mackaycartoons

Graeme MacKay's Editorial Cartoon Archive

  • Archives
  • Kings & Queens
  • Prime Ministers
  • Sharing
  • Special Features
  • The Boutique
  • Who?
  • Young Doug Ford
  • Presidents

2021-38

Thursday November 18, 2021

November 18, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 18, 2021

Now it’s Biden, not Trump, giving Trudeau grief

The political bromance that was supposed to blossom between Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden has so far been a bust.

November 3, 2020

When Americans turfed Donald Trump in last November’s presidential election and sent Biden to the White House, you could almost hear a collective sigh of relief across Canada. A dark, dangerous cloud that had hovered over this country for four years had been blown away. With two progressive, seemingly compatible leaders at the helm of the North American neighbours a new era of amiable bilateral relations seemed guaranteed.

But that hasn’t come to pass. And so Prime Minister Trudeau will have his work cut out for him when he heads to Washington for Thursday’s summit with President Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Despite all his friendly smiles, Biden has yet to prove he’s a real friend to this country. Relations are strained and he’s making them worse. There’s an infrastructure bill packed with Buy American provisions that could bar Canadian businesses from bidding on billions of dollars worth of projects in the U.S. Biden loves it.

July 22, 2021

Another bill would offer huge incentives for American consumers to purchase made-in-the-U.S. electric vehicles instead of buying Canadian-manufactured models. Biden is all for it. If Congress passes the bill, car makers would obviously be more inclined to invest in American electric vehicle plants than Canadian ones. Then what will happen to all those dreams of a bright new Canadian electric-vehicle sector?

No wonder Flavio Volpe, president of Canada’s Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, says the proposed incentives are “a bigger threat than anything pointed at us by Donald Trump” — including all the tariffs he imposed and the disruptive free-trade battle he engineered.

Meanwhile, the State of Michigan is still trying to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline which transports vital supplies of Western Canadian petroleum to Ontario and Quebec. If this threat to Canada has caught Biden’s eye, he’s done nothing about it. And if the list of bilateral sore-points isn’t long enough already, the American government moved this spring to double tariffs on Canadian lumber.

April 30, 2021

Clearly American protectionism has again reared its ugly head. And this despite the years of struggles during the Trump era to reach the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement which, by the way, does not permit those American electric-vehicle incentives.

It should be a given that Trudeau will raise these issues with Biden this week. But the president will be more preoccupied with pressures coming from within his own deeply divided country. After just 10 months in office, his approval ratings have plummeted. The control his Democrats have over Congress is precarious and could be lost after next year’s mid-term elections. And those Buy American incentives are widely popular south of the border with progressive Democrats, unions, consumers and, when it comes to electric vehicles, environmentalists.

February 23, 2021

Trudeau will be swimming upstream against powerful currents to alter these trends. He does, however, have leverage. With an increasingly assertive China responsible for Biden’s biggest international headache, Trudeau should remind him Canada and Mexico can help build a “Fortress North America” as an economic and political counterweight to that rising superpower. With Canadian and Mexican co-operation, Biden could also have a better chance of successfully fighting climate change, which would thrill much of his voter base.

Beyond these measures, Trudeau should adopt a strategy that worked with Trump: start sending his federal cabinet ministers and Canadian business leaders to meet with and lobby their American counterparts.

Considering all the differences between them, it may be too much to hope for another “Three Amigos Summit” this week. We’d settle for a co-operative, congenial neighbourly get-together. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Posted in: Canada, International, USA Tagged: 2021-38, amigos, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Buy American, Canada, diplomacy, Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, mariachi, Mexico, protectionism, sombrero, Trade, USA

Wednesday November 17, 2021

November 17, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 17, 2021

O’Toole kicks senator out of Conservative caucus after she questioned his leadership

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has kicked Saskatchewan Sen. Denise Batters out of the national caucus a day after she launched a petition calling for an expedited review of his leadership.

