2021-31

Tuesday September 14, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday September 14, 2021

On Vaccination and Abortion, Contrasting Conservative Leadership

August 17, 2021

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says it’s OK for candidates who aren’t fully vaccinated to campaign in seniors’ residences and retirement homes as long as they follow other public health measures. 

One of his candidates — Michelle Ferreri in Peterborough–Kawartha — posted photos of herself on Twitter campaigning in a retirement home despite not yet being fully vaccinated. 

“We will be following all measures, including vaccines, daily rapid testing, masking and social distancing to keep people safe,” O’Toole said during a campaign stop on Saturday in Whitby, Ont. “That’s not only an expectation, but a commitment that all members of our team have to keep people safe.”

Ferreri posted a picture this week of her campaigning at the Princess Gardens Retirement Residence in Peterborough, Ont. Ferreri’s campaign manager, Mike Skinner, told MyKawartha.com that Ferreri has received only one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine but is taking a daily rapid test. 

The Liberals say only one of their candidates — because of a medical exemption — hasn’t had two doses of vaccine. 

The Conservative campaign has also cited Trudeau’s campaign appearance last weekend at a Toronto hospital, where the Liberal leader met with health-care workers in apparent violation of the hospital’s own rules. The Liberal campaign told CBC news that the hospital made an exception for the leader, and noted that Trudeau — who is fully vaccinated — didn’t visit any wards.

August 14, 2021

O’Toole has promised to get the national vaccination rate up to 90 per cent while rejecting the idea of vaccine mandates because he believes vaccines are a personal choice. He has also refused to say how many of his candidates are fully vaccinated. 

The Conservative leader repeated his criticism of Trudeau for calling an election while the country contends with a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases. 

“No party wanted him to call this election,” O’Toole said. “We had a vote in Parliament to not have an election during the pandemic. Mr. Trudeau ignored that because he will always put his own interests first.” (CBC) 

Earlier in the campaign, O’Toole clearly stated his position on abortion

May 25, 2019

“Hi. I’m not Andrew Scheer.”

That was essentially how Erin O’Toole tried to introduce himself to Quebeckers in a speech Wednesday night. Subtlety is not a virtue in politics, so while Mr. O’Toole did not mention his predecessor by name, he did everything but pull out a picture of Mr. Scheer with a big red X over his face.

Mr. O’Toole, in Quebec City for his first big pitch to the province, said he realized that Quebeckers have hesitated to put their faith in the Tories in the past because the party was unclear on social issues. Then he said he was pro-choice. And that he had always been pro-choice. “Period.” Oh, and one more thing: “I also believe in climate change.”

March 18, 2021

It requires no political genius to see why he distanced himself from Mr. Scheer. In the 2019 election campaign, the Tories were doing fine in Quebec until the first French-language leaders debate, when Mr. Scheer fumbled questions over his personal anti-abortion views. The Conservatives collapsed in the province, and the Bloc Québécois emerged as the main opposition to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.

So Mr. O’Toole, still relatively unknown, is leading off his Quebec campaign with two main planks: (A) He’s not Justin Trudeau and (B) he’s not Andrew Scheer. As political strategies go, it’s not a bad start.

But this is a Canadian federal election in the 21st century, and he was talking about abortion. The Liberals were waiting.

Federal Election 2021

“Tonight in Quebec, Erin O’Toole pretended to be pro-choice,” Liberal candidate and cabinet minister Maryam Monsef tweeted in a multipart thread she posted in both official languages. “He did the same thing in his platform. But in reality, he’ll let his team bring forward legislation to restrict abortion access. That’s the same position as Andrew Scheer.”

To recap: Erin O’Toole says he is not Andrew Scheer, and the Liberals say he is. (The Globe & Mail) 

 

Saturday September 11, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 11, 2021

The 20th anniversary of 9/11: no end in sight

Wednesday September 12, 2001

A new and deadly era began when the planes sliced into the twin towers on the morning of 11 September 2001. That evening, the historian Tony Judt wrote that he had seen the 21st century begin. The nearly 3,000 lives stolen by al-Qaida were only a small part of the toll. The horror began a chain of events that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, including huge numbers of civilians abroad and many US military personnel. It is still unfolding.

If the killing of the plot’s mastermind Osama bin Laden a few months before the 10th anniversary perhaps let some hope that an end to that new era might be in sight, there can be no such false confidence at the 20th. The establishment of a Taliban government in Kabul, two decades after the US ousted the militants for harbouring Bin Laden, has underscored two things: that far from reasserting its global supremacy, the US looks more vulnerable today; and that the echoes of 9/11 are still reverberating across the region – but will not stay there.

September 11, 2006

Al-Qaida itself survives and others claim its mantle. In the west, the threat from Islamist terrorism endures – from 7/7 and the Madrid train bombings, to the attacks at Manchester Arena, the Berlin Christmas market and Vienna – though the nature of the threat has shifted, from a heavily financed, complex and internationally organised plot to more localised, less sophisticated attacks. This week, 20 men went on trial over the 2015 massacre at the Bataclan concert hall and other sites in Paris. Ken McCallum, MI5’s chief, said on Friday that the agency had prevented six “late stage” terrorist plots during the pandemic, and that with the Taliban’s triumph, “more risk progressively may flow our way”.

The determination to pursue a military solution fed the political problems, as history should have warned. (A Rand Corporation study of 248 terrorist groups worldwide suggested that only 7% were ended by military force.)

September 11, 2011

In Afghanistan, the refusal to accept a Taliban surrender paved the way for America’s longest war and ultimate acceptance of defeat. Islamic State arose from the ashes of the invasion of Iraq. Extraordinary renditions, torture, the atrocities of Abu Ghraib and the unwillingness to acknowledge or atone for civilian deaths at the hands of US forces or their allies all stoked the fire. These abuses and crimes were not anomalies but intrinsic to the war on terror. Men swept up in the aftermath are still held at Guantánamo Bay.

Around the world, basic rights were erased at home too. The US saw a massive expansion of presidential power; the veneration of secrecy; the destruction of norms; the normalisation of Islamophobia; the promotion of a narrative linking immigration and terrorism, breeding broader intolerance; and the encouragement of the belief that ordinary citizens were in a state of war. It is not hard to draw the line to the rise of Donald Trump and white supremacy, or rightwing populism elsewhere. In the US, far-right terror groups were behind most attacks last year; in the UK, police have said that the fastest growing terror threat is from the far right. The biggest perils to the US now appear not external but internal. The future of a divided and distrustful country looks increasingly precarious, its status in the world weakened.

August 18, 2021

Whatever many in the country once believed, American citizens cannot be isolated from the dangers of the outside world; trouble is not “always someplace else”. On 9/11, the country transitioned from a dream of unending tranquility at home to a nightmare of forever war. With the return of soldiers from Afghanistan, the US is more distanced from the enemy. But the conflict continues by other means, and without boots on the ground, drone strikes are more likely than ever to claim the lives of civilians as well as terrorist suspects. The US, and the west, cannot be safe at home while insecurity reigns abroad. (The Guardian) 

 

Friday September 10, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 10, 2021

It’s time to vote: Advanced polling opening to Canadians during pandemic election

The time to vote has arrived – in person, that is.

October 29, 2014

Millions of Canadians will be able to cast their ballots at voting stations on Friday as advanced polls open across the country. Any eligible voter will have until Sept. 13 to mark their ballots at a polling station in their riding as part of the advanced window.

Advanced voting is proving to be a popular method in Canada’s elections, said Dugald Maudsley, an Elections Canada spokesperson.

He told Global News that in the 2019 election, 4,840,300 voters went out to advanced polls while 3,657,415 did so in 2015.

With the country is in a COVID-19 fourth wave, Maudsley said it’s possible the turnout for advanced polling will increase again this time around – but anything can happen.

“Often (advanced polling stations are) not as crowded, they’re not as busy and it’s a way to get in efficiently and get your vote done,” he said.

“We’re really telling people that voting in person at advanced polls and on election day is still the simplest and most efficient way to vote.”

June 19, 2020

Canada has been in election mode since Aug. 15 and party leaders have been busy touring the country in an effort to get voters on their sides. The leaders took part in the first of two official debates Wednesday night, trading blows in French. The English-language debate took place Thursday night.

The debates are happening at a time when some Canadians still don’t know who they’re voting for. A new Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News found 13 per cent of those surveyed are undecided.

With advanced polling here, Maudsley wants Canadians to know in-person voting will be safe during the fourth wave. He compared in-person voting to visiting the grocery store, and voters can expect Elections Canada staff to follow all health protocols.

Federal Election 2021

For example, he said Canadians can expect poll workers to be wearing face masks and shields, and that they’ll be behind plexiglass. There will also be sanitation stations and social distancing will be enforced.

