mackaycartoons

Graeme MacKay's Editorial Cartoon Archive

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

2021-39

Wednesday December 1, 2021

December 1, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 1, 2021

Why Doug Ford is pushing Ontario’s cities to speed up housing construction

December 11, 2018

Premier Doug Ford and his government want Ontario municipalities to approve new home construction projects more quickly, claiming that delays in approvals are driving up the cost of housing.

Building more homes faster is the central topic of the housing summit that Ford will hold next month with the mayors of Ontario’s 29 biggest cities and the chairs of urban regional municipalities. 

In recent weeks, Ford has repeatedly cited the pace of municipal construction approvals as a barrier to making housing more affordable.   

May 13, 2010

The price of buying a home is soaring pretty much everywhere in Ontario, not just the Toronto and Ottawa areas. What’s far from clear is how much delays in municipal permit approvals contribute to those skyrocketing home prices.  

“We’ve got to start cutting the permit times down big time and start getting houses built as quickly as possible,” Ford said during a news conference in Orillia in response to a question about unscrupulous landlords. 

The province will soon start “scoring” cities and towns on how quickly it takes to issue permits, Ford said.

“Believe it or not, folks, sometimes when [developers] apply for a permit, it can take four to six years. Where in North America does it take four to six years?”. 

Ford said the vast majority of cities in Ontario are slow to approve projects. “It’s just like going on a carousel, they loop you around, loop you around, and guess who’s paying? The people are paying, the developer’s not paying.”

December 10, 2020

Ford’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, is also blaming municipal bottlenecks for pushing up the price of homes.

“We know that there are delays, particularly at the municipal level, caused by duplication and red tape that are obstructing new homes from being built, which is shutting out Ontarians and their families from realizing their dream of home ownership,” Clark said to a virtual meeting of the Empire Club of Canada on Thursday.  

“It takes too long to get shovels in the ground as part of the development process,” Clark said during the question and answer session following his speech.

The Ford government has focused on boosting the supply of new homes as its fundamental solution to housing affordability. To achieve that goal, the government is trying to pave the way for new construction to happen more quickly. (CBC) 

 

Posted in: Ontario Tagged: 2021-39, affordable housing, affordablity, developer, Doug Ford, dreams, home, home ownership, House, housing, Ontario, real estate, wealth

Tuesday November 30, 2021

November 30, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 30, 2021

Omicron: A variant born of vaccine inequity

The emergence of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus is a giant I-told-you-so moment for the world.

May 11, 2021

It should strike home particularly hard in rich countries like Canada, which have lavished resources on vaccinating their own people while leaving poorer parts of the world to struggle along as best they can.

Now, the inevitable is happening: with the vast majority of people in most countries still unvaccinated, the virus has mutated yet again. Omicron is the result, and we can only hope it turns out not to be as formidable a foe as some experts fear.

Banning flights from a handful of countries where the variant was first detected may be a natural reaction, but it’s no real answer. Omicron has already been detected in a number of other countries, and we know by now that once these things start they can’t be effectively stopped. At best, restricting travel might slow the spread a bit and give scientists time to learn more.

April 28, 2021

The bigger lesson is one that the developed world already knows, but hasn’t really wanted to take on board. It’s summed up in the oft-repeated cliché that “none of us is safe until all of us are safe.” In practice, it means much more must be done to boost vaccination rates in all countries, not just the ones (including Canada) that have procured the lion’s share of doses for their own people.

By now the developed world is awash in vaccines. We have more doses than we have arms to put them in; the data analytics firm Airfinity estimates there will be more than a billion such doses stockpiled in developed countries by the end of the year, in addition to those earmarked for donations to poorer nations.

May 20, 2021

So while some countries have 70 per cent or more of their people protected, the World Health Organization estimates lower-income countries have on average only about 7.5 per cent. That leaves literally billions of people around the world unvaccinated, giving the COVID-19 virus ample opportunity to mutate — and bite us back in the form of Omicron.

Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister who is now the WHO’s ambassador for global health financing, notes that G20 countries have taken 89 per cent of COVID vaccines so far and 71 per cent of future production is still scheduled for them. “The problem is not now in production (two billion doses of vaccine are being manufactured every month),” he wrote over the weekend, “but in the unfairness of distribution.”

Of course, developed countries have pledged to deliver billions of doses to the rest of the world, but actual shipments have so far fallen far short of those promises. Canada has pledged to donate at least 200 million doses by the end of next year, but that doesn’t address the problems of here and now.

January 30, 2021

There’s a moral issue involved, but there’s also naked self-interest. Omicron is proof that focusing excessively on our own backyard leaves us vulnerable to dangers from elsewhere. We can’t wall ourselves off from COVID, much as we’d like to.

Canada and other developed countries need to work harder to accelerate their promised deliveries of vaccine doses to poorer nations. And they should support efforts through the WHO for a temporary waiver of patent protections for COVID vaccines to make it easier to ramp up production around the world.

If we fail on this, we’ll be grappling with yet more variants down the road. It’s not as if no one warned us this might happen. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Posted in: Canada, International Tagged: 2021-39, airport, Canada, covid-19, International, Omicron, pandemic, security, travel, vaccination, variant

Tuesday November 23, 2021

November 23, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 23, 2021

Crossing The Canada-US Border For Shopping & Visiting Family Is About To Get So Much Cheaper

October 14, 2021

Crossing the Canada-U.S. border for short trips like shopping or visiting relatives is about to get a whole lot cheaper, thanks to an update to Canada’s travel restrictions.

On Friday, November 19, federal officials confirmed that COVID-19 testing requirements will be dropped for eligible travellers who are leaving Canada for 72 hours or less.

From Tuesday, November 30, fully vaccinated people with right of entry to Canada will be able to skip the pre-entry molecular test, meaning they’ll be able to return home without forking out hundreds for a PCR test.

This applies to people travelling via land or air, as long as they’re able to demonstrate that they’ve been out of the country for three days or under.

November 27, 2020

As the COVID-19 tests approved to enter the country can cost at least $100, this update means taking short trips just got much cheaper.

It also means those driving across the Canada-U.S. border will no longer be required to spend any money on COVID-19 testing, as the American land border does not require fully vaccinated travellers to take a COVID-19 test prior to entry.

It’s worth noting that people flying into the United States will still be required to take a test before arriving, although rapid antigen tests are accepted.

Unfortunately for people dreaming of lengthy vacations, the rules will not change for people leaving Canada for over 72 hours. In this case, passengers will still be expected to take a pre-entry molecular test before arriving. Rapid antigen tests are not accepted.

If you do still need to take a molecular test, Rexall Pharmacy sells a take-home test starting at $200, while Costco sells do-it-yourself PCR tests for $120. Air Canada has its own version priced from $149. 

Some U.S. pharmacies do offer free PCR testing, although there are some risks to be aware of. (Narcity) 

 

Posted in: Canada, USA Tagged: 2021-39, Black Friday, Border, border. cross-border, Canada, commerce, covid-19, masking, pandemic, shopping, spacesuit, Target, USA

Saturday November 20, 2021

November 20, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday November 20, 2021

Vaccine for kids and mandates for MPs kick in 

September 14, 2021

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole emerged onto an Ottawa street Thursday after spending two days behind closed doors with his elected members, plotting out their priorities ahead of Parliament’s return.

One thing he still insists on keeping a mystery, however, is whether all 119 Conservative MPs will be allowed to enter on Monday, when a vaccine mandate kicks into effect for the House of Commons precinct.

“As I’ve said, you’ll see us in the House on Monday, and we’re looking forward to, as we always have, following the rules of the House of Commons, making sure we’re holding the government to account,” he said while speaking to reporters briefly.

That day, MPs must appear in person if they want to vote for Speaker, a position for which some Conservatives plan on running.

October 21, 2021

O’Toole remains the only federal party leader with seats in the House who has so far refused to confirm how many of his members are fully immunized against COVID-19.

As Opposition leader, he has previously said any MP he’s tapped to take on a critic role will be ready to appear there.

But on Thursday, when asked directly whether his entire Conservative team will be able to assume their seats, he said: “We’re going to be ready to go Monday. You’ll have to stay tuned.”

Several other MPs said they will wait and see what happens. (CTV) 

October 28, 2021

Meanwhile, the first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for children aged five to 11 will start to arrive in Canada on Sunday, Public Services and Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi said today.

Tassi said the government and Pfizer-BioNTech had agreed already to an accelerated delivery schedule and more than 2.9 million doses will be shipped by the end of the week — enough to provide a first dose to every eligible Canadian child.

Earlier today, Health Canada approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for children aged five to 11, promising what could be a very different new year for hundreds of thousands of families. (CBC) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2021-39, Canada, children, clinic, Conservative, covid-19, mandate, MP, pandemic, Parliament, vaccination, Vaccine

Friday November 19, 2021

November 19, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, (Not published in The Hamilton Spectator) – Friday November 19, 2021

Capitalism is killing the planet

There is a myth about human beings that withstands all evidence. It’s that we always put our survival first. This is true of other species. When confronted by an impending threat, such as winter, they invest great resources into avoiding or withstanding it: migrating or hibernating, for example. Humans are a different matter.

4 Waves Cartoon

When faced with an impending or chronic threat, such as climate or ecological breakdown, we seem to go out of our way to compromise our survival. We convince ourselves that it’s not so serious, or even that it isn’t happening. We double down on destruction, swapping our ordinary cars for SUVs, jetting to Oblivia on a long-haul flight, burning it all up in a final frenzy. In the back of our minds, there’s a voice whispering, “If it were really so serious, someone would stop us.” If we attend to these issues at all, we do so in ways that are petty, tokenistic, comically ill-matched to the scale of our predicament. It is impossible to discern, in our response to what we know, the primacy of our survival instinct.

Here is what we know. We know that our lives are entirely dependent on complex natural systems: the atmosphere, ocean currents, the soil, the planet’s webs of life. People who study complex systems have discovered that they behave in consistent ways. It doesn’t matter whether the system is a banking network, a nation state, a rainforest or an Antarctic ice shelf; its behaviour follows certain mathematical rules. In normal conditions, the system regulates itself, maintaining a state of equilibrium. It can absorb stress up to a certain point. But then it suddenly flips. It passes a tipping point, then falls into a new state of equilibrium, which is often impossible to reverse.

Human civilisation relies on current equilibrium states. But, all over the world, crucial systems appear to be approaching their tipping points. If one system crashes, it is likely to drag others down, triggering a cascade of chaos known as systemic environmental collapse. This is what happened during previous mass extinctions. (Continued: The Guardian) 

November 19, 2021

Atmospheric rivers of the kind that flooded British Columbia and renched California in recent weeks will become larger — and possibly more destructive — because of climate change, scientists said.

Columns in the atmosphere hundreds of miles long carry water vapour over oceans from the tropics to more temperate regions in amounts more than double the flow of the Amazon River, according to the American Meteorological Society.

These “rivers in the sky” are relatively common, with about 11 present on Earth at any time, according to NASA.

But warming air and seas around the globe causes conditions that scientists said will make them hold more moisture, causing extreme precipitation when they make landfall, often on the west coasts of North America, South America and Western Europe.

Because of climate change, atmospheric rivers are projected to become slightly less frequent, but more intense, according to a 2018 study led by researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“There may be fewer, but they are going to be lasting longer, and more intense,” Vicky Espinoza, an author of the NASA study who is now a graduate student at the University of California Merced, said.

Atmospheric rivers will become about 10% less frequent by the end of this century, but about 25% longer and wider, the study found. That will lead to nearly double the frequency of the most intense atmospheric river storms. (Continued: CTV) 

 

Posted in: Canada, International, Lifestyle Tagged: 2021-39, atmospheric river, British Columbia, Canada, capitalism, climate change, environment, money, profit, profiteering, Science, Tourism, wealth, yacht
1 2 Next »

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...