November 9, 2021

“As the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, I will not tolerate an individual discrediting and showing a clear lack of respect towards the efforts of the entire Conservative caucus, who are holding the corrupt and disastrous Trudeau government to account,” O’Toole said in a media statement late Tuesday.

The statement was released shortly after Batters emerged from a virtual meeting of the Senate Conservative caucus. The Conservative leader in the Senate, Manitoba Sen. Don Plett, took no action against Batters on that call.

Instead, Batters said she learned she was out of the Conservative fold through a telephone message from O’Toole.

January 22, 2021

“Tonight, Erin O’Toole tried to silence me for giving our CPC members a voice. I will not be silenced by a leader so weak that he fired me VIA VOICEMAIL,” Batters said in a social media post.

“Most importantly, he cannot suppress the will of our Conservative Party members!”

Batters launched the petition Monday, saying she and other party members have lost faith in O’Toole. She argued the party experienced “significant losses” in the fall campaign after O’Toole flip-flopped on major issues such as carbon pricing, firearms and conscience rights. She said she wants members to have a say on O’Toole’s future prior to the planned 2023 party convention.

September 14, 2021

Party rules require an automatic leadership review at the first national convention following a failed federal election campaign. Batters has said she wants that vote to happen in the next six months.

“Mr. O’Toole flip-flopped on policies core to our party within the same week, the same day, and even within the same sentence. The members didn’t have a say on that, but we must have one on his leadership,” Batters said in a statement announcing the petition.

Under the party’s constitution, a referendum on any matter can be launched if five per cent of Conservative members sign a petition calling on the party to poll the membership on the topic through a referendum. (CBC) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2021-38, Canada, cast mold, Conservative, Erin O’Toole, leadership, mess, party, plaster, Stephen Harper

Tuesday November 16, 2021

November 16, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 16, 2021

Ford, Trudeau fight over $10 a day child care heats up

The fight between Ontario and Ottawa over a $10-a-day child-care program seems to be ramping up as the two governments point fingers over which side is holding up the negotiations.

September 23, 2021

On Monday, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the federal government’s current proposal — $10.2 billion over five years — “short changes families” and doesn’t account for the province’s full-day kindergarten program.

The minister said while the Trudeau and Ford governments “can still land a deal” the federal offer is $3.6 billion short — and the province is working on “detailed modelling” which will make it clear that Ontario isn’t receiving enough of the $30 billion program.

The pressure to sign a deal was amplified on Monday after Alberta signed on with the federal government – making it the eight province to have a formal agreement.

October 28, 2021

“This means that all types of licensed child care for kids up to kindergarten like preschools, daycare, and licensed family day homes will now be supported through this deal with the federal government,” said Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.

While Ontario and New Brunswick are now the only provinces that have yet to ink a deal, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed confidence that the two sides can come to an agreement.

“It can be done. The federal government is there with the money and the framework to do it, and we’re very hopeful that Ontario will do it,” Trudeau said during a joint news conference with Kenney.

Critics of the Ford government, however, believe the province is attempting to upload portions of the education budget to the federal government by including full-day kindergarten in the deal. (CTV) 

 

Posted in: Canada, Ontario Tagged: 2021-38, Alberta, Canada, Child care, costume, day care, Doug Ford, federalism, Jason Kenney, Justin Trudeau, Ontario, toddler

Saturday November 13, 2021

November 15, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday November 13, 2021

Ontario COVID-19 modelling shows ICU numbers stable, but likely to rise

Ontario’s COVID-19 cases are rising in most public health units, with hospitalizations and intensive-care occupancy rates remaining stable but ICU admissions likely to increase, according to new modelling.

March 11, 2021

On Friday, the province’s COVID-19 science and modelling advisory tables released data showing that between Oct. 26 and Nov. 8, all but eight of the province’s 34 public health units saw an increase in cases. The sharpest rise occurred in the Sudbury public health unit, which reimposed local restrictions such as capacity limits this week.

The models also state that those with lower incomes, essential workers and minority groups are at highest risk of COVID-19-related mortality, citing “different exposures” and access to testing.

The data show vaccinations continue to be highly effective in combatting COVID-19, with unvaccinated people 11 times more likely to be hospitalized and having a 26-fold higher risk of being in the ICU compared with the fully vaccinated.

With case counts rising, “the immediate future is uncertain,” because the current surge is very recent, the document said. Colder weather causing people to spend more time indoors, the lifting of capacity limits in most venues across the province and indoor gatherings are cited as the sources of recent transmission. (The Globe & Mail) 

 

Posted in: Ontario Tagged: 2021-38, covid-19, infection, map, Ontario, pandemic, roller coaster

Friday November 12, 2021

November 12, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 12, 2021

Yes, Doug Ford’s government has a ‘cohesive plan.’ No, it’s not for the environment, critics say

Critics of the Ford government’s environment plan say a recent pledge to build highways in Ontario is the latest in a series of moves that signals it does not have a real plan to tackle climate change. 

November 13, 2020

“We’re losing ground,” said Laura Bowman, staff lawyer with the environmental law firm Ecojustice. 

Bowman said Premier Doug Ford’s government is making development a priority with its promise last week to build Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, two controversial highways in the Greater Toronto Area. Critics say they’ll add more vehicles to the roads when they’re completed, which will pump more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and make it much more difficult to meet the province’s emissions targets.

The Progressive Conservative government counters by saying the new highways will help lessen gridlock and cut commute times, thereby cutting emissions from idling vehicles stuck for hours in traffic. But environmentalists don’t buy that argument and say the PCs do not have a history of taking the climate crisis seriously.

“The current government’s track record has been one of rapidly dismantling environmental protection,” Bowman told CBC Toronto Friday.

October 16, 2020

Since taking power, the PCs have made several changes to environmental policies, including the Endangered Species Act, scrapping carbon pricing and electric vehicle rebates. 

But the government has also repeatedly said it is tackling the climate crisis. Environment Minister David Piccini is attending the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. His office said he is there to “build international partnerships for Ontario’s clean industry, explore emerging best practices, and contribute the province’s voice to the global conversation.”

When questioned about why its fall economic statement last week just mentioned climate change only twice, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy pointed out his government is investing $295 million to upgrade Ford’s Oakville assembly plant to make electric vehicles, matching the federal government’s contribution.

“That’s going to reduce emissions,” he said. 

He also pointed to his government’s investments in expansive transit projects, namely in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The province is budgeting $61.6 billion for transit over the next decade, three times more than the $22.9 billion allotted for highways. (CBC) 

 

Posted in: Ontario Tagged: 2021-38, climate change, COP26, Doug Ford, environment, International, laggard, Ontario, snail, United Nations, world

Click on dates to expand

Please note…

This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

Social Media Connections

Link to our Facebook Page
Link to our Flickr Page
Link to our Pinterest Page
Link to our Twitter Page
Link to our Website Page
  • HOME
  • Sharing
  • The Boutique
  • The Hamilton Spectator
  • Artizans Syndicate
  • Association of Canadian Cartoonists
  • Wes Tyrell
  • Martin Rowson
  • Guy Bado’s Blog
  • You Might be From Hamilton if…
  • MacKay’s Most Viral Cartoon
  • Intellectual Property Thief Donkeys
  • National Newswatch
  • Young Doug Ford

Your one-stop-MacKay-shop…

T-shirts, hoodies, clocks, duvet covers, mugs, stickers, notebooks, smart phone cases and scarfs

Brand New Designs!

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
Follow Graeme's board My Own Cartoon Favourites on Pinterest.

MacKay’s Virtual Gallery

Archives

Copyright © 2016 mackaycartoons.net

Powered by Wordpess and Alpha.

 

Loading Comments...