“You really won’t be there for very long once you’ve checked yourself in,” Maudsley said. “It’s really about a five-minute process to vote.” (Global News) 

 

Wednesday September 8, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 8, 2021

Canada’s Trudeau struggles, two weeks before election

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – who has slipped in the polls and faced angry protesters on the campaign trail, with one even throwing stones at him – is struggling with less than two weeks to go before snap elections. When he called the September 20 elections a few weeks ago, the 49-year-old Liberal Party leader was in a far better position.

September 1, 2021

At that point, Trudeau was ahead of Conservative leader Erin O’Toole in opinion surveys and hoped to ride his handling of the coronavirus pandemic to a third term. But since that August 15 announcement, his campaign has stagnated and his hopes of returning at the head of a majority government seem difficult to fulfil. On Monday, Trudeau suffered a fresh indignity – as he was leaving an event in London, a city southwest of Toronto in Ontario province, he faced a crowd of protesters angry over proposed mandatory coronavirus vaccines and other crisis measures.

Someone threw what appeared to be a handful of gravel at him, television footage showed. No one was injured. 

“Yes, I felt some of that gravel,” Trudeau confirmed yesterday. 

July 9, 2021

Some protesters “were practically foaming at the mouth, they were so mad at me,” he said, adding: “It is absolutely unacceptable that people (would) be throwing things and endangering others at a political rally.” The incident – which comes during a crucial campaign week with two scheduled debates that could tip the election scales – drew condemnation from Trudeau’s rivals, O’Toole and New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh.

“Political violence is never justified,” O’Toole tweeted late Monday, while Singh said: “It is not acceptable to throw objects at anyone. Ever. No matter how angry you are. And, it’s never ok to try to intimidate people who don’t agree with you – or the media.” Trudeau is now in a statistical dead heat with O’Toole, with 34% support for the Liberals and 32% for the Tories, according to a Nanos survey released Tuesday – a difference that is within the poll’s margin of error. 

The prime minister has faced off on several recent occasions with what he described as “anti-vaxxer mobs” and “a small fringe element in this country that is angry, that doesn’t believe in science.” 

Protesters have shouted racial and misogynist slurs at his entourage. Demonstrations also targeted hospitals across Canada that are struggling with a sudden spike in Covid cases, and candidate lawn signs have been defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti.

In late August, Trudeau was forced to cancel an event over security concerns. 

So far, Trudeau has pledged not to allow so-called “fringe” groups “to dictate how this country gets through this pandemic.”

August 17, 2021

And Felix Mathieu, a politics professor at the University of Winnipeg, said the angry protests and Trudeau’s pushback might actually benefit the Liberals, who stumbled in the early days of the campaign. Although O’Toole has promoted the use of vaccines, “his party remains widely associated with those who vehemently oppose vaccines and Covid containment measures,” Mathieu told AFP.

That allows Trudeau to present himself as a defender of public safety, especially as he steps up criticisms of the Tories’ rejection of mandatory vaccines, Mathieu explained. 

More than 83 percent of those Canadians eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine (12 years or older) have received one dose and 76% are fully vaccinated, according to government data.

October 16, 2019

The Liberal plank proposes mandatory jabs for public servants and travellers on trains, planes and buses. It also earmarks C$1bn (US$800mn) to stitch together a patchwork of provincial vaccine passports.

Pollster and former political strategist Tim Powers said the violent protests are “concerning.” “The pandemic has intensified people’s manner of anger and the way they express anger,” Powers told AFP. “There are a lot of people who are very frayed and beaten down by the pandemic, and campaign events provide an opportunity for some people to showcase their discontent,” he said, adding a warning: “Who knows what can happen in these sorts of circumstances.”

But Powers said he agrees that the protests are “providing the Liberals with a useful political prop,” allowing Trudeau to be seen fighting against anti-vaccine groups who might threaten a quick post-pandemic return to normalcy – just as Canadians are heading back to classes and offices. (Gulf Times)

Other editions from the “Boy Who Cried…” Series…
     

Thursday September 9, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 9, 2021

Lacklustre second leaders debate short on emotion, heavy on talking points

With less than two weeks before election day and an increasingly tight race between parties, Canada’s political leaders had a largely flat debate Wednesday, where each participant mostly served viewers pre-packaged lines on hot-button issues such as the deficits, the environment, healthcare and Indigenous policy.

August 8, 2015

One of the few lively clashes occurred between Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, not on a substantive policy issue, but rather on if Trudeau was Quebecer or not.

“You do not have a monopoly over Quebec,” Trudeau said to Blanchet, nearly yelling. “You don’t get to accuse me of not being Quebecer enough.”

On stage with Trudeau and Blanchet during the debate Wednesday night were Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party of Canada Leader Annamie Paul.

July 11, 2019

The Peoples’ party’s Maxime Bernier did not meet the independent commission’s criteria for participation.

The debate was moderated and covered five themes: climate, cost of living and public finances, Indigenous peoples, cultural industries and cultural identity, justice and foreign policy, and pandemic and healthcare

“I’m sorry Mr. Trudeau, but this is an undesired election,” moderator Patrice Roy said to begin the debate, following up with a question to leaders on whether they’d respect a four-year mandate regardless of the outcome (minority or majority) of the Sept. 20 election.

August 14, 2021

Trudeau did not answer the question, but O’Toole, Singh, Paul and Blanchet each in vague terms seemed to say they would.

“The fact that we are in an election is a consequence of the fact that people are not looking to work together, that things have become hyper partisan,” Paul said.

Just like during the first debate last week, Trudeau was repeatedly grilled by opposition leaders about his decision to call a “selfish” election, a question that already seemed to annoy him just minutes into the debate.

September 2, 2021

“Viewers can see how deep the differences are in our positions as to how the pandemic should be handled,” Trudeau retorqued at one point. “Canadians should have a say in that.

In addition to moderators Patrice Roy and Noémi Mercier, four francophone reporters were also chosen to quiz the leaders during rapid-fire question periods that were praised on social media for not pulling any punches.

For example, political analyst Hélène Buzzetti asked O’Toole, whose party released its platform costing just before the debate, how he would balance the budget and reduce deficits. “Is it the “O’Toole magic,” she asked after the first half of his response.

O’Toole disagreed while repeating once again that he “has a plan.”

Shortly after, she grilled Singh on his plan to fill the government’s coffers by taxing the rich and multinational companies. How will you do it, she asked, is it “magic thinking?” Singh also disagreed, reiterating his promise to go after the ultra-wealthy.

April 9, 2021

The first leaders’ faceoff was between Singh and Paul on mandatory vaccination policy. Both leaders agreed that it was important to push for vaccination, but Paul dodged a question on whether she supports mandatory vaccination.

Eventually, the moderator asked Trudeau if by pushing people to get vaccinated more, he wasn’t pushing some to rebel further and avoid vaccination. Trudeau said it was a “false debate” and that it was time to get people vaccinated to return to normal life.

The moderator then asked Trudeau how much Canada paid for all our vaccines, which Trudeau once again avoided. “We paid competitive prices, but for competitive reasons, I cannot tell you,” he said.

On the topic of labour shortages that are rampant across the country, leaders were divided on solutions, where O’Toole and Blanchet argued that COVID-19 benefits like the Canada Recovery Benefit needed to be phased out. Singh, Trudeau and Paul disagreed, with the latter challenging others to replace those benefits with universal basic income.

April 22, 2021

Just like in last week’s debate on TVA, O’Toole face some difficult moment when he was criticized by both Trudeau and Blanchet for his plan to replace the Liberal’s bilateral agreements with most provinces to fund $10 per day daycare spots with a tax credit directly to parents.

Trudeau accused O’Toole of “not even understanding” Quebec’s daycare system, noting that low-income Quebecers “don’t even pay for daycare.”

The topic of environment was launched by a question from 11-year-old Charles, who said that he was already concerned for his children’s future due to the “climate crisis.”

In their responses, Trudeau pointed to the government’s net-zero legislation, O’Toole touted the Conservative plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, and Paul argued that on climate, the Greens are the only choice. Singh criticized Trudeau for increasing GHG emissions during his time as prime minister.

February 6, 2020

Each leader was eventually asked what they would do with the TransMountain pipeline that the Trudeau government purchased to develop. The Liberal leader said Indigenous communities needed the money from the project, O’Toole said that it was necessary for Western Canadian workers, and Blanchet noted that he would use the money from it to help fund Alberta’s “much needed” transition away from oil.

Paul said that she was opposed to the pipeline and that she does not expect anyone to draw a profit from it, whereas Singh said he was opposed to the project, but when pressed, said an NDP government would considering keeping it.

Trudeau said that “every other leader’s plan here relies on magic thinking”.

Federal Election 2021

To open questions on Indigenous issues, leaders were asked if they would make First Nations’ languages as well as Inuit and Metis as official languages of Canada. Most leaders skirted the question all the while emphasizing the importance of preserving those languages and making sure their speakers can use them when accessing government services. (The National Post)