ape

Tuesday January 26, 2021

 

January 26, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 26, 2021

Keystone pipeline decision was Joe Biden’s to make

No question, U.S. President Joe Biden delivered a gut punch to Alberta, and to a lesser extent Saskatchewan, when he used his executive authority to kill the previous president’s executive order allowing construction of the Keystone pipeline, which would have shipped oil from Alberta’s tarsands to refineries south of the border.

In the immediate aftermath, 1,000 construction workers were laid off, and the Calgary-based energy company that had unfronted much of the cost will now have to eat that expenditure. 

It’s about the last thing Alberta’s staggered economy and workforce needs, and regardless of what we think about fossil fuels and the tarsands, we should feel some empathy for average Albertans if not their hyperbolic government. 

January 8, 2014

But let’s talk about what the decision is not. First and foremost, it is not a surprise. Keystone has a tortured history. When he was president, Barack Obama was firmly against the controversial project, which was also opposed by climate change activists, environmentalists and Indigenous groups.

Then along came Donald Trump, who promptly reversed that decision and allowed construction to begin. And then along came Biden, who has promised all along to stop the pipeline. He was opposed as Obama’s VP, he was opposed as a Democratic leadership contender, and he ran in the presidential election with his opposition front and centre.

Reacting to Biden’s order, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney blew several gaskets. In a blustery response he lashed out at Biden, the U.S. and at Ottawa, demanding Ottawa impose sanctions in retaliation.

April 20, 2019

It was an embarrassing display, but under the circumstances not surprising. Kenney has been having a rough ride, having dropped the ball on Alberta’s pandemic response. He had a minister and several MLAs take off for sunny vacations while his government was urging Albertans to stay at home. He wants to reopen coal mining in an environmentally sensitive part of the province and is facing massive opposition. Oh, and he invested $1.5 billion into the pipeline, along with $6 billion more in loan guarantees.

He did that, knowing that Biden was leading in polling and predicted to defeat Trump. In effect, Kenney and his government were betting on a second term for Trump. Not smart.

Not surprisingly, Kenney’s approval ratings have taken a beating, and deservedly so. His bellicose demands for trade sanctions and threats of legal action are empty. Anyone who thinks this action alone will prompt the federal government to start off the new president’s term with sour relations probably also bet on Trump.

May 14, 2016

The financial impact of the decision is real, and no one should be surprised if some sort of legal action ensues to try and recover some of money lost. But no one can credibly argue Biden acted in bad faith. He didn’t. If Americans voted for Biden knowing his stance on the pipeline and green economics, that means they support the decisions that go along with that change. It’s not up to Canada to tell Americans what they should or should not do with energy projects on sovereign U.S. territory. We couldn’t do that with Trump, and we certainly can’t do it with a new president who has a strong mandate. Can you imagine how Canada would react if the U.S. tried to strong-arm energy policy over our sovereign interests? We wouldn’t stand for it.

Here is the bottom line Kenney doesn’t want to talk about. Even before the pandemic, the world was turning its back on fossil fuel consumption and production. The pandemic just accelerated that reality, and the trend is not likely to change regardless of Kenney’s ranting and raving. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Tuesday November 10, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 10, 2020

Trump’s narcissism has become the GOP’s Achilles’ heel

October 10, 2020

President Trump, days after losing the presidency by millions of votes and by a significant margin in the electoral college, still cannot admit he lost. There are a number of possible explanations for this. He may be such a raging narcissist that he simply cannot recognize failure and rejection. He may see the legal attacks as a money-raising venture (solicitations for the lawsuits in fine print reveal he can use the money to pay off campaign debt). He may see this as a financial strategy as he returns to the business world (no one wants to stay at Loser Trump’s hotels, but Martyr Trump has some brand appeal). As a political strategy, rejecting the election results keeps deluded supporters in a frenzy over a “stolen” election that was not stolen at all. (Have we found any shred of evidence of fraud or error that would change thousands of votes? Of course not.)

January 8, 2020

In any case, a range of conservatives — from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to talk-radio hosts to evangelical Christian patsies for Trump to potential 2024 Republican candidates — evidently think there is value in keeping up the pretense, which they know to be insane and anti-democratic. McConnell probably thinks it will juice up Georgia voters for the Senate runoff elections and stoke fundraising. The talk-radio jockeys and the rest of the unhinged right-wing media need new outrages to feed viewership. Trump-friendly evangelical Christian leaders have been selling white grievance for decades and likely see this as the latest reason to instill in their followers a sense of injustice, loss and anger. (It will also be fodder for arguments to intensify voter suppression based on the myth of rampant voter fraud.) And the 2024 contenders want to be seen as the heirs to the MAGA crowd, so they imitate Trump’s delusional refusal to accept the results.

June 4, 2019

The interesting question is not whether these people are behaving undemocratically, dishonestly and immorally; we know that to be the case. What we should be asking is why they are playing along with Trump. After losing a presidential election based almost entirely on conspiracies and white grievance, they seem determined to do it all over again.

January 11, 2016

The interesting question is not whether these people are behaving undemocratically, dishonestly and immorally; we know that to be the case. What we should be asking is why they are playing along with Trump. After losing a presidential election based almost entirely on conspiracies and white grievance, they seem determined to do it all over again. (Continued: Washington Post) 

Depicting Trump as an animal was going too far – Tuesday, Nov. 10, editorial cartoon

Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator, November 17, 2020

This editorial cartoon went too far and was unbecoming of a Canadian newspaper. I agree that American President Donald Trump has lost the respect of other world leaders, and that the entire world is watching his childish and unethical behaviour with disgust. He is racist, sexist and xenophobic. He fans the flames of unrest and inequity in his country. He is attempting to dismantle the very democracy that is the basis of American citizenship. However, he is not an animal; he is a very flawed and dangerous human with too much power. It is beneath The Hamilton Spectator or any respected Canadian newspaper to engage in the same kind of dehumanizing humour that has marred Trump’s presidency.

Laura Wolfson, Dundas

Cartoons are not a popularity contest – Tuesday, Nov. 10 editorial cartoon

Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator, November 24, 2020

I see that some readers are upset by Graeme MacKay’s Nov. 10 cartoon showing Trump (and a couple of other Republican leaders) as orangutans. I’m not sure why that’s necessarily worse than portraying him as a spoiled, squalling baby (which has been done a lot by other cartoonists too). In any case, for comparison it’s worth looking back in history to the work by Thomas Nast in the late 1800s. He is the father of all modern political cartooning and to say the least, he didn’t hold back.

He drew political leaders of the day as overstuffed vultures, bumbling rhinos, two-headed tigers, donkeys and much else. By today’s standards a lot of his work would probably be called vicious.

I take it that the whole point of political cartooning is simply to disrupt and challenge as cleverly as possible. It’s not a popularity contest.

In the end, a mark of just how bad Trump has been is to see how scathing the cartoons have become. Nast would have had a field day with him. This outgoing U.S. president has richly earned the judgment of history that he is now going to get.

William Harris, Hamilton

Thursday May 2, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 2, 2019

Where is your climate change plan? Liberal ministers ask Scheer

The House of Commons resumed sitting on Monday for what’s set to be an intense session before Parliament adjourns for the last time before the federal election will be called, and the governing Liberals came out swinging bright and early against Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.

April 2, 2019

Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna and Finance Minister Bill Morneau began their day criticizing their main opponent for his lack of a climate plan. Meanwhile, Scheer was elsewhere on the Hill doing the same over the government’s approach to current trade tensions with China.

At issue specifically for the Liberal ministers: Scheer’s lack of a climate change plan, despite his consistent attacks on the government’s imposition of a federal price on carbon — up to $50 per excess tonne by 2022 — in provinces who don’t implement their own. The federal Conservatives say the government’s plan is little more than a “tax grab.”

It was exactly a year ago, on April 29, 2018 during a sit-down interview on CTV’s Question Period, Scheer said that he would be unveiling a climate plan ahead of the 2019 election that will meet the Paris targets without a carbon tax.

September 20, 2016

Asked whether the plan will meet the UN targets for combating climate change, otherwise known as Paris Agreement, Scheer said “of course.”

The Paris agreement sets out an international plan to limit global warming to below two degrees.

“I will unveil a plan that reaches the targets that we have already voted in favour of,” Scheer said at the time.

In June 2017, Scheer and his caucus voted in support of the Canadian government implementing the Paris Agreement, stating it was in the best interest of Canadians and recognizing that climate change is a global issue.

Though, eight months later it was on CTV’s Question Period again where he walked back that promise. He could not commit that his plan would mean the targets, instead he said his plan would have “meaningful reductions.” (Source: CTV News) 

 

Saturday February 4, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 4, 2017

In light of Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau is clearing the decks.

The prime minister is ditching complicated and politically difficult aspects of his agenda in order to focus on the mercurial U.S. President.

February 2, 2017

That’s the context for Trudeau’s dramatic about-face this week on electoral reform.

It also helps explain why he put the kibosh Wednesday to suggestions the government might tax employee health and dental benefits.

In that case, he publicly undercut Finance Minister Bill Morneau who, in his review of pricey tax breaks, has been deliberately noncommittal about such a move.

A political fight over a popular tax break is the last thing the Liberal government wants now.

Nor, apparently, does it want to spend time and energy on an issue, like electoral reform, that polls suggest most Canadians don’t much care about.

January 11, 2016

Ottawa has always been sensitive to political ebbs and flows in the U.S. During the 2015 election campaign that brought him to power, Trudeau promised to be even more Washington-focused.

But Trump’s election victory has presented Canada’s government with a host of new problems.

First and foremost is the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump’s insistence on a renegotiation of that pact could, in the short run at least, devastate portions of the Canadian economy.

As well, Trump’s ambitious public works promises, if affected, could put upward pressure on interest rates. That in turn could raise the cost of Trudeau’s proposed public investments.

Trump is also musing about a 20 per cent border adjustment tax on exports to the U.S., including, presumably, exports from Canada.

His decision to ban citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. threw Ottawa into a tizzy, one that was only partially resolved when the Americans agreed to exempt dual nationals holding Canadian passports. (Source: Toronto Star)