architecture

Saturday November 23, 2019

November 23, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday November 23, 2019

Hamilton sewage scandal: What happened, and why was it kept secret?

Last week, The Spectator revealed Hamilton city council knew in January about a massive sewage spill into Chedoke Creek but kept the details secret.

Here’s a surface-scraping primer on the scandal so far.

February 26, 2008

An overflow tank gate was left partly open for four-and-a-half years, releasing an estimated 24 billion litres of raw sewage into Chedoke Creek, which flows into Cootes Paradise, between January 2014 and July 2018.

Confidential city reports leaked to The Spectator note staff don’t know why the gate was left open or who did it. A separate gate mishap between January and July 2018 caused 30 per cent of the mess.

The full magnitude of the big leak was discovered after citizen complaints of stench in the area in July 2018.

What’s a combined sewer overflow tank?

Hamilton has nine large tanks that hold wastewater until it can be deposited into the Woodward Avenue treatment plant.

The tank in question, called the Main/King tank, was built in the 1990s and holds 75,000 cubic metres. It’s located at Cathedral Park at 707 King St. W.

“The automated monitoring systems at the CSO tank did not detect the discharge, nor was the discharge visible to staff during monthly facility inspections,” the city’s confidential documents note.

What about the watershed?

June 24, 2015

The July 2018 spill was a “huge setback,” said Tys Theijsmeijer, the Royal Botanical Gardens’ head of natural areas.

“Basically, all the oxygen was sucked out of the water, the algae growth was rampant … and so many plants, like water lilies, were just wiped out.”

The city didn’t tell the RBG, which is the steward of Cootes Paradise, the full volume and duration of the problem, however.

More than 240,000 litres of “floatable material” was removed from the surface of Chedoke Creek and taken to the Woodward Avenue plant.

The city faces a Feb. 14, 2020 deadline to submit an ecological risk assessment and, possibly, a remediation plan for Chedoke Creek. The confidential city reports suggest dredging the creek could cost $2 million.

What did the city tell (and not tell) the public?

July 16, 2014

The city told the public about the spill in July 2018 and posted warning signs around the popular paddling spot, but the full magnitude of the disaster was kept under wraps.

Staff and outside legal counsel advised council against publicizing the estimated 24-billion-litre volume and more-than-four-year span, as well as releasing consulting reports.

The rationale was that doing so could expose the city to financial risk amid a Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks investigation with potential fines of as high as $6 million.

What’s the political fallout?

Councillors say they opted for secrecy to protect taxpayers from financial liability, citing the legal advice they received.

All members of council voted in favour of confidentiality, but three councillors — Nrinder Nann, Maureen Wilson and John-Paul Danko — also cast dissenting votes at various times.

Nann and Wilson have since called for a public apology and the release of all documentation.

But councillors have also directed staff to investigate who gave The Spectator the confidential reports, sources say.

The sewage scandal has also made waves at Queen’s Park with NDP MPP Sandy Shaw (Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas) scolding the ministry for not telling residents about the full extent of the leak. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Saturday November 16, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday November 16, 2019

Trump impeachment: Stunning scenes as witness applauded after seeing off real-time ‘intimidation’ by president

Career diplomat Marie Yovanovitch received a rare, emotional standing ovation after she testified about Donald Trump’s threatening intimidation over Ukraine, and fended off in real time a stunning Twitter attack from the president.

November 2, 2019

As Ms Yovanovitch delivered her testimony on Capitol Hill, providing a damning portrait of a “smear campaign” against her led by Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, Democrats accused the president of seeking to intimidate witnesses, and said his words could be included in any articles of impeachment.

At the conclusion of Ms Yovanovitch’s evidence, congressman Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House intelligence committee underscored the historic nature of the day. He said Mr Trump’s attack on the diplomat had been “just appalling”.

“But as we have observed so often, appalling in this administration is not the least bit surprising,” he added. “Nonetheless, she endured the attack and went on. We are grateful for that.”

April 13, 2018

Asked about suggestions from several members of his party that the president’s tweet could form part of an article of impeachment, he said they were “part of a pattern to intimidate witnesses. It’s also part of a pattern to obstruct the investigation”.

For her part, Ms Yovanovitch received loud applause from many of those watching, when she concluded almost five hours of testimony. In unusual scenes, spectators spontaneously started clapping when Mr Schiff gavelled the hearing closed, then stood and cheered for her as she left the room.

Ms Yovanovitch, 61, was not considered the Democrats’ star witness. As Republicans pointed out, the party first chose to call William Taylor and George Kent to deliver the opening public testimony on Wednesday.

The two men, like Ms Yovanovitch long-time career professionals who had served presidents of both parties, detailed how Mr Trump apparently placed his own political needs ahead of the security of Ukraine, by making military aid and a state visit to Washington dependent on Kiev announcing an investigation into Joe Biden and his son. Republicans have long accused the Democratic former vice president of improperly using his position to oust a prosecutor who threatened the business interests of his son, though there is no evidence to support the claims.

January 20, 2017

Ms Yovanovitch’s manner and demeanour were similar to those of her colleagues – methodical, logical and stressing service of country over partisan politics. She reminded her audience that diplomacy was not just about cocktail parties, and that US diplomats had died while working to represent the nation, most recently in the 2012 attack on a compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi.

Yet, the words of Ms Yovanovitch, who was recalled in May from her position as the US ambassador to Ukraine at the behest of Mr Trump and Mr Giuliani, carried more power for several reasons. Firstly, in her prepared remarks, she referred to discovering the president had been using been discussing her removal. (The Independent) 

 

Tuesday September 17, 2019

September 17, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday September 17, 2019

‘We like to fall in love’: Which federal party will win over the fickle Quebec voter?

As the federal election campaign began last week, Canada’s main political parties couldn’t escape Quebec’s internal politics and a renewed nationalism championed by the provincial government.

July 12, 2019

The Coalition Avenir Quebec government continues to enjoy broad support among Quebec’s francophone majority, as do the government’s recent moves to cut immigration and limit the rights of religious minorities in the name of protecting Quebecers’ language, culture and identity.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet are targeting these nationalist voters, and both promise their members would defend the Coalition party’s policies in Ottawa.

And yet it’s the Liberal party, led by the unabashedly pro-immigration, pro-multiculturalism Justin Trudeau, that sits atop the polls in the province — by a large margin. However, analysts say that Liberal support is fragile, because Quebec voters are notoriously fickle when it comes to federal politics.

October 10, 2015

Trudeau’s been here before.

In the 2015 election, both he and then-NDP leader Tom Mulcair came out against former Conservative leader Stephen Harper’s election promise to ban the face-covering Islamic niqab during citizenship ceremonies. Francophone Quebecers largely supported Harper’s position.

The fight for Quebec’s coveted 78 seats will turn on whether Trudeau’s personal popularity can stop voters from switching to the two parties trying hardest to tap into the nationalist sentiment that propelled the Coalition to power, pollster Jean-Marc Leger said.

The Bloc and the Tories have repeatedly stated over the past week they wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21. The law prohibits some public sector workers, including teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols at work.

July 19, 2019

They took turns hammering Trudeau for not pledging to do the same. The Liberal leader was dogged by questions about whether his party, if re-elected, would participate in a judicial challenge to the law.

Trudeau said his government might intervene, but at the moment such a move would be “counter-productive.” But it was the other part of his answer that reflected his party’s bet that Quebec voters know him, like him and will overlook his stance against the secularism legislation.

On Sunday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was in Sherbrooke, Que., promising new powers and funding for Quebec — and dangling the possibility of constitutional reform — in a bid to revive the so-called orange wave of 2011. But with a Leger poll putting the party at six per cent in Quebec on the eve of the election, he has a steep climb ahead of him. (CP/Yahoo News) 

Canada’s federal leaders pander for Quebec votes from r/canadapoliticshumour


 

Thursday June 13, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 13, 2019

Advisory council calls for $15B universal, single-payer pharmacare plan

An advisory council appointed by the Liberal government is recommending the establishment of a universal, single-payer public pharmacare system.

The council’s 171-page report, released Wednesday, calls for the creation of a new drug agency that would draft a national list of prescription medicines that would be covered by the taxpayer, beginning with an initial list of common and essential drugs, by Jan. 1, 2022.

The council recommends that initial list be expanded to a comprehensive plan by Jan. 2, 2027. When fully implemented, the total cost would be $15 billion a year.

Dr. Eric Hoskins, a former Ontario health minister and chair of the advisory council, acknowledged there are “significant incremental costs” to building pharmacare, but he noted that those costs are already being picked up by Canadians.

“We are confident that the implementation plan that we have put forward is one that meets the objectives and requirements that were handed to the council, of creating a program and implementation plan that is fair and sustainable and accessible to Canadians,” he said.

The council proposes a $2 co-payment for common drugs and $5 for less common ones. The fee would be waived for Canadians on social assistance or with low incomes.

The council spent the last year studying various pharmacare models and hearing from more than 32,000 Canadians and organizations sharing their views online and through letters, written submissions and meetings across the country.

Hoskins said it’s time to show “courage and boldness” and to do “some nation building” on a project that would benefit Canadians in “unimaginable ways.” (CBC) 

 

Tuesday April 16, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 16, 2019

Fire torches Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

A massive fire engulfed the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of the French capital Monday, toppling its spire and sending thick plumes of smoke high into the blue sky as tourists and Parisians watched in horror from the streets below.

November 16, 2015

A spokesman said the entire wooden frame of the cathedral would likely come down, and that the vault of the edifice could be threatened too.

“Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame,” Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot told French media. The 12th-century cathedral is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions.

The cause of the catastrophic blaze was not known, but French media quoted the Paris fire brigade as saying the fire is “potentially linked” to a 6 million-euro renovation project on the church’s spire and its 250 tons of lead. Prosecutors opened an investigation as Paris police said there were no reported deaths.

Flames shot out of the roof behind the nave of the cathedral, among the most visited landmarks in the world. Hundreds of people lined up bridges around the island that houses the cathedral, watching in shock as acrid smoke rose in plumes.

The iconic building in the center of the city is the most visited monument in Paris, with more than 12 million visitors a year — nearly double the people who visit Eiffel Tower.

February 22, 2003

French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a televised speech to the nation because of the stunning blaze and was going to the cathedral himself.

Paris deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said emergency services are trying to salvage the famed art pieces stored in the cathedral.

Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, Notre Dame is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages as well as one of the most beloved structures in the world. Situated on the Ile de la Cite, an island in the Seine, the cathedral’s architecture is famous for, among other things, its many gargoyles and its iconic flying buttresses.

Among the most celebrated artworks inside are its three stained-glass rose windows, placed high up on the west, north and south faces of the cathedral. Its priceless treasures also include a Catholic relic, the crown of thorns, which is only occasionally displayed, including on Fridays during Lent.

The cathedral was immortalized in Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” published in 1831, and has long been a subject of fascination in popular culture as well as the traditional art world. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

I couldn’t help the fact that this 1980’s song by the House Martins re-ran through my head as the Cathedral burned: