2019-33

Wednesday September 24, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 24, 2019

‘How dare you’: Teen environmental activist Greta Thunberg scolds world leaders at UN climate talks

Scolded for doing little, leader after leader promised the United Nations on Monday to do more to prevent a warming world from reaching even more dangerous levels.

December 1, 2015

As they made their pledges at the Climate Action Summit, though, they and others conceded it was not enough. And even before they spoke, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg shamed them over and over for their inaction: “How dare you?”

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres concluded the summit by listing 77 countries that committed to carbon neutrality by 2050, 70 nations pledging to do more to fight climate change, with 100 business leaders promising to join the green economy and one-third of the global banking sector signing up to green goals.

“Action by action, the tide is turning,” he said. “But we have a long way to go.”

June 2, 2017

Businesses and charities also got in on the act, at times even going bigger than major nations. Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced Monday that his foundation, along with The World Bank and some European governments, would provide $790 million in financial help to 300 million of the world’s small farmers adapt to climate change. The Gates foundation pledged $310 million of that.

“The world can still prevent the absolute worst effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing new technologies and sources of energy,” Gates said. “But the effects of rising temperatures are already underway.”

As the day went on Monday and the promises kept coming, the United States seemed out in the cold.

Before world leaders made their promises in three-minute speeches, the 16-year-old Thunberg gave an emotional appeal in which she scolded the leaders with her repeated phrase, “How dare you.”

“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here,” said Thunberg, who began a lone protest outside the Swedish parliament more than a year ago that culminated in Friday’s global climate strikes.

November 28, 2015

“I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you have come to us young people for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.

Thunberg told the UN that even the strictest emission cuts being talked about only gives the world a 50 per cent chance of limiting future warming to another 0.4 C from now, which is a global goal. Those odds, she said, are not good enough.

“We will not let you get away with this,” Thunberg said. “Right now is where we draw the line.”

As this all played out, scientists announced that Arctic sea ice reached its annual summer low and this year the ice shrank so much it tied for the second lowest mark in 40 years of monitoring. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Tuesday September 24, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday September 24, 2019

Premier Doug Ford blasts Trudeau’s ‘unacceptable’ donning of racist blackface

Premier Doug Ford has strongly denounced Justin Trudeau’s penchant for donning blackface and charged there’s a “double standard” over how the Liberal leader’s past misdeeds are being reported.

September 20, 2019

“It was unacceptable back in 2001, it’s unacceptable now,” said the Progressive Conservative premier, who has emerged as a favourite target of the federal Liberals during this election.

“The people are going to decide. They’re going to have the opportunity to decide if they want the prime minister to continue being prime minister or they want a change,” he said Friday.

Last Wednesday, Time magazine published a 2001 photo of Trudeau dressed as Aladdin at a gala when he was a 29-year-old private school teacher at Vancouver’s West Point Grey Academy.

In the wake of that, other photos have surface of him in blackface and brown face.

February 22, 2018

While Trudeau has repeatedly apologized for his transgressions, on Sunday he ducked reporters’ questions when asked if he could recall the last time he wore racist makeup.

Ford took a swipe at the media, saying there’s a “double standard right across the board” in how the controversy is being covered.

“If it was a Conservative, I think it would have been a different story,” the premier told CTV.

In a separate interview with AM640’s Alex Pierson, Ford was asked if he had ever donned blackface.

“No. I wouldn’t be that stupid,” he said to Pierson.

July 10, 2018

Last Wednesday, Time magazine published a 2001 photo of Trudeau dressed as Aladdin at a gala when he was a 29-year-old private school teacher at Vancouver’s West Point Grey Academy.

In the wake of that, other photos have surface of him in blackface and brown face.

While Trudeau has repeatedly apologized for his transgressions, on Sunday he ducked reporters’ questions when asked if he could recall the last time he wore racist makeup.

Ford took a swipe at the media, saying there’s a “double standard right across the board” in how the controversy is being covered.

Series: Young Doug Ford

The premier has been a lightning rod in the Oct. 21 federal election campaign with the Liberals mocking his “for the people” slogan in their advertising and Grit candidates in Ontario attacking his government’s policies.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer refused to utter the name “Ford” even when campaigning 700 metres from his Etobicoke home last week.

A new batch of Tory ads tie Trudeau to former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne, whom Ford’s Tories trounced in the 2018 provincial election, but they do not mention the current premier. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

 

Saturday September 21, 2019

September 21, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 21, 2019

In Quebec, Trudeau’s opponents and supporters shrug off blackface controversy

September 17, 2019

Quebec had been the epicentre of debates about identity politics so far in the federal election campaign, with party leaders forced to confront to the popularity of a new law on religious symbols.

But the campaign shifted focus abruptly on Thursday, after photos and video emerged of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau wearing racist makeup. The desire to talk identity politics in the province evaporated just as quickly.

Even though Trudeau’s criticism of Quebec’s secularism law has been controversial in the province, none of his usual opponents on the issue were itching to rake him over the coals.

July 19, 2019

“I can understand that some people were hurt by these pictures. But Mr. Trudeau said that he was sorry. I think we have to talk about something else,” said Premier François Legault, who has clashed with Trudeau over the law, also known as Bill 21.

The leader of the sovereignist Parti Québécois, Pascal Bérubé, went so far as to play down the condemnations issued by Trudeau’s federal rivals.

“It’s a political campaign. They want to make sure that Mr. Trudeau pays for that,” Bérubé told reporters in Quebec City. “You can disagree with him on many issues, that’s my case, but he’s not a racist.”

