agreement

Friday June 2, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 2, 2017

Trump announces U.S. will withdraw from Paris climate accord

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change.

April 11, 2017

At a news conference in the White House Rose Garden on Thursday afternoon, Trump said the accord is “very unfair to the United States.”

“In order to fulfil my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.”

Trump said his country would either renegotiate its re-entry into the Paris agreement under different terms, or participate in the creation of a whole new climate deal.

March 8, 2017

White House officials had signalled withdrawal was likely to reporters, but Trump has been known to change his mind at the last minute on major decisions, as happened recently with the NAFTA trade deal.

Abandoning the accord was one of Trump’s principal campaign pledges, but America’s allies have expressed alarm about the likely consequences.

April 20, 2017

The Paris agreement was struck in 2015 and months later, the U.S. and China jointly said they would sign off on the deal. The agreement went into effect for the U.S. in November 2016.

Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, has criticized Trump’s resistance to the deal, saying the U.S. president doesn’t understand the fine print of the agreement and that the process of formally withdrawing could take two to three years. (Source: CBC News)

 

Friday, November 14, 2014

Friday, November 14, 2014

November 14, 2014

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, November 14, 2014

U.S.-China climate change deal already facing challenges

A landmark agreement on climate change between the U.S. and China, the world’s top two polluting nations, faced immediate challenges from experts who warned that it would require an overhaul of China’s economy and from Republicans in Congress who vowed to undermine the deal.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014President Obama’s ramped-up push on environmental issues set up a clash with GOP leaders, who blasted the far-reaching agreement with China as bad for business and promised to try to block the regulations necessary to meet its targets for curbing carbon emissions. Administration officials asserted that they would not be deterred.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke out about an agreement President Barack Obama reached in China on climate change.

The standoff was the clearest sign yet that Obama plans to prioritize his agenda — and his legacy — over hope of sowing goodwill with the incoming Republican-controlled Congress. Even as both parties promised to heed voters’ calls to find common ground after last week’s midterm election, the White House and Republican leaders have since drawn lines in the sand over immigration as well as environmental policy.

The China pact signaled that the president “has no intention of moving towards the middle,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told reporters Wednesday.

Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, likely to succeed Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) as chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee in the Republican-led Senate next year, called the deal a “nonbinding charade.”

“I will do everything in my power to rein in and shed light on the EPA’s unchecked regulations,” he said. Inhofe, perhaps Congress’ most prominent climate change skeptic, has long criticized the Environmental Protection Agency.

Tuesday September 23, 2014Administration officials touting the deal appeared unfazed by Republican promises to throw up roadblocks, describing congressional support as a bonus but not a necessity.

“It would be nice if we had some help and support from the Congress,” said a senior administration official, who requested anonymity in discussing strategy. “But we think we have the ability under laws that have already been passed by Congress — principally the Clean Air Act, but other laws as well — to get these reductions … with authorities we already have.” (Source: Los Angeles Times)

 

Wednesday February 29, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday February 29, 2012

Health campus hits yet another snag

Negotiations over a new downtown health campus turned sour Monday as accusations, threats and claims of manipulation flew around City Hall.

Councillors say they feel hoodwinked by city staff’s recommendation to lease so-called “swing space” in the Robert Thompson building on King Street West and sublet it to the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board.

Leasing the space to the school board as an interim measure — after it vacates its present home and while its new one is being built — is a key part of the three-way deal between the board, the city and McMaster University.

And while city manager Chris Murray assured councillors that rejecting the Thomson swing-space proposal was not a “deal breaker,” moments later, Roger Couldrey, McMaster’s vice-president (administration), told councillors that walking away from it could put the entire McMaster downtown health campus at risk.

Couldrey says if the school board is forced to start its plans from scratch, it would be significantly more expensive.

“That will cause us to have significant second thoughts about the amount of money we want to put on the table,” he said.

The complicated, winding debate Monday ultimately resulted in councillors voting to again delay a swing-space decision until March 6 (the issue was already delayed after councillors raised concerns about the swing space).

But Councillor Sam Merulla says Monday’s negotiations have given him cause to pull his support for the deal entirely. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Thursday December 8, 2011

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Thursday December 8, 2011 Canada-U.S. border agreement signed Amid the manifold distractions of an American presidential election year, much of the perimeter-security agreement between the United States and Canada, announced by Stephen Harper and Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday, may be difficult to implement promptly. But one important element of the agreement that is directly connected to security Ð the sharing of data on who has entered or exited one of the two countries Ð ought to be put into effect, sooner rather than later. The Americans have a particularly well-founded eagerness to prevent the entry of terrorists into their country Ð and of more ordinary criminals, too. Consequently, the U.S. government was resolved to include the entry-exit system in the border agreement. In fact, terrorists have never favoured the Canadian border as an entry point into the U.S. But the data sharing will be valuable to Canada, too, not only for its own security, but also on other matters. At present, the federal government knows little about departures from Canada that affect the functioning of the immigration system. For one thing, there is no reliable way of knowing whether unsuccessful refugee claimants have done the right thing and left the country, or whether they have continued to live in Canada, hoping to avoid deportation Ð an outcome for which the odds are good. As for permanent residents of Canada who wish to become citizens, the government has no way of verifying whether they have stayed in the country for the required amount of time. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a significant number of citizenship applicants have had a tenuous presence in Canada Ð that they have not truly settled here and put down roots. The new system will be a great help to Canada in keeping track of all this. (Source: Globe & Mail) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorials/canada-us-border-agreement-a-good-thing/article418

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 8, 2011

Canada-U.S. border agreement signed

Amid the manifold distractions of an American presidential election year, much of the perimeter-security agreement between the United States and Canada, announced by Stephen Harper and Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday, may be difficult to implement promptly. But one important element of the agreement that is directly connected to security – the sharing of data on who has entered or exited one of the two countries – ought to be put into effect, sooner rather than later.

The Americans have a particularly well-founded eagerness to prevent the entry of terrorists into their country – and of more ordinary criminals, too. Consequently, the U.S. government was resolved to include the entry-exit system in the border agreement. In fact, terrorists have never favoured the Canadian border as an entry point into the U.S. But the data sharing will be valuable to Canada, too, not only for its own security, but also on other matters.

At present, the federal government knows little about departures from Canada that affect the functioning of the immigration system. For one thing, there is no reliable way of knowing whether unsuccessful refugee claimants have done the right thing and left the country, or whether they have continued to live in Canada, hoping to avoid deportation – an outcome for which the odds are good.

As for permanent residents of Canada who wish to become citizens, the government has no way of verifying whether they have stayed in the country for the required amount of time. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a significant number of citizenship applicants have had a tenuous presence in Canada – that they have not truly settled here and put down roots. The new system will be a great help to Canada in keeping track of all this. (Source: Globe & Mail)