Ontario

Wednesday November 9, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 9, 2022

Pushing back against Doug Ford’s heavy hand

October 22, 2022

Premier Doug Ford and his government backed down dramatically on their unconstitutional dealings with education unions, specifically, CUPE. Is there any chance Ford will similarly back down on his government’s decision to override the will of Hamilton city council to freeze the city’s urban boundary?

It would be nice to argue yes, but it would also be fanciful. Ford didn’t back down from the education fight for any ethical or moral reason. It wasn’t because he wanted to keep kids in schools or wanted a fair deal for Ontario’s lowest paid education workers.

Rather, he backed down entirely out of fear. He saw the public opinion polling that showed most Ontarians blamed his government for the standoff, not the union. He heard the threats of wider-spread job action in support of CUPE. Faced with a protracted labour war, recognizing that the optics don’t favour his government, Ford did a dramatic reversal.

December 11, 2018

Good for CUPE and other unions lined up in support. But the grim reality is Hamilton city council does not have a similarly big stick. Municipalities are creatures of the province, and there is no real appeal of a decision taken directly by Queen’s Park and dropped on a local government.

Nor is there much people can do when a government so blatantly reverses itself on environmental policy, which it did last Friday with the decision to allow development on Greenbelt lands.

Four years ago, Ford said: “The people have spoken. I’m going to listen to them, they don’t want me to touch the Greenbelt, we won’t touch the Greenbelt.”

May 12, 2022

That was after he was recorded telling development friends that he would free up Greenbelt land so they could build more urban sprawl. His response was that now historic promise, which now lies in pieces on the ground.

The plan is to take 15 pieces of Greenbelt land, totalling 7,400 acres, and make them available for development in places like Hamilton, Toronto, Grimsby, Pickering and Ajax. But it’s all good, says the government, because we will add another 9,400 acres back in from somewhere else.

What many people don’t yet know is that most of that replacement land, river valleys and the like, is already covered under other environmental protection policies. So it can’t be developed anyway, and the net environmental impact will be more development and on previously protected lands.

November 12, 2021

That’s the sort of sleight of hand practised by Ford and friends. And up against it, there’s a limit to what a local government, like Hamilton’s, can do.

That doesn’t mean city council shouldn’t try, only that our expectations should be tempered. Re-elected Coun. John-Paul Danko put it this way to Spec journalists: “I think we need to turn over every stone, as it were, to find ways to resist this kind of growth that is not in the best interest of our city.”

An example, cited by Danko, could be delaying servicing previously protected lands with essential infrastructure. You can’t build houses where there are no roads and sewers. Another tactic might be expediting intensification in existing neighbourhoods, suggested Environmental Defence lawyer Phil Pothen.

These and other ideas are worth exploring, and will challenge our new city council. But based on the overall reaction to the province’s stomping all over local democracy, they are worth discussing and implementing where it makes sense. The good news is that we’re hardly alone as other municipalities are also feeling betrayed and will be weighing their options.

November 13, 2020

Given that, it makes sense for municipalities of a similar mind to come together, perhaps under the auspices of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). Individually, there might be little they can do to slow down the government’s “pave paradise” mentality. But collectively, who knows?

What is the alternative? Roll over and accept the government’s ideologically-driven development agenda? Allow conservation and wetland protection to suffer as conservation authorities are neutered? Watch farmland disappear under expensive urban sprawl, which ultimately costs local taxpayers because greenfield development doesn’t pay for itself? Those options are even more unappealing. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro … These sped up clips are posted to encourage others to be creative, to take advantage of the technology many of us already have and to use it to produce satire. Comfort the afflicted. Afflict the comforted.

 

Tuesday November 8, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 8, 2022

Doug Ford uses a big principle for small politics

There is no real substantive reason why the Premier of Ontario can’t testify before the inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act, but, as a Federal Court judge has ruled, he has a “lawful excuse.”

November 4, 2022

Doug Ford has found that he can indeed use an important, constitutionally entrenched principle to serve small political goals.

Mr. Ford and his Deputy Premier, Sylvia Jones, had claimed parliamentary privilege, the venerable precept that ensures the work of legislatures isn’t sidetracked by lawsuits and legal proceedings, to avoid a day of testimony this Thursday – on a day when the Ontario legislature isn’t even sitting.

