Lifestyle

Thursday November 1, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 1, 2018

Two Former GGs on the hot seat for their lavish ways

Canada’s governors general deserve continued financial support once they retire but they need to be more transparent and accountable for their expenses, Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.

February 20, 2004

The prime minister made the comment after a Postmedia report revealed that Adrienne Clarkson, who was governor general from 1999 to 2005, has billed more than $1 million in expenses since leaving the viceregal job.

Besides their pensions, former governors general get lifetime public funding for office and travel expenses through a program that has existed since 1979, on the premise that governors general never truly retire.

Trudeau said the federal government will review the program to determine “best practices” for supporting former governors general.

September 27, 2005

“These are people who’ve stepped up and offered tremendous service to this country but Canadians expect a certain level of transparency and accountability and we’re going to make sure we’re moving forward in a thoughtful way,” Trudeau said on his way into the Liberals’ weekly caucus meeting.

Clarkson has billed more than $100,000 to the government nine times in the 12 years since she left Rideau Hall.

That’s the threshold for reporting the billings separately, including identifying the claimant, in the federal government’s annual Public Accounts. The Public Accounts disclose no detail about the nature of the expenses.

Expenses of less than $100,000 billed by former governors general are lumped together in a general “temporary help services” category and do not identify who claimed them. (Source: Toronto Star) 

May 27, 2009

Earlier in October, another former Governor-General, Michaelle Jean failed, in her bid for a second term as secretary general of la Francophonie Friday as members chose Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo.

Three days after his government withdrew its support for Jean, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted the move was not part of a deal to advance Canada’s bid for a United Nations Security Council seat in 2020.

Jean had been dogged by stories of excessive spending and questionable expenses during her mandate.

After a four-year term marked by controversy, the former governor general was considered a long shot for a second stint, but she refused to withdraw her candidacy even as support dwindled. (Source: CTV News) 

 

Friday October 5, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 5, 2018

Teenagers who use e-cigarettes more likely to start smoking, study finds

Teens who use electronic cigarettes are more likely to start smoking regular cigarettes – and they are likely to use both products more often over time, a new study found.

February 18, 2012

The Rand Corporation study looked at more than 2,000 youths in California, starting when they were teenagers and continuing until they were young adults.

The researchers found that youth who reported vaping were more likely to also report smoking cigarettes.

When they were surveyed around age 17, more of the teens said they used e-cigarettes in the last month – 8% – than regular cigarettes, at 6%. By around age 19, 9% of the young adults surveyed were using e-cigarettes, but cigarette smoking had jumped to 12%.

“Not only are adolescents who start vaping more likely to start smoking in the future, but they’re also likely to go on and use e-cigarettes and cigarettes more frequently,” said Michael Dunbar, the study’s lead author and a behavioral scientist at Rand.

“Our work provides more evidence that young people who use e-cigarettes progress to smoking cigarettes in the future,” he said. “This study also suggests that teens don’t substitute vaping products for cigarettes. Instead, they go on to use both products more frequently as they get older.”

It’s the latest research to suggest a link for young people between electronic cigarettes and smoking the more dangerous, traditional tobacco-based variety.

For adults who already smoke, e-cigarettes have been promoted as a safer to help them quit. (Continued: The Guardian) 

Tuesday April 24, 2018

 

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 24, 2018

‘We need to rethink the entire plastics industry’: Why banning plastic straws isn’t enough

Britain announced this week that it plans to ban the sale of single-use plastic straws, as support for similar bans grows in Canada and around the world.

March 6, 2015

Advocates say such straw bans should help reduce plastic pollution that harms wildlife and ecosystems, but we need to monitor the effects of such policies. And they say bans may not be feasible for most of the plastics in our lives, so broader changes to the way we produce, consume and dispose of plastics are needed to make a real difference.

Jennifer Provencher, a postdoctoral researcher at Acadia University who studies the ingestion of plastic pollution by wildlife, said Britain’s ban is “an incredibly important step towards minimizing and using plastics more responsibly.”

She noted that single-use plastic items like straws and stir sticks are generally used only for a few minutes before they’re discarded, but can persist in the environment for centuries because plastics don’t typically decompose within a human lifetime.

Scientists estimate we’ve made 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic since the 1950s and 6.3 billion tonnes have already become waste.

More than 330,000 pieces of plastic and foam waste were picked off 2,800 kilometres of Canada’s shoreline by volunteers during beach cleanup events last year, including 17,654 straws — the ninth most common item found during cleanups supported by Ocean Wise and WWF-Canada. Worldwide, 409,087 straws and stirrers were picked up in beach cleanups around the world in 2017, the Ocean Conservancy reports.

Because of their small size, disposable straws are rarely recycled and often end up in the environment.

There, they can cause serious injuries to animals, as shown in a 2015 video that shows a straw being pulled out of a sea turtle’s nostril — the graphic, viral video has been viewed more than 21 million times. (Source: CBC) 

 

Wednesday June 7, 2017

Illustration by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Hamilton’s Food Coat of Arms
Go Section, Wednesday June 7, 2017

Hamilton’s Food Coat of Arms

Anyone who meets me can tell I’m the sort of person who probably over indulges with food which may not necessarily be very the healthy. I love fried chicken and chips, smokey bbq’d pork, and grilled rib steak. My brain is wired to be stimulated regularly by taste bud receptors being in contact with cuisine flavours from around the world i.e.: coconut green curry, garam masala, chimichurri, pesto, Rending, Balsamic vinegar, tarragon and so on.

August 15, 2015

So when I was asked to illustrate a story on my hometown foods I was more than delighted to offer my service. Almost all of the foods follow in the tradition of being old favourites of this one time lunchbox city as chosen by Spectator readers. I’m certainly not one to stick my nose up at a maple dipped donut, roast beef on a bun or rotisserie chicken – admittedly, as a one time butcher, I’m not so fond of wiener meat found in hot dogs. Many of these classics go back decades in Hamilton and back in August of 2015, I illustrated another story which embraced the nostalgia of this city’s restaurant history.

Some people have pointed out that there’s no real healthy food on this current list. As if foods like kale and flax seed haven’t gotten enough coverage in recent years, we’re talking about favourite local foods in this story as voted by readers!

I think a glaring omission is the ever increasing availability of delicious ethic foods in Hamilton, particularly from Asia. Yes, there’s good representation from Italy with our love of pizza, and sausage, and wieners, and Kielbasa from Eastern Europe. But what about pho, vindaloo, tacos, and orange beef? Pardon this glaring endorsement, but I have eaten Indian food all over the world but nothing, and I mean nothing, comes close to the quality and yumminess served up at India Village in Dundas. You read about more of my local hits (and misses) through my TripAdvisor review account.

Perhaps this poll of favourite eats in Hamilton represents more of an older, nostalgic audience of locals. My bet is if a poll is taken a few years from now the sausages of this city will be in for a bigger challenge from the sushis.