Author: Graeme MacKay

Tuesday June 18, 2019

June 18, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 18, 2019

Does Justin Trudeau apologise too much?

(Article from March 2018) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has so far issued four formal apologies for historic injustice since his government’s election in 2015, beating all his predecessors in government mea culpas. Why is Trudeau Canada’s most apologetic leader?

Pez Prime Minister

Just over six months after his election, Justin Trudeau stood in Canada’s Parliament to say sorry.

His apology was made before descendents of passengers of the Komagata Maru, who were present for the statement.

The Japanese vessel was carrying 376 Sikh, Muslim, and Hindu passengers who were denied entry into Canada in 1914 under immigration laws at the time.

Trudeau called the incident “a stain on Canada’s past”.

It was the first in a series of formal apologies made by Trudeau’s Liberal government to acknowledge historic injustices in the country’s past.

His government is expected to issue at least one more mea culpa, having hinted at recognition of a 1939 incident where Canada turned away Jews seeking asylum from Nazi persecution.

Acting on a recommendation from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, last year Trudeau also asked Pope Francis to apologise for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system, where indigenous children were abused for decades.

February 25, 2010

His government is expected to issue at least one more mea culpa, having hinted at recognition of a 1939 incident where Canada turned away Jews seeking asylum from Nazi persecution.

Acting on a recommendation from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, last year Trudeau also asked Pope Francis to apologise for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system, where indigenous children were abused for decades.

The elder Trudeau rejected the idea that a government’s purpose could be to right the past.

“It is our purpose to be just in our time,” he told the House of Commons.

Historian Jordan Stanger-Ross of the University of Victoria says there can be “a fair amount of skepticism” around formal political apologies.

Be it an attempt to close the book on the past wrongs or the political considerations of key constituencies, “government always has clearly mixed motives in apologising,” he says.

The events Trudeau has chosen to apologise for fall squarely in line with the Liberal government’s contemporary policies.

The party campaigned on the idea that “diversity is a source of strength” – a stance he referenced in his Komagata Maru speech. (BBC) 

 

Saturday June 15, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 15, 2019

Basketball gets an energy infusion from the Raptors

Today, at basketball courts across Canada, the squeak of sneakers on hardwood and the thump of dribbling balls is a little more energetic thanks to the Toronto Raptors.

June 11, 2019

Twenty-four years ago, when they first took to the court, subject to jeers from around the National Basketball Association due to their purple jerseys and cartoon-like logo, few people held out much hope the Raptors would become the best team in the world. In fact, there was skepticism that NBA basketball would even catch on in hockey-mad Canada.

And in Vancouver, home of the only other Canadian franchise, it didn’t. After a few years of struggling the Grizzlies were moved to Memphis.

But Toronto was different. They played second or even third fiddle to the Maple Leafs and Blue Jays, but the Raps got a claw-hold in Toronto early. They didn’t get a lot of respect from the league or NBA stars largely disinterested in playing in our comparatively frigid climate, but they did draw fans.

They didn’t have a lot of talent overall, but they were able to draw some all-star calibre players like Damon Stoudamire, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Chris Bosh. Sometimes, when the team overall wasn’t much fun to watch, those players were worth the price of admission.

Then, along came Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozen. The team moved up a notch in terms of respect and credibility. But they got stuck, caught between their own limitations and an indomitable force named LeBron James.

Here’s where the Raptors story takes on the characteristics of a Hollywood script. The organization hires as president Masai Ujiri, an elegant, eloquent man from Nigeria with a great basketball mind. He makes a tough decision and trades team and fan favourite DeRozen and gets in exchange from the San Antonio Spurs a puzzle piece by the name of Kawhi Leonard. Painfully soft-spoken, injured for most of the previous year, but recognized as a potentially great player, Leonard was widely seen as a smart but risky acquisition.

Turns out Ujiri wasn’t just smart, he was a genius. The Raptors carefully nursed Leonard back to full health and Thursday night he hoisted the NBA trophy, quite possibly the best basketball player on the planet.

There is a lot to like about this edition of the Raptors, aside from the fact that they are now NBA champions. There’s Ujiri, who leads a nonprofit group called Giants of Africa, which aims to create pathways to success through basketball for African youth. There’s head coach Nick Nurse, an assistant until this season who took over from the popular Dwane Casey and turns out to be a brilliant head coach. There’s Kyle Lowry, blue collar guard saddled with a reputation of underperformance in the playoffs. Not any more. There’s Cameroonian player Pascal Siakam, who didn’t even take up basketball until he was 15. There’s Marc Gasol, who in the off season has worked to help migrants and refugees.

There’s the team’s overall diversity, with players from around the world coming together to adopt Leonard’s steely, unperturbable, never-too-high, never-too-low approach to the game. And they defeated the dynastic Golden State Warriors, led by future Hall of Fame guard Steph Curry, who played in Southern Ontario during his school years while his father, Dell, played for the Raptors.

Professional athletes are not heroes. That honour is reserved for people who dedicate themselves to helping others and not getting paid millions while doing it. But pro athletes can be admirable, collectively and individually. And they can bring welcome joy and fun into the lives of fans, which the Raptors have most certainly done. Thanks for that. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Friday June 14, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 14, 2019

Time for Moe, Kenney to cool their jets on national unity talk

Is this where politics is taking our nation?

