Saturday, September 6, 1997

Meet the Spec's new cartoonistMeet the Spec’s new cartoonist

The Hamilton Spectator — Saturday, September 6, 1997

“Great drawings — and he’s local.” That was our first reaction when freelance artist Graeme MacKay, then of Ancaster, started sending his caricatures to The Spectator in early 1995. Their use became more frequent until this summer, MacKay was brought on staff as editorial cartoonist to brighten our Opinion Page with his fine, funny, often biting cartoons.

It’s been a long apprenticeship. Born in 1968, MacKay grew up in Dundas, he was always something of a “news geek” and he was the kid who never stopped doodling. He would draw his teachers and classmates, a sure way to win a chuckle or two. In Grade 4, he drew the whole class, and ran off photocopies for them all, on demand. He also attended junior art classes at the Dundas Valley School of Art in the late 1970s.

Perhaps fitting for a future editorial cartoonist, Graeme went to work as a butcher, at the University Plaza Miracle Mart. But he was cut out for a different future.

At the University of Ottawa from 1987 to 1991, he submitted cartoons to the student newspaper, The Fulcrum, and went on to become the graphics editor. In 1992 he went to Europe with sketchbook in hand and honed his skills. But he also put in time as a bacon butcher at luxurious Harrod’s department store in London.

After returning to Canada in 1994, he worked for the Ancaster News and began submitting cartoons to other newspapers, with growing success. A close call with a sawblade in 1996 convinced him to abandon butchery and devote all his time to cartooning, moving to Toronto to do it. He has since been published in major daily newspapers across Canada plus the Chicago Tribune and Denver Post.

As The Spectator’s full-time editorial cartoonist, MacKay hopes “Hamilton is mature enough to laugh at itself.” He intends to provoke and make a point, but mainly, he hopes to be funny.

He’s also convinced that if he’s done his job well as a cartoonist, he won’t ever have to explain his work.

“I prefer to keep my mouth shut and let my pen do the talking.”

Friday August 15, 1997

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday August 15, 1997

Jolting Hydro into action

The real danger at Ontario Hydro isn’t Candu reactors. The greater risk is in accepting at face value what the provincial government and the Crown corporation’s board of directors say about the troubled utility.The government and board of directors seem to want Ontarions to believe that the problems at Hydro’s nuclear division are in hand. President Alan Kupcis has sacrificed himself, which is appropriate under the circumstances. Managers have been let go, and more heads will roll in the days to come, says Hydro board chair William Farlinger. Seven reactors are being closed and Hydro will improve its performance beginning right away. The inference seems to be: Carl Andognini’s explosive report has exposed the rot in Hydro management, and we can rest assured problems in the nuclear power generating system are being dealt with.

But the truth is that some of the most difficult, sensitive questions about Hydro’s abysmal performance have yet to be answered or, in some cases, even asked.

– Where was Hydro’s board of directors during the years nuclear division management was growing more isolated and ineffective?

To date, the only board member to acknowledge responsibility is Kupcis, who was also chief operating officer. What about the remainder of the board? Were they unaware of the growing problem? Did directors know of the situation, and fail to act? Some of what was uncovered in the scathing review of Hydro’s nuclear operations is new, but other problems are longstanding and have been aired publicly.

Either the board of directors knew about the problems and didn’t act, or it was asleep at the wheel. Either way it’s remarkable and disturbing that this board is being allowed to continue operating the public utility. As corporate governance analyst Richard Finlay says: “The board has to assume responsibility for the enormity of the disaster that has occurred on their watch.”

At the same time as the Harris government oversees the rebuilding of management, it should put in place a capable board of directors. Traditionally, many Hydro board seats have been patronage appointments. Clearly it’s time that changed.

– Should Ontario Hydro reduce or eliminate its nuclear component over time?

When it comes to things nuclear, there are few objective opinions. Thanks to Hydro’s mismanagement, the anti-nuclear lobby has ammunition

for the foreseeable future in its quest to shut down the nuclear industry, but much of what we’ll hear from both camps in the months to come is nothing more than propaganda. Yes, there is reason to question the extent to which Ontario relies on nuclear power. Waste disposal costs, environmental threats, and lingering questions about effective long-term mainten ance on Candu reactors combine to throw a long shadow over the future of nuclear power. That said, most of the evidence points toward the Candu reactors being safe and efficient if properly maintained. Contrary to what some environmental groups claim, there is no immediate danger from nuclear operations if they are properly managed.

The government and private sectors should use this occasion to launch a research and development campaign to test alternate power generation methods with an eye to reducing Ontario’s reliance on nuclear power. Fossil fuels are not an alternative.

– Should Ontario Hydro be privatized?

No. We’re not confident that the private sector will regulate nuclear power properly, and there’s no evidence that the Harris government has the political will to insist on effective regulation. In any case, it’s unlikely a private sector investor would be interested in the financial swamp that is Hydro’s nuclear division.

That said, it’s obvious the time has come to end Ontario Hydro’s monopoly. The government should plan now to allow private sector power generating companies to compete with Hydro. (Source: Hamilton Spectator Editorial)

 

Wednesday July 12, 1997

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday July 12, 1997 BURNING DESIRE TO WATCH Everyone's an armchair fire chief. As the plastic recycling plant burned to a shell, heaving an Apocalyptic cloud of smoke skyward, it seemed half of Hamilton gathered Wednesday night to gawk -- and offer their firefighting expertise to anyone within earshot. "What nimrod would put a hose right there? The smoke's coming from over there, " said one man, pointing agitatedly to where he felt Hamilton's smoke-eaters should be paying attention. "Why aren't there any hoses along that wall? They should be hosing down the walls near that smokestack, " said another, as he settled into a comfy patch of grass off of Ferguson Avenue North with his family. But along with the complainers came an enthusiastic crowd of onlookers who were treated to one of the biggest and most spectacular fires in the city's history as free entertainment. Children played, families sat on blankets, others brought coolers and lawn chairs to sit and watch along the railway tracks and grassy knolls around the Wellington Street North Plastimet Inc. plant. It seemed more like Victoria Day fireworks than a fire disaster. People Ooooooh'ed and Ahhhhh'ed when walls started to collapse, or when the thick smoke coming from the fire scene temporarily changed from black to light grey and then back to black. Area residents spilled on to their porches and tugged on beer and cola. An enterprising ice cream vendor peddled into the area. Dogs caught Frisbees. People laughed. Some children cried. Driving was a nightmare as rubberneckers spent more time gazing at the plume of smoke than on the road, and the streets and sidewalks were jammed by people following the towering inferno to find the source of the fire. A threesome of young pedestrians, picking their way along Barton Street towards the fire, were excitedly guessing the cause of the blaze. "Maybe it's a bomb! Or a plane crash!" offered

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 12, 1997

BURNING DESIRE TO WATCH

Everyone’s an armchair fire chief. As the plastic recycling plant burned to a shell, heaving an Apocalyptic cloud of smoke skyward, it seemed half of Hamilton gathered Wednesday night to gawk — and offer their firefighting expertise to anyone within earshot.

Hamilton Spectator photo

“What nimrod would put a hose right there? The smoke’s coming from over there, ” said one man, pointing agitatedly to where he felt Hamilton’s smoke-eaters should be paying attention.

“Why aren’t there any hoses along that wall? They should be hosing down the walls near that smokestack, ” said another, as he settled into a comfy patch of grass off of Ferguson Avenue North with his family.

But along with the complainers came an enthusiastic crowd of onlookers who were treated to one of the biggest and most spectacular fires in the city’s history as free entertainment.

Children played, families sat on blankets, others brought coolers and lawn chairs to sit and watch along the railway tracks and grassy knolls around the Wellington Street North Plastimet Inc. plant.

It seemed more like Victoria Day fireworks than a fire disaster.

People Ooooooh’ed and Ahhhhh’ed when walls started to collapse, or when the thick smoke coming from the fire scene temporarily changed from black to light grey and then back to black.

Area residents spilled on to their porches and tugged on beer and cola.

An enterprising ice cream vendor peddled into the area.

Dogs caught Frisbees. People laughed. Some children cried.

Driving was a nightmare as rubberneckers spent more time gazing at the plume of smoke than on the road, and the streets and sidewalks were jammed by people following the towering inferno to find the source of the fire.

A threesome of young pedestrians, picking their way along Barton Street towards the fire, were excitedly guessing the cause of the blaze.

“Maybe it’s a bomb! Or a plane crash!” offered one.

“Maybe the Mars probe crashed!” enthused another.

And with officials keeping mum on what might have sparked the fire causing all this commotion — who can argue with the Mars probe theory?

(Source: By Adrian Humphreys, Reporter Hamilton Spectator)

 

SaveSave

Saturday July 12, 1997

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday July 12, 1997

Targeting Goths wrong way to fix downtown

“Here’s a suggestion: build a gibbet in Gore Park and take all these teenagers and the poor beggars down there and hang ’em. We’ll have a hanging every month, and that’ll bring people back into downtown.”– Sarcasm from a shopper who lives on the Mountain and says she’s never been bothered downtown.

Judging people by category never works. In every group, whether you measure it by age, race, belief, wealth, job or gender, there are saints and there are slugs.

Most are somewhere in the middle.

This goes for the people who fight to keep downtown alive by opening their stores every day just as it does for their sometime opponents: the people who sit on the sidewalks and ask passersby for money.

And of course, it applies to the people who provide the cash to keep them both alive: the consumer.

Downtown’s many communities have reacted strongly to this week’s proposal for a bylaw that would prohibit pedestrians from gathering on Hamilton sidewalks.

The primary target is people who call themselves Goths or Freaks: the tattooed, pierced and pancake-faced teens and young adults standing and sitting along King Street east of James.

To them, the bylaw would be an unfair restriction on their freedom to congregate and, for those among them who don’t have homes or jobs, to collect pocket change from downtown workers and shoppers.

