apology

Saturday May 21, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Saturday May 21, 2016 Trudeau apologizes over Commons scuffle as controversial motion withdrawn The morning after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau barged swearing into a knot of opposition MPs, grabbing one and elbowing aside another to hurry up a vote, he made very public displays of personal contrition.Ê Trudeau appeared at an MPs prayer breakfast to read aloud a scripture of his choice, Romans 12, that counsels: donÕt think you are better than you really are. Then the prime minister delivered an abject apology in the House of Commons. Rising in the Commons after a scathing rebuke by official Opposition leader Rona Ambrose, Trudeau said he was Òsorry,Ó Òapologized,Ó or ÒregrettedÓ his actions 16 times over the course of an hour. The prime minister said he would willingly accept a committeeÕs decision on his behaviour. But he was non-committal faced with opposition fury and calls for him to withdraw a controversial and provocative motion that was the backdrop of the Wednesday night scuffle. Known as Motion 6, it would have givenÊthe Liberal government unilateral control over the parliamentary agenda as it scrambles to push through its legislation, including Bill C-14 on medically assisted suicide, before a June 6 deadline. But by midday, TrudeauÕs entire government was in damage control mode. TrudeauÕs longtime friend and House leader Dominic Leblanc withdrew the motion heÕd insisted was necessary just the day before. Leblanc offered to co-operate with the opposition to extend debate time so all MPs could speak to Bill C-14, and said the government still wanted to try to meet the June 6 deadlineÊimposed by the Supreme Court of Canada. (Source: Toronto Star)Êhttps://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/05/19/justin-trudeau-to-address-house-of-commons-over-scuffle.html Canada, USA, election, manhandling, elbowgate, civility, decorum, Parliament, apology, Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, leadershipÊ

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 21, 2016

Trudeau apologizes over Commons scuffle as controversial motion withdrawn

The morning after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau barged swearing into a knot of opposition MPs, grabbing one and elbowing aside another to hurry up a vote, he made very public displays of personal contrition.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Canadians, Donald Trump's candidacy is no reason to panic Since the 1990s, the U.S. political roller coaster has often confounded Canadians. Many scoffed when the largest country in the world seemed to be paralyzed for months by the oldest scandal in the world Ñ a married man, Bill Clinton, making time with a younger woman, Monica Lewinsky, who wasnÕt his wife. Many were dismayed when the eminently prime-ministerial Al Gore lost to the easily mockable George W. Bush in 2000 Ñ especially because Gore won more popular votes than Bush did. Still, nothing compares to the panic and horror Donald TrumpÕs candidacy has evoked. Canadian confusion about the American presidential campaign circus makes sense: most Americans are equally disturbed. This campaign has been one of the most surprising and upsetting clashes in decades, and it has only just begun. Remember the too-long Canadian campaign of 78 days? U.S. Election Day, Nov. 8, is still eight months away. The United States appears hopelessly divided, with the Republican surprise and the Democratic surprise suggesting the country is being pulled in opposite directions. Bernie Sanders may be the American Canadians most love to love: down-to-earth, earnest, substantive, unstylish, collectivist and socialist in a cuddly, non-Stalinist way. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is the type of American Canadians most love to hate: arrogant, flamboyant, egotistical, jingoistic and demagogic, playing personality politics. A president Donald Trump meeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would be even more awkward than Ronald Reagan meeting Pierre Trudeau. When they met in 1981, Reagan wore a suitably statesmanlike dark suit with a conservative striped tie, while Trudeau, looking more Floridian than Washingtonian, wore an open-necked shirt with a tan sports jacket, while sporting a dandyish red rose. (Continued: Montreal Gazette) http://montrealgazette.com/o

March 29, 2016

Trudeau appeared at an MPs prayer breakfast to read aloud a scripture of his choice, Romans 12, that counsels: don’t think you are better than you really are. Then the prime minister delivered an abject apology in the House of Commons.

Rising in the Commons after a scathing rebuke by official Opposition leader Rona Ambrose, Trudeau said he was “sorry,” “apologized,” or “regretted” his actions 16 times over the course of an hour.

The prime minister said he would willingly accept a committee’s decision on his behaviour. But he was non-committal faced with opposition fury and calls for him to withdraw a controversial and provocative motion that was the backdrop of the Wednesday night scuffle. Known as Motion 6, it would have given the Liberal government unilateral control over the parliamentary agenda as it scrambles to push through its legislation, including Bill C-14 on medically assisted suicide, before a June 6 deadline.

But by midday, Trudeau’s entire government was in damage control mode.

Trudeau’s longtime friend and House leader Dominic Leblanc withdrew the motion he’d insisted was necessary just the day before. Leblanc offered to co-operate with the opposition to extend debate time so all MPs could speak to Bill C-14, and said the government still wanted to try to meet the June 6 deadline imposed by the Supreme Court of Canada. (Source: Toronto Star)

 

Friday February 19, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Friday February 19, 2016 Pope Francis says Trump's views on immigration 'not Christian' Pope Francis said Thursday that Donald Trump is "not Christian" if he intends to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump immediately fired back, saying it is disgraceful for a religious leader to question a person's faith. Trump, a leading U.S. Republican presidential candidate, has promised to build a wall along the Mexican border from Texas to California and expel 11 million people who are in the country illegally if elected president. The Pope's comments en route home from Mexico came hours after he prayed at the Mexico-U.S. border for people who died trying to reach the United States. "A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," Francis said. "This is not in the Gospel." Not having heard Trump's border plans independently, Francis said he'd "give him the benefit of the doubt." But he added: "I'd just say that this man is not Christian if he said it this way." Texas Senator Ted Cruz, another Republican presidential contender, has also supported building a border wall, and joked that he will make Trump pay for it. Trump, a Presbyterian, last week criticized Francis' plans to pray at the border. He said the move was ill-informed and showed Francis to be a political figure being exploited by the Mexican government. "I don't think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico," Trump said in an interview with Fox News. "I think Mexico got him to do it because they want to keep the border just the way it is. They're making a fortune, and we're losing." On Thursday, he responded to the Pope's comments during a campaign stop in Kiawah Island, S.C. "No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man's religion or faith," he said. "They are using the Pope as a pawn and they sh

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 19, 2016

Pope Francis says Trump’s views on immigration ‘not Christian’

Pope Francis said Thursday that Donald Trump is “not Christian” if he intends to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump immediately fired back, saying it is disgraceful for a religious leader to question a person’s faith.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday February 10, 2016 Poll: Trump, Sanders lead ahead of New Hampshire's vote Donald Trump continues to lead the Republican race in New Hampshire on the eve of the vote, the final CNN/WMUR tracking poll finds. On the Democratic side of the race, it remains Bernie Sanders' primary to lose, with the Vermont senator holding a 26-point lead over Hillary Clinton. The field of candidates vying for a second place finish behind him is finally beginning to separate, according to the survey. Trump holds 31%, down two points from the February 3-6 release, but within the poll's margin of sampling error. READ: The full CNN/WMUR tracking poll results Behind him, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio earned 17% support -- within the margin of sampling error of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 14%, but significantly ahead of the fourth and fifth place candidates in the poll, Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 10% and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 7%. Behind Bush, Carly Fiorina stands at 5%, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 4% and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 3%. Aside from Trump, none of the Republican candidates moved more than 1 point in either direction compared with the previous CNN/WMUR tracking poll. About three-quarters of the interviews conducted for this poll were completed before the Republican candidates debated Saturday night, their final such match-up before Tuesday's election. Although the post-debate sample size is too small to produce a separate estimate of the vote, interviews conducted Sunday and Monday found no drop in support for Rubio, and actually showed a slimmer margin between Trump and Rubio. There has been little movement in the last two days in the other metrics tested in the survey, with about two-thirds still saying they expect to see Trump win on Tuesday (64%), and about a third saying they would never vote for Trump (32%). (Source: CNN) http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/08/politics/donald-trump-bernie-sa

Wednesday February 10, 2016

Trump, a leading U.S. Republican presidential candidate, has promised to build a wall along the Mexican border from Texas to California and expel 11 million people who are in the country illegally if elected president.

The Pope’s comments en route home from Mexico came hours after he prayed at the Mexico-U.S. border for people who died trying to reach the United States.

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” Francis said. “This is not in the Gospel.”

Not having heard Trump’s border plans independently, Francis said he’d “give him the benefit of the doubt.” But he added: “I’d just say that this man is not Christian if he said it this way.”

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, another Republican presidential contender, has also supported building a border wall, and joked that he will make Trump pay for it.

Trump, a Presbyterian, last week criticized Francis’ plans to pray at the border. He said the move was ill-informed and showed Francis to be a political figure being exploited by the Mexican government.

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Rock Star Pope

“I don’t think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. “I think Mexico got him to do it because they want to keep the border just the way it is. They’re making a fortune, and we’re losing.”

On Thursday, he responded to the Pope’s comments during a campaign stop in Kiawah Island, S.C.

“No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith,” he said. “They are using the Pope as a pawn and they should be ashamed of themselves for doing so, especially when so many lives are involved and when illegal immigration is so rampant.”

He also said the Mexican government has disparaged him to the Pope and separately invoked the Islamic State group, saying that if it attacks the Vatican, “I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president because this would not have happened.” (Source: CBC News)

 

Social Media

As I turned the page on this story in my newspaper, I was greeted with an editorial cartoonby artist Graeme MacKay that took a different spin on this same piece of news. Mackay’s cartoon had Trump on one wall with a banner saying “No Illegal Mexicans” and the Pope is on another wall with three plaques saying, “No Gays. No Women Priests. No Apologies.”

Everyone deserves a reality check. We all have our own walls. Being a follower of Jesus has to allow for hard questions. We need to continually ask ourselves as Christians,

  • Where should I be building a bridge?
  • What walls do I need to tear down?
  • How can I be more holistic in my faith?

Source: Hamilton Commons

Saturday February 6, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Saturday February 6, 2016 Ferguson unrepentant and ÔoffendedÕ by accusations (By Andrew Dreschel) An official with the Colombian consulate says it's not up to him to say whether Coun. Lloyd Ferguson should apologize for controversial comments about his country being backwards. "I leave that to the City of Hamilton," Toronto-based trade commissioner Alvaro Concha said Thursday. But far from entertaining apologies, an unrepentant Ferguson is on the attack. He's "offended" that his reference to Colombia as a "backwards" place where the only wealthy are "drug lords" and chickens ride buses has been branded as stereotyping by politicians and members of the public. "I wasn't making that crap up; it's what I visibly saw," said Ferguson, who visited Colombia 12 years ago for a weeklong business conference. "I don't like being accused of stereotyping because I wasn't stereotyping. I witnessed it first hand." Ferguson made his controversial comments during a budget meeting this week. He was responding to the city's transit director using a quote from the Mayor of Bogota, Colombia's capital city, stating a developed country is not where the poor have cars, but where the rich use public transit. Calling the ensuing kerfuffle a "tempest in a teapot," the Ancaster councillor and police board chair says he was objecting to benchmarking Hamilton against Bogota, a city of eight million. Coun. Mathew Green immediately took Ferguson to task for stereotyping. When the story went mainstream, it lit up social media and online commentary. Many demanded Ferguson apologize. The pitchfork-and-torch mob called him a racist and xenophobe. One twit on Twitter accused Mayor Fred Eisenberger of agreeing with Ferguson because he was silent on the issue. Eisenberger pushed back, calling that and other comments as "outrageous" as Ferguson's own. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator) http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/6264566-dresche

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 6, 2016

Ferguson unrepentant and ‘offended’ by accusations

(By Andrew Dreschel) An official with the Colombian consulate says it’s not up to him to say whether Coun. Lloyd Ferguson should apologize for controversial comments about his country being backwards.

Tuesday November 10, 2015“I leave that to the City of Hamilton,” Toronto-based trade commissioner Alvaro Concha said Thursday.

But far from entertaining apologies, an unrepentant Ferguson is on the attack.

He’s “offended” that his reference to Colombia as a “backwards” place where the only wealthy are “drug lords” and chickens ride buses has been branded as stereotyping by politicians and members of the public.

“I wasn’t making that crap up; it’s what I visibly saw,” said Ferguson, who visited Colombia 12 years ago for a weeklong business conference.

“I don’t like being accused of stereotyping because I wasn’t stereotyping. I witnessed it first hand.”

Ferguson made his controversial comments during a budget meeting this week. He was responding to the city’s transit director using a quote from the Mayor of Bogota, Colombia’s capital city, stating a developed country is not where the poor have cars, but where the rich use public transit.

Thursday March 12, 2015Calling the ensuing kerfuffle a “tempest in a teapot,” the Ancaster councillor and police board chair says he was objecting to benchmarking Hamilton against Bogota, a city of eight million.

Coun. Mathew Green immediately took Ferguson to task for stereotyping. When the story went mainstream, it lit up social media and online commentary. Many demanded Ferguson apologize. The pitchfork-and-torch mob called him a racist and xenophobe.

One twit on Twitter accused Mayor Fred Eisenberger of agreeing with Ferguson because he was silent on the issue. Eisenberger pushed back, calling that and other comments as “outrageous” as Ferguson’s own. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Wednesday October 1, 2014

Wednesday October 23, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 1, 2014

Justin Trudeau gets apology from Sun Media

Sun Media Corp. is apologizing to Justin Trudeau for a rant against the Liberal leader by on-air personality Ezra Levant.

Wednesday August 13, 2014“It is the view of Sun News that this segment was in poor taste and should not have been aired. We understand why many viewers found both the content and language of this segment to be offensive,” according to a statement posted on its website.

“We apologize to Mr. Trudeau, his family and to our viewers.”

Levant made no mention of the subject in the opening monologue of his 8 p.m. ET Sun News Network show.

“We accept Sun News’ apology,” Trudeau’s spokeswoman Kate Purchase said in an emailed statement.

“We look forward to Sun News journalists resuming participation in Mr. Trudeau’s press conferences.”

The Sun News Network host was in hot water for an on-air tirade over a photo of Trudeau kissing a Toronto-area bride on the cheek as her bridesmaids looked on.

In his monologue, Levant maligned Trudeau for the kiss, suggesting he’d forced himself on the wedding party. He also slurred Trudeau’s mother, Margaret, and his late father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

The bride and her father-in-law stated publicly that they requested Trudeau to pose for photos, and also asked that he kiss the bride. They said Trudeau got the groom’s OK before planting the kiss.

As a result of Levant’s comments, Trudeau had said he would no longer speak to Sun Media reporters until there was an appropriate response from the chain, Canada’s largest newspaper publisher.

A video of the rant and a column repeating many of the same slurs against Trudeau was still on Levant’s blog as of late Monday afternoon. Levant did not immediately reply to a request for comment. (Source: CBC News)

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February 25, 2010

The occasion of a public apology is, for me anyway, almost always a trigger to cause me to wince. No matter who it comes from, a politician, athlete (Tiger Woods last week), or entertainer saying sorry for cheating on a spouse, or found guilty for drunk driving, or a national leader giving a formal apology to a hushed legislature over a past misdeed which might’ve affected millions, nothing, no matter how passionate the blubbing appears before a camera can move me enough to take seriously. Here’s a list of the top 15 most insincere public apologies.

I can see the merits of saying sorry if one is seeking forgiveness. That’s the way it works on a person to person level. The problem with giving an apology to a camera is that the camera can’t accept your apology. The people watching from behind the camera can’t exactly indicate their acceptance either. One thing is clear, no apology, no matter how much money is included, is going to be received with 100 % acceptance which pretty much makes any public statement of sorrow ring hollow.

When a leader offers an apology on behalf of a state they aren’t exactly speaking on behalf of 100% of the population. The apology for the razing of Africville 40 years ago in Halifax, for example, has been argued by some to this day as a necessary (albeit it, brutal) means to control dangerous living conditions and pestilence.

Apologies can only be done on face-to-face personal terms. When it comes to a politician apologizing on behalf of his government for something a previous government did to people many generations ago I’m one to think that it’s worse than being hollow, it’s simply an insulting trivial move designed more to score points for a political legacy or a reelection campaign.