This is not to suggest Bill C-49 and C-69 isn’t a problem for western oil.

December 7, 2018

Nor is it to suggest for a moment that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government haven’t been oblivious to western concerns or that there isn’t legitimate frustration over idiotic notions like Quebec Premier Francois Legault suggesting western oil is no longer socially acceptable. Why there would be different rules for oil tankers on the East Coast than on the West Coast needs to challenged.

And if Trudeau is condemned this October to the inglorious fate of a one-term prime minister, it will be difficult to argue it was undeserved. A government fuelled by the frivolous image politics of its leader is now running on fumes. Its engine is clogged with SNC-Lavalin debris.

But none of this justifies the bizarre and divisive hysteria we are now hearing. Premiers and others are inflating into a national unity crisis pieces of federal legislation addressing changes to the National Energy Board and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and changes to how major infrastructure projects are reviewed and approved.

October 12, 2016

Remember when a national unity crisis was actually about a national unity crisis, like when a quarter of the country was voting to separate?

Let’s be clear: This not the 1980 or 1995 Quebec referendum. It’s not even the National Energy Program of the elder Trudeau of the late 1970s, although, for partisan political reasons, one suspects certain politicians would love to see Bill C-69 raised to that level.

This is 2019 and we’re still just talking about a bill affecting pipelines. How much effect it will have is a subject of legitimate debate, but consider two pertinent questions: What happens to the notion that Bill C-69 stops all pipeline development, if the Trudeau government goes ahead with approval of Trans-Mountain pipeline as early as next week? While we surely need and should have more pipelines, shouldn’t we do our utmost to ensure there aren’t future spills like the Husky spill of three years ago? (Leader-Post) 

 

Thursday June 13, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 13, 2019

Advisory council calls for $15B universal, single-payer pharmacare plan

An advisory council appointed by the Liberal government is recommending the establishment of a universal, single-payer public pharmacare system.

The council’s 171-page report, released Wednesday, calls for the creation of a new drug agency that would draft a national list of prescription medicines that would be covered by the taxpayer, beginning with an initial list of common and essential drugs, by Jan. 1, 2022.

The council recommends that initial list be expanded to a comprehensive plan by Jan. 2, 2027. When fully implemented, the total cost would be $15 billion a year.

Dr. Eric Hoskins, a former Ontario health minister and chair of the advisory council, acknowledged there are “significant incremental costs” to building pharmacare, but he noted that those costs are already being picked up by Canadians.

“We are confident that the implementation plan that we have put forward is one that meets the objectives and requirements that were handed to the council, of creating a program and implementation plan that is fair and sustainable and accessible to Canadians,” he said.

The council proposes a $2 co-payment for common drugs and $5 for less common ones. The fee would be waived for Canadians on social assistance or with low incomes.

The council spent the last year studying various pharmacare models and hearing from more than 32,000 Canadians and organizations sharing their views online and through letters, written submissions and meetings across the country.

Hoskins said it’s time to show “courage and boldness” and to do “some nation building” on a project that would benefit Canadians in “unimaginable ways.” (CBC) 

 

Wednesday June 12, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 12, 2019

Vigilance the best protection from plague of fake news

Canadians will be voting in federal elections in four months. Many have already made up their minds. Regardless, attempts will be made to shift voters’ perceptions. We know this is coming and we need to prepare for it.

Facebook admitted in 2017 that Russian operatives bought political advertising on its social media site intent on disrupting the U.S. elections the previous fall. U.S. citizens (let’s face it: all of us) were subjected to fake news, absurd memes and all manner of slander in a Moscow-driven attempt to affect the vote.

It didn’t end there. Facebook closed down hundreds of fake Facebook accounts, at least one of which had 3.6 million users, set up to help Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Facebook also shut down hundreds of accounts linked to an Israeli political consulting firm, Archimedes Group, whose primary goal is to win campaigns in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

In Canada, we can expect the same. An alleged email made the rounds recently purporting to be from a People’s Party of Canada organizer bizarrely suggesting that non-white Canadians who join Maxime Bernier’s anti-immigrant, Islamophobic party should be displayed prominently but never consulted about policy because “they are all liberals anyway.”

Similarly, the U.S. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was featured in a video in which she was made to look like she was slurring her speech. U.S. President Donald Trump was among those who tweeted the fake video. In this case, Facebook refused to take the video down, claiming it is not its responsibility to censor.

On Monday, Facebook Canada announced that anyone wishing to buy political ads on its platform will need approval. The authorization process involves several steps to confirm the group buying the ad is real and based in Canada. Starting June 30, political ads appearing on Facebook will show who bought the ad and will allow social media users to view information about the ad’s reach.

The Pelosi video, however, is not considered advertising and would have been allowed on the site.

In that case, Facebook is actually correct. Free speech is free speech is free speech. As disgusting as the video is — it was created by slowing down an actual clip of Pelosi speaking and then altering the pitch of her voice to mask the manipulation — it does not qualify as hate speech. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)