September 14, 2013

The French media in Quebec also shrugged off Wednesday night’s revelations that Trudeau had dressed in blackface once in high school and again in 2001 while a teacher at a private school in British Columbia. A third image of him in blackface surfaced in video form Thursday.

Unlike in English Canada, few French newspapers gave prominent coverage to the images.

In Quebec City, Wednesday’s Céline Dion concert was featured more prominently on the Thursday front pages of the local papers.

The main political story on the front page of Montreal’s Le Devoir was about Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s proposal to build an oil pipeline through the province, and the possibility he could ignore Quebec’s objections to such a project.

One Journal de Montreal columnist, Richard Martineau, did put the screws to Trudeau. But Martineau, who is often critical of multiculturalism and dismissive of minority groups, seemed mainly interested in accusing Trudeau of hypocrisy, not racism. (CBC) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-reaction-trudeau-brownface-1.5289508

Quebec, Canada, #elxn2019, blackface, Justin Trudeau, minorities, religious rights, Bill 21, secularism

Friday September 20, 2019

September 20, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 20, 2019

Justin Trudeau — a self-appointed moral steward in blackface

January 15, 2019

It is almost too obvious now to point out the rank hypocrisy of the Trudeau brand: one that has zero tolerance for inappropriate touching, except for his own; one that preaches respect for Indigenous Canadians, except when you can get a cheap laugh at a Liberal fundraiser.

One that claims to run government differently, but uses the same old tactics to get its way; one that lectures about standing up to oppression, except oppression in certain ridings.

One that insists it is working in the interests of the average Canadian, but tries to curry favour with the above-average Canadian in private. One that renounces the politics of fear and division, except when the politics of fear and division can be politically advantageous.  

And one that has spent its entire political existence proselytizing about tolerance, inclusivity, sensitivity and acceptance, all the while knowing — and hiding — a past that includes multiple instances of dressing up in blackface.

TIME magazine

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau made one good point while delivering his apology Wednesday, after Time magazine published a 2001 photo of him wearing brownface as a 29-year-old teacher at an Arabian Nights-themed school party.

“If everyone who is going to be standing for office needs to demonstrate they’ve been perfect every step of their lives,” Trudeau said, “there is going to be a shortage of people running for office.”

February 22, 2018

Putting aside the enormous chasm between being “perfect” and wearing blackface three times, Trudeau makes a valid point about the need for a political machine that makes allowances for human flaws. If we don’t allow people to grow and change, we end up with slates of sanitized candidates who planned their political careers from birth and wore suits to middle school, which is, without a doubt, a most hellish version of politics.

But Trudeau’s argument would carry more weight had his war room not spent the week prior furiously digging up reasons why his opponents should be disqualified — reasons that include what they once said, once advocated for, or with whom they previously associated.

None of those claims were close to as bad as a grown man wearing blackface on multiple occasions. Had Trudeau been a regular candidate of any party, including the Liberals, he would’ve been closing up his campaign office by now.

Earlier this year, the United States was grappling with a political blackface scandal of its own: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was accused of wearing blackface in a 1984 yearbook photo.

May 7, 2019

That was the time, if ever, for Trudeau to own his actions, instead of being cornered into acknowledging them, as he has been now.

Instead, Trudeau carried on as if — to borrow his own words — he had been perfect every step of his life, with the Liberals then launching a co-ordinated attack on the Conservatives, accusing them of being soft on white supremacy.

Knowing what we know now, if you imagine Trudeau wearing black makeup and singing Day O while accusing Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer of refusing to take racism seriously, the attack loses its potency. (CBC) 

 

Thursday September 19, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 19, 2019

Political smorgasbord doesn’t come free

Transactional politics are nothing new. That’s where a politician and/or a party offers goodies on the front end of the transaction, and the voter supports the politician/party on the back end.

September 12, 2019

It’s not unlike shopping and being drawn to sales or special deals that look especially appealing. That outfit looks good, but wait, the one next to it looks as good but it’s cheaper, or perhaps nicer in some small way. So the natural tendency is to take the one that seems better, even if the difference is marginal.

But what if the front of the special buy is fine, but you see flaws or differences once it’s unwrapped? What if you find out it needs special treatment when being cleaned, or it requires some sort of investment you weren’t expecting?

The analogy with the kind of transactional politics we’re experiencing during this election campaign isn’t perfect, but it serves the purpose. The political store has been bustling with promises, especially over the last several days, as the competing parties roll out their platforms — bit by bit — and try to be the outfit with that special something.

October 10, 2015

There’s nothing wrong with all this, to a point. It serves the purpose of offering measurable alternatives. If you don’t like the Conservative plan to expand RESPs, you can choose the Liberals because you like their plan about helping first-time home buyers. Or vice-versa. But it can be problematic when this sort of offer-of-the-day political play dominates the campaign to the exclusion of all else, and that is what’s happening right now.

It’s a veritable smorgasbord. Pick the party that has enough you like, and just vote for them? Of course, it’s not that easy. We know that not all promises are kept. Remember Justin Trudeau on electoral reform. We know that not all promises are fully explained. Andrew Scheer’s tax cuts are phased in so the maximum benefit comes only after three years. And the cost of that promise alone is $6 billion, which has to be paid for by someone — who might that be?

A big problem with many of the promises made to date is that the parties haven’t explained fully — in some cases not at all — how they will pay for their promises. That’s a critical part of understanding how parties will govern if elected. And it’s not always just about balanced budgets or deficits. It’s also about what things — like government services and support — get sacrificed in order for promises to be kept.

All smorgasbords end the same way. There’s a bill to pay. We can all stand to be reminded of that. (Hamilton Spectator)