The good ones can “pan” up to $60 or $80 a day.

To the people whose goods and services compete for the same pool of money, panhandlers are killing them.

At the downtown strip club Chez M, they take strong exception to the Goths’ plea that they are gentle and non-threatening.

On June 6, a group of Goths chased a patron leaving the club down the alley, catching him just outside the back door.

“They were laying the boots to this guy’s head, ” said Jeannette, a Chez M bartender. “These kids don’t care. They will say and do whatever they feel like.”

Hamilton-Wentworth police confirm a beating took place in that alley and that a 32-year-old man was taken to hospital and treated after being kicked in the chest and head.

An 18-year-old has been charged with assault causing bodily harm.

The staff at Chez M say there is constant trouble with Goth kids hanging around their entrance.

“They ask us for spare change, ” Jeannette said. “I say, ‘Hey, buddy, I work for spare change’.”

She said the same people use the abandoned store entrance next door as a washroom and staff constantly have to pour bleach in the corners just to get rid of the smell.

“I’ve been in this business 10 years. I’m a pretty tough cookie, but this has to stop, ” Jeannette said.

Tough to argue with that.

Further down King Street, the owner of an independent business, who, fearing retribution, asked not to be named, said he used to bring in $200,000 a year. Now, some panhandlers take home more money than he does.

“Sidewalks aren’t for sitting on, as far as I’m concerned. People don’t want to be pestered when they go shopping, ” he said. “The whole downtown’s a mess. I don’t know where to start.”

Not by stopping people from gathering, says Frank Rocchi, a stockbroker who works in the office towers above King and James. He’s no fan of the Goths, but he won’t stand for sidewalk segregation.

“I’m absolutely appalled by this proposal, ” he said. “It’s not only draconian, it’s antediluvian.”

Frank has a good point. So, however, does Louie Petrou, owner of Leathers and Leathers Giant Discount Warehouse. He’s been at King and Mary for 25 years.

He doesn’t think it’s right to target people for what they wear, either, but he knows panhandlers are hurting downtown’s image.

And in business, image is important.

“No one should have to be approached like that, ” he says. “Everyone has the right to be where they want, but not the right to disturb others.”

All these rights still add up to something wrong.

There doesn’t seem to be much patience left among the shopping public — the people who will really decide whether downtown lives or dies.

“I almost don’t care if anything is done, ” said one shopper, “because I think our downtown is toast anyway, whether we have a nice new fountain or not.”

They say their former customers would rather go to a mall, where security guards move along the bothersome beggars. (Hamilton Spectator, 6/28/1997, A3)

Goths are not the problem

The idea of banning Goths, panhandlers or any other visible minority group from downtown Hamilton is truly remarkable in one way: It has absolutely no redeeming value. It’s unfair, impractical, draconian, imprecise, illogical and ultimately useless.

Somebody, please, put this ill-conceived plan out of its misery, followed quickly by the plan to spend $150,000 to study loitering.

Talk about fiddling while the city is burning. Hamilton’s downtown core is a mess. The office vacancy rate is sky high. Storefront after storefront is empty. Our downtown mall is eerily empty. The cheque-cashing outlets, bars and adult entertainment arcades are doing a solid business while retailers suffer through month after month, year after year, of stagnant business.

While no one has suggested Goths and panhandlers are directly responsible, the argument being put forth by some downtown businesspeople seems to be that these are generally unpleasant people, and they intimidate shoppers.

Perhaps this is true. But it’s also true that other people stay away from downtown because of the proliferation of arcades and sex shops, and no one is suggesting they be banned from the core. People have been saying for years they don’t go downtown because they don’t want to pay for parking when it’s free at suburban malls, but to date we’ve only had Band-Aid suggestions and solutions to the parking problem.

Perhaps that is because these larger issues demand bigger, complex answers. There’s nothing simple about solving the parking problem, about recruiting new business and residential properties to the core. Fixing the core requires many solutions to many problems, and above all requires a vision for downtown development.

Getting rid of Goths and panhandlers is easy by comparison, so perhaps it’s understandable in a way that businesspeople and some local politicians, lacking answers for the bigger problems, reach out to do what they can with the simple ones.

But the problem here isn’t too many Goths and panhandlers, it’s too few people. If our downtown core was healthy and well- populated, visible groups like these wouldn’t stand out, or probably even be noticed. Anyone who remembers the chaotic city core of the ’60s and ’70s, hippies, shoppers and businesspeople all sharing the same sidewalk, can attest to that.

That some people are intimidated when they go downtown is a symptom of the area’s overall state of decay, and that’s the problem that must be addressed.

As for the $150,000 plan to study loitering, we’d suggest an’ alternative. Take the $150,000, and hire a qualified, dynamic organizer, marketer and promoter to co-ordinate a downtown revitalization plan, even if only on a one-year contract. The right person in that job, combined with political will and a vision, will go a long way toward really fixing Hamilton’s downtown core. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)