looking at increasing the authorities that the CTA has. But I leave it up to the CTA to exercise its judgment and when and how to impose these fines,” Alghabra told reporters.

The agency has a dual mandate as a tribunal handling complaints and a regulatory authority, though advocates say it has not gone far enough to punish violations under the latter. (The Globe & Mail)