He has won in court, so now he won’t have to explain why he felt Ontario’s policing laws, and Ontario’s police, weren’t enough to handle February’s truckers’ convoy protests and blockades of border crossings and city streets, or testify about those events, which took place mostly in his province.

Justice Simon Fothergill’s ruling made clear that Mr. Ford won in court because parliamentary privilege protects MPPs from having to testify before courts and inquiries – whether or not testifying would actually impede the work of the Premier, or the legislature.

February 5, 2022

In the end, Justice Fothergill acknowledged the breadth of parliamentary privilege. It isn’t some tiny technicality. It’s a principle of parliamentary independence from the courts that comes from Westminster and is entrenched in Canada’s Constitution.

But the key issue is still that Mr. Ford and Ms. Jones didn’t have to hide behind that privilege. Parliamentarians often waive it. The Premier used this big principle as a legal loophole to protect himself.

If you’re keeping score, you might notice that Mr. Ford has made a habit of invoking big constitutionally recognized mechanisms to deal with political challenges. He pre-emptively invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights in back-to-work legislation for support workers in Ontario schools. He backtracked on that Monday. Just because you can invoke big principles to further small politics, it doesn’t mean you should.

February 19, 2022

It is true, as Mr. Ford has argued, that the Emergencies Act inquiry revolves around a federal government decision. What’s at issue is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to invoke the act on Feb. 14 to respond to the convoy protests. That legislation, 

which allowed the authorities to employ extraordinary powers including freezing bank accounts, is only to be used when no other law will do. The inquiry must determine whether that threshold was met.

But to get there, the commission has to figure out whether normal policing – under the jurisdiction of the province – should have been enough. Mr. Ford felt it wasn’t. (The Globe & Mail) 

 

Friday November 4, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 4, 2022

Virus’, a summons, strike, and notwithstanding: A bad week for Doug Ford

August 3, 2022

Some of the largest pediatric hospitals across the country are being overwhelmed by an unprecedented surge in sick children, forcing them to keep families waiting for hours in emergency departments, cancel surgeries and transfer some teens to adult facilities.

An unusually early upswing in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections is partly to blame. But other problems – including the inability of many families to find primary care providers and a shortage of over-the-counter fever and pain medication for infants and children – are adding to the crisis.

With emergency rooms seeing far more seriously ill children than normal and pediatric in-patient and intensive-care units at or near capacity, doctors say they are unsure how the health care system will cope when cold and flu season hits its peak in the next few months. (The Globe & Mail) 

June 16, 2021

Meanwhile, Ontario has now passed legislation making it illegal for 55,000 education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees to strike and imposing a contract on them.

The workers are expected to walk off the job Friday after mediation between the Ontario government and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) failed to reach a deal. There’s no word on when the job action will end. School boards are advising parents to make alternative child-care plans into next week.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the government had no choice but to proceed with its legislation, which includes the notwithstanding clause that allows the legislature to override parts of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a five-year term.

November 2, 2022

“For the sake of Ontario’s two million students, to keep classrooms open, CUPE has left us with no choice but to pass the Keeping Kids in Class Act,” he said.

“It is my hope and expectation that they will show up tomorrow for our kids,” said Lecce, saying the union would not rescind its intent to strike when the two parties went back to the bargaining table. 

Bill 28 will make strike action illegal, though the CUPE has said workers will walk off the job Friday regardless. Early childhood educators, educational assistants and custodians are among those taking part in the strike.

Premier Doug Ford, who was not present during the final vote on Bill 28, said Thursday that the union left him with “no choice” but to introduce Bill 28. He said students have already suffered through two years of pandemic disruptions, and the government will use every tool at its disposal to ensure kids stay in class full-time. (CBC News) 

October 27, 2022

Ontario government lawyers argued Tuesday there would be “irreparable harm” to the rule of law if Premier Doug Ford and a top minister were compelled to testify at a federal inquiry after citing parliamentary privilege in trying to avoid doing so.

But lawyers for the Public Order Emergency Commissioner, which is overseeing the inquiry, argued evidence of that harm was “speculative” at best.

The arguments were made in Federal Court as Ford and then-solicitor general Sylvia Jones look to quash a summons for them to appear at the inquiry examining the the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act to end the so-called Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa and Windsor, Ont., last winter.

February 16, 2022

Both Ford and Jones have argued through their lawyers that they’re immune to testifying after invoking parliamentary privilege, a centuries-old privilege enshrined in the constitution that is granted to sitting politicians.

Parliamentary privilege is what protects the separation of court, the Crown and the legislature in the proper functioning of a constitutional system, said Susan Keenan, a lawyer for the province.

Justice Simon Fothergill said both Ford and Jones have “relevant” testimony to give and that the harm to them, practically speaking, is “not all that serious, just two people testifying.”

He noted that parliamentary privilege resulting in immunity to being summoned to a criminal or civil court is a long-standing privilege. But Fothergill said this case will turn on whether he finds that privilege applies to public inquiries.

The judge said he’ll have a decision by Nov. 8, two days before Ford and Jones are schedule to testify at the inquiry. (Global News) 

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro … These sped up clips are posted to encourage others to be creative, to take advantage of the technology many of us already have and to use it to produce satire. Comfort the afflicted. Afflict the comforted.

 

 

Wednesday November 2, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 2, 2022

Ontario government’s wrecking ball negotiating tactic not an answer

Prior to the last province-wide crisis in education, Mike Harris government education minister John Snobelen promised to make changes in Ontario’s education policy by “creating a crisis.”

July 29, 2022

Sadly, it looks like Doug Ford and his education minister, Stephen Lecce, are planning to do the same thing. This week, rather than continuing bargaining with Canadian Union of Public Employees education workers, the province passed a back-to-work law before a job action could begin, imposed an non-negotiated contract arbitrarily, and promised to use the notwithstanding clause of Canada’s constitution to fend off any legal challenges.

Why? Lecce says it is in response to CUPE’s having given strike notice that job action could — not would — start as early as this Friday. The sledgehammer approach is needed to guarantee “stability” in education, says Lecce.

That’s a red herring. In the event of job action, Hamilton public schools will remain open. In Halton, schools will move to alternative scheduling to allow for adequate cleaning. And the Hamilton Catholic board has said it would close schools.

October 20, 2021

Clearly, denying collective bargaining to education assistants, custodians, early childhood educators and office staff wasn’t destined to close all schools as Lecce claims. So just what is the government’s agenda? Will it do the same when crunch-time comes while bargaining with teachers? Does the government intend to take away bargaining rights from all education workers?

CUPE education workers, 70 per cent of whom are women, are the lowest paid in the school system. On average, they earn $39,000 a year. With inflation, they have seen real wage reduction of more than 10 per cent. CUPE is seeking 11.7 per cent increases.

We’re not judging whether that increase is justified or not, or whether the province’s offer, closer to 1 per cent, is remotely fair. That’s what negotiations are for, including mediation and ultimately arbitration.

But prematurely neutering the bargaining process by declaring any job action illegal is not fair, ethical or wise.

August 20, 2012

The last government that tried imposing a contract on education workers was the McGuinty Liberal government. In 2016, Justice Thomas Lederer of the Ontario Superior Court said of that imposition: “When reviewed in the context of the Charter and the rights it provides, it becomes apparent that the process engaged in was fundamentally flawed. It could not, by its design, provide meaningful collective bargaining.”

The Ford government clearly anticipated a similar finding, and is already prepared to use the notwithstanding clause — the constitution’s nuclear option — to ignore any legal ruling. That is an abuse of the intention of the clause.

Consider the words of federal Justice Minister David Lametti, who is looking at how Ottawa could challenge the province’s use of the notwithstanding clause.

June 11, 2021

“It de facto means that people’s rights are being infringed and it’s being justified using the notwithstanding clause,” he said. “Using it pre-emptively is exceedingly problematic. It cuts off both political debate and judicial scrutiny.”

The fact that the province has already decided to use the nuclear option also suggests it knows full well it is violating the constitutional rights of education workers. Otherwise it wouldn’t need to rely on the notwithstanding clause prior to any adjudication. We should be concerned that our government is knowingly violating the rights of 55,000 Ontarians, including thousands in Hamilton and Halton.

No one wants schools closed. No one wants an education strike. But are we willing to accept accomplishing those objectives by force, taking a wrecking ball to the collective bargaining process?

If we are, we would be wise to ask ourselves: Who, and what, is next? (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Thursday October 27, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 27, 2022

Doug Ford can’t hide from the Emergencies Act inquiry

For the past 10 days Canadians have been watching as the closed doors that protect politicians and police from public scrutiny have been ripped from their hinges.

February 10, 2022

The inquiry into the federal Liberal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act, headed by Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Paul Rouleau, has been a gold mine for information junkies, with its fire hose release of documents, emails, handwritten notes and direct testimony into the fiasco that was the so-called Freedom Convoy in Ottawa last winter.

This inquiry has been illuminating, but it sure hasn’t been pretty. We have been offered an unfiltered look at clashing egos, duelling priorities and internecine rivalries. We have been privy to police infighting and dysfunction, charges of an “insurrection” against the former Ottawa Police Chief, Peter Sloly and repeated tales of intelligence and communications failures. We have heard from outgoing Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and await testimony from Sloly and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and senior ministers.

But if Ontario Premier Doug Ford gets his way, we won’t be hearing from him. Transparency and accountability are nowhere on his to-do list.

The decision of Ford and his former solicitor-general and now Deputy Premier Sylvia Jones to refuse to testify at the inquiry is indefensible. It is also displays an astounding level of arrogance and political ineptitude.

February 15, 2022

The inquiry has already heard that, according to notes from a Feb. 8 phone call between Watson and Trudeau, the prime minister thought Ford was “hiding” from his responsibilities for political reasons. Ford is now hiding in plain view, no notes required.

Testimony so far has cast the response — or more accurately the detachment — of Ford and his cabinet in an unsavoury light.

Watson testified he felt it was “disingenuous” that Queen’s Park had claimed it had sent 1,500 OPP officers to help police the occupation. Watson put the actual number closer to 50 or 60. He testified that Ford thought it would be a waste of time to join other levels of government to sit around a table “talking and making decisions,” and federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair, according to notes of a meeting, thought Ford was “worried about being visible” and facing questions about his response.

Ford has also been disingenuous — if not wilfully misleading — when he told reporters last week that he hadn’t been asked to testify. Indeed, according to the letter released by commission counsel Monday, he and Jones had many times been asked and they had many times declined requests from the inquiry to sit down for interviews. Those interviews would have been the first step before public testimony.

February 19, 2022

According to a provincial spokesperson, Ford was being truthful when he said he had not been asked to testify, only to be interviewed, and that the request for testimony came after his public remarks. That can only be described as “parsing,” and Ontarians — and Canadians — deserve transparency, not a surgical semantic dissection.

Ford has been outmaneuvered on all sides. He is rightly being pilloried at Queen’s Park for his evasiveness, but Trudeau already has what he needs from the premier — a public declaration that a Progressive Conservative leader of the largest province stood “shoulder-to-shoulder” with his decision to declare the Emergencies Act. That gives the Prime Minister a shield against the convoy-friendly Conservative opposition in Ottawa and its friend-in-chief Pierre Poilievre.

On Tuesday, Ford’s lawyers filed a notice of application in Federal Court citing “parliamentary privilege” as the reason neither the premier nor former solicitor general Sylvia Jones should be compelled to appear.

August 27, 2019

“The applicants make this application for … quashing the summons to witness issued … to Premier Doug Ford (and) … Minister Sylvia Jones dated October 24, 2022,” the court documents say.

“The summonses were issued without jurisdiction, pursuant to an error of law, and must be quashed,” the legal action continues.

We don’t yet know whether the invocation of the Emergencies Act was required. But this is ultimately a political question, not a policing matter. Which makes the behaviour of Ford and Jones even more puzzling. Both ducked as the legislature reconvened Tuesday, leaving House leader Paul Calandra to declare, “this is a policing matter not a political one.” Just one more disingenuous statement from the Ford government. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro …