apathy

Tuesday November 28, 2023

As Ontario Liberals eagerly anticipate the announcement of their new leader amidst a shift in leadership selection methods, concerns over the lingering shadow of voter apathy and the challenges identified in a post-mortem report on their 2022 election defeat to Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives cast uncertainty over the party's future trajectory.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 28, 2023

Ontario Liberals Await New Leader Amidst Voter Apathy Concerns

June 15, 2023

On the cusp of unveiling their new leader this coming weekend, the Ontario Liberal Party finds itself caught between the shadows of Premier Doug Ford and the looming specter of voter apathy. As the live delegate votes unfold in suspense over the next few days, the pressing question for the Ontario Liberals is whether Doug Ford or voter apathy poses the greater challenge.

Over the weekend, thousands of Ontario Liberals participated in the party’s leadership race, casting their ballots for one of four candidates: Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith, MPP Ted Hsu, and MP Yasir Naqvi. The anticipation is palpable, with the announcement of the new leader scheduled for next Saturday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

News: Ontario Liberals will voted this past weekend to select new leader  

March 7, 2023

A significant shift in the party’s leadership selection process is underway, as the Liberals adopt a one-member-one-vote system, mirroring the method that led to Doug Ford’s selection in 2018. While some members applaud the transparency and inclusivity of the new process, concerns linger. William Davis, a delegate from the 2020 convention, voiced reservations about the system, suggesting a longer membership requirement to ensure a more informed electorate.

The contest seems to be invigorating the party, with interim leader John Fraser noting the excitement and energy among Liberals during the weekend’s events. However, the specter of the 2022 election defeat to Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives continues to cast its shadow. The post-mortem report released on January 5, 2023, highlights the party’s struggles with an unpopular leader, unclear messaging, and insufficient campaign resources.

News: Ontario records lowest voter turnout in election history  

June 9, 2022

The Liberals admitted that their platform lacked a clear vision for the province, relying on gimmicky promises that failed to resonate with voters. The review also identified challenges in volunteer recruitment, canvassing, and a deficiency in voter data and polling efforts. With only 43 percent voter turnout in the 2022 election, apathy emerged as a significant hurdle, affecting all parties.

As the Liberals brace for the announcement of their new leader, the question of whether they have effectively addressed the issues identified in the post-mortem report lingers. Will the chosen leader be equipped to rally the party, engage voters, and pose a formidable challenge to Doug Ford in the 2026 election? Or will the shadow of voter apathy continue to eclipse the party’s efforts, leaving them vulnerable in the political landscape of Ontario? The next chapter in Ontario Liberal politics awaits, and the outcome will undoubtedly shape the party’s trajectory in the years to come. (AI)

 

Thursday July 21, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 21, 2022

Climate change deniers will need to face facts

4 Waves Cartoon

Taking to Twitter midday Tuesday, the U.K.’s national weather service didn’t need any scorching phrases to define the heat wave wreaking havoc on a nation more familiar with soggy summer picnics.

A simple graphic flashing 40 C did the job, plainly acknowledging the highest recorded temperature at London Heathrow. Ever.

Melting tarmac. Closed airports. Reduced transit services. Residents of the village of Wennington, just east of London, fleeing because their homes were on fire. “This is like the apocalypse,” said one resident.

And this is a scene already familiar this summer in France and Portugal and Spain and Italy and Croatia and Greece, and now green, temperate England.

Thursday June 9, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 9, 2022

October 29, 2014

‘A clear crisis’: Ontario voter turnout prompts renewed calls for electoral reform

Advocacy groups are renewing calls for electoral reform in Ontario after Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives were re-elected with another majority last week despite historically low voter turnout and most voters casting ballots for other parties — though experts say it’s likely a non-starter.

In the June 2 election, 40 per cent voted for the Progressive Conservatives, handing the party 83 seats. Close to 53 per cent in total voted for the NDP, Liberals and Greens, but those parties will have a combined 40 seats. The Liberals won nearly a quarter of the popular vote but will hold just eight of the 124 available seats. Turnout was a record-low 43 per cent.

“The Ontario election results were a gross misrepresentation of what voters said with their ballots,” read a Twitter post from Fair Vote Canada, an organization that supports moving to a proportional system. “Majority governments should have the consent of a majority of voters.”

Electoral reform advocates says the Ontario results prove the province should scrap the first-past-the-post system, in which voters pick one candidate in their riding and the person with the most votes wins. The successful candidate doesn’t need to win a majority of votes to take the riding.

September 11, 2007

Many would like to see proportional representation, under which the percentage of seats a party holds would reflect their share of the popular vote.

Cameron Anderson, a political science professor at Western University, said people are understandably frustrated with the outcome, though he noted that the results could have been murkier if, for example, the party with the most votes didn’t win enough seats to form government.

“It was a fairly decisive victory among those who cast ballots, but the aftermath is what it is, and it’s unpalatable to many, for sure,” he said in an interview.

Amid calls for change, Anderson noted that supporters of the current system can make the case that majority governments offer stability without disruption or fear of snap elections. He also pointed to referendums on electoral reform that have been held in a number of Canadian provinces — including in Ontario — that ended up sticking with the status quo.

In 2007, Ontarians voted against a mixed-member proportional voting system. That model — which the NDP campaigned on this time around — tries to lend some of the stability of the first-past-the-post system to a fully proportional government, by having some legislators elected in local districts and others from party lists.

September 3, 2021

“Changing the system is not easy and is no panacea,” Anderson said, adding that finding compromise or agreement on a new system is challenging when balancing the interests of citizens and political parties.

Three of the four major parties promised to change the province’s electoral system during the 2022 campaign. But Ford, maintaining that his party received a clear mandate, ruled out the possibility the day after the election.

“I think this system has worked for over 100 and some odd years. It’s going to continue to work that way,” he told reporters.

The federal Liberal government also promised — and failed to deliver on — electoral reform.

While campaigning in 2015, Justin Trudeau said the federal election held that year would be the last to use the first-past-the-post method, a pledge he would ultimately renege on. (CBC) 

 

Saturday December 12, 2020

December 12, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday December 12, 2020

Trump largely mum on toll of coronavirus as he continues to fight election results

U.S. President Donald Trump has been highlighting lots of really big numbers this week: New highs for the stock market. The 100-plus House members backing a lawsuit challenging his election loss. The nearly 75 million people who voted for him.

November 24, 2020

All the while, he’s looked past other staggering and more consequential figures: The record numbers of coronavirus deaths, hospitalizations and new cases among the citizens of the nation he leads.

On Friday, Trump’s team blasted out a text with this strong, high-minded presidential message: “We will not bend. We will not break. We will never give in. We will never give up.”

But it was not a rallying cry to help shore up Americans sagging under the toll of a pandemic that on Wednesday alone killed more Americans than on D-Day or 9-11. It was part of a fundraising pitch tied to Senate races in Georgia and to Trump’s unsupported claims that Democrats are trying to “steal” the presidential election he lost.

November 6, 2020

Of Trump’s tweets over the past week, 82 per cent have been focused on the election and just 7 per cent on the virus — almost all of those related to forthcoming vaccines — according to Factba.se, a data analytics company. Nearly a third of the president’s tweets on the election were flagged by Twitter for misinformation.

As he talks and tweets at length about the election he is futilely trying to subvert, the president is leaving Americans without a central figure to help them deal with their grief over loved-ones’ deaths and the day-to-day danger of the pandemic that still rages. His strategy is to focus totally on the shiny object coming soon — the prospect of a vaccine.

Friday night, the the Food and Drug Administration gave the final go-ahead to a vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, launching emergency vaccinations in a bid to end the pandemic. But Trump’s three-minute internet address hailing the vaccine made no mention of the toll the virus has taken.

July 28, 2020

Calvin Jillson, a presidential historian at Southern Methodist University, said Trump has proven himself unable or unwilling to muster the “normal and natural, falling-off-a-log simple presidential approach” that is called for in any moment of national grief or crisis.

“He simply doesn’t seem to have the emotional depth, the emotional reserves to feel what’s happening in the country and to respond to it in the way that any other president — even those who’ve been fairly emotionally crippled — would do,” Jillson said.

November 21, 2020

Trump did convene a summit this week to highlight his administration’s successful efforts to help hasten the development of coronavirus vaccines and prepare for their speedy distribution. And he spent part of Friday pressing federal authorities to authorize use of the first-up vaccine candidate from Pfizer.

At his summit, the president put heavy emphasis on the faster-than-expected development of the vaccines, calling it “an incredible success,” “a monumental national achievement,” “really amazing” and “somewhat of a miracle.” He’s also claimed credit, though Pfizer developed its vaccine outside the administration’s “Operation Warp Speed.”

In a passing nod to the pandemic’s toll, Trump promised the coming vaccines would “quickly and dramatically reduce deaths and hospitalizations,” adding that “we want to get back to normal.” But it will be months before most Americans have access to a vaccine.

Asked what message he had for Americans suffering great hardship as the holidays approach and the virus only gets worse, Trump’s answer had an almost clinical tone.

April 23, 2020

“Yeah, well, CDC puts out their guidelines, and they’re very important guidelines,” he said, “but I think this: I think that the vaccine was our goal.”

To focus otherwise would undercut Trump’s goal of minimizing the national pain of the virus’ toll and his claims that the danger will soon vanish.

Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, on Friday answered that approach with a promise for greater presidential leadership. Of the virus, he said: “We can wish this away, but we need to face it.”

Jeff Shesol, a presidential historian and former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton, said Trump’s failure to express empathy was a “personal pathology manifesting itself as political strategy.” (Global News) 

 

Saturday December 16, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday December 16, 2017

Exclusively rural Flamborough ward is coming apart

Farmers may feed cities but based on the Ontario Municipal Board’s ward boundary ruling it looks like cities politically devour farmers.

April 26, 2012

The most lamentable change in the board’s redrawing of Hamilton’s electoral map is the elimination of the current Ward 14 in west Flamborough, effectively shutting down the one voice around the city council horseshoe which speaks exclusively for rural residents.

Under the plan, the ward will be wiped out and partitioned between Ancaster and Dundas, reshaping the unique agricultural community into a mixed urban-rural precinct. In its stead a new ward will sprout on the Mountain.

Ward 14 comprises more than one-third of Hamilton’s total land mass and accounts for a big portion of the $1 billion plus economic activity which agriculture annually contributes to Hamilton’s economy.

June 24, 2016

For the past 11 years Coun. Robert Pasuta, a farmer himself, has been the voice of that community, which since amalgamation has become part of the flavour and fabric of the city.

Pasuta’s updates to council on the state of asparagus, corn, and soybean crops are a quirky but restorative reminder of how singularly blessed Hamilton is, how just a short distance from the choking traffic and concrete of the big city the elemental forces of nature still call the tune that people’s lives and livelihoods dance to.

The weather and soil will remain if the board decision stands. An independent political voice for farmers will not.

Word of the board decision knocked the wind out of Pasuta. He’s got his legs back under him now. If legal grounds permit, he firmly supports appealing the ruling. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

SaveSave