Arctic – mackaycartoons

Thursday August 13, 2015

August 12, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 13, 2015

Harper heads north on campaign tour as Duffy trial resumes

Stephen Harper is heading to Northern Canada in the days after his former chief of staff Nigel Wright begins testifying at the Mike Duffy trial, a campaign itinerary that will take the Conservative Leader far from the story as it begins unfolding in an Ottawa courtroom.

Mr. Harper’s chartered election plane is expected to fly to the Northwest Territories Thursday and Nunavut on Friday before heading south again.

The Conservative Leader has made a habit of touring the North for about one week each summer as part of an effort to cement a legacy in the region – from defending sovereignty to promoting development – and he cancelled this year’s trip in favour of an early election call. His campaign stumping in the territories by comparison will be brief.

Campaign spokesman Kory Teneycke declined to discuss Mr. Harper’s itinerary this week, saying the Tories will “probably spend a couple of days” in Northern Canada along the way.

He dismissed the notion the Harper campaign is setting its travel itinerary by the Duffy case.

“The trial’s going to be going on for three weeks during the middle of the campaign. We’re going to go to every corner of the country while the trial is on. And everywhere we go, we’re going to have a bus or plane full of media and [we’ll be] taking questions from them,” Mr. Teneycke said. (Source: Globe & Mail)

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Tuesday August 11, 2015

August 11, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday August 11, 2015 (Revised from original printed August 21, 2012)

Harper heads north on campaign tour as Duffy trial resumes

Stephen Harper is heading to Northern Canada in the days after his former chief of staff Nigel Wright begins testifying at the Mike Duffy trial, a campaign itinerary that will take the Conservative Leader far from the story as it begins unfolding in an Ottawa courtroom.

Mr. Harper’s chartered election plane is expected to fly to the Northwest Territories Thursday and Nunavut on Friday before heading south again.

‘I’m not denying that’: Six key exchanges from the first leaders’ debate

2011-2015

The Conservative Leader has made a habit of touring the North for about one week each summer as part of an effort to cement a legacy in the region – from defending sovereignty to promoting development – and he cancelled this year’s trip in favour of an early election call. His campaign stumping in the territories by comparison will be brief.

Campaign spokesman Kory Teneycke declined to discuss Mr. Harper’s itinerary this week, saying the Tories will “probably spend a couple of days” in Northern Canada along the way.

He dismissed the notion the Harper campaign is setting its travel itinerary by the Duffy case.

“The trial’s going to be going on for three weeks during the middle of the campaign. We’re going to go to every corner of the country while the trial is on. And everywhere we go, we’re going to have a bus or plane full of media and [we’ll be] taking questions from them,” Mr. Teneycke said. (Source: Globe & Mail)

2015-08-11btearsheet

Tuesday January 6, 2015

January 5, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 6, 2015

Julian Fantino out as veterans affairs minister

Canada’s prime minister has replaced embattled Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino with retired air force officer and first-time MP Erin O’Toole.

In a release Monday, the government said Fantino will remain in cabinet as associate minister for defence Ñ the same post he held before being named international co-operation minister in 2012.

This time, Fantino will focus on Arctic sovereignty, information technology security and foreign intelligence, the release said.

The change was made during a quiet ceremony at Rideau Hall around midday and addresses for now what has been a nagging controversy for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Fantino faced repeated opposition calls for his resignation or firing in the fall over his handling of the Veterans Affairs Canada portfolio. The department has faced much criticism from some veterans because of the decision to close regional offices and for a lack of support for veterans with mental illness.

In November, the auditor general found the department was not doing enough to provide mental-health services to veterans, just days after it was revealed the government had returned nearly $1 billion in lapsed funding to the treasury in recent years.

Fantino was out of the country attending commemorative Second World War events as the opposition called for a response to the auditor general’s report.

Fantino was roundly criticized for a testy meeting with veterans early last year and for refusing to speak with the wife of a veteran who pursued him down a hallway in Parliament. (Source: CBC News)

Wednesday December 17, 2014

December 16, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 17, 2014

Denmark challenges Russia and Canada over North Pole

Denmark has presented a claim to the UN, arguing that the area surrounding the North Pole is connected to the continental shelf of Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory.

Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard said it was a “historic and important milestone” for Denmark.

Canada and Russia have already asserted their own sovereignty over the energy-rich Arctic territory.

Arctic nations have agreed that a UN panel will settle the dispute.

The focus of the dispute is the Lomonosov Ridge, a 1,800km-long (1,120 miles) underwater mountain range that splits the Arctic in two.

Back in 2008, a US Geological Survey report estimated that as much as 22% of the world’s undiscovered and recoverable resources lay north of the Arctic Circle, but the North Pole itself is unlikely to have much oil or gas beneath its deep waters.

The 21-member panel investigating the competing claims to the pole will have to decide whether the scientific evidence put forward is valid. If the claims overlap, the relevant states will then have to negotiate, the spokesman said.

Mr Lidegaard said data collected since 2002 backed Denmark’s claim to an approximate area of 895,000 sq km (346,000 sq miles)- roughly 20 times the size of Denmark – beyond Greenland’s nautical borders.

Denmark, along with Russia, Norway, Canada and the US said in 2008 that the territorial dispute should be settled under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

After ratifying the convention, a country has 10 years to submit a claim to extend its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from its borders. Canada expressed formal interest last year, and Denmark’s deadline is about to run out.

Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen of Denmark’s Syddansk University said the government in Copenhagen had staked its claim, partly to show the world that Denmark could not be pushed about, but also to prove a political point to the people of Greenland. (Source: BBC News)

Wednesday September 10, 2014

September 9, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 10, 2014

Lost Franklin expedition ship found in the Arctic

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says one of Canada’s greatest mysteries now has been solved, with the discovery of one of the lost ships from Sir John Franklin’s doomed Arctic expedition.

“This is a great historic event,” Harper said.

“For more than a century this has been a great Canadian story.… It’s been the subject of scientists and historians and writers and singers. And so I think we have a really important day in mapping together the history of our country,” the prime minister said.

At this point, the searchers aren’t sure if they’ve found HMS Erebus or HMS Terror. But sonar images from the waters of Victoria Strait, just off King William Island, clearly show wreckage of a ship on the ocean floor.

The wreckage was found on Sept. 7 using a remotely operated underwater vehicle recently acquired by Parks Canada. When Harper revealed the team’s success at Parks Canada’s laboratories in Ottawa Tuesday, the room burst into applause and hollering.

“This is a day of some very good news,” Harper told the assembled group of researchers, some of whom had flown all night to be in Ottawa for the announcement.

“It appears to be perfectly preserved,” Harper said of the ship, adding that it has “a little bit of damage

In a statement, the prime minister said Franklin’s expedition laid the foundations of Canada’s Arctic sovereignty. He called the lost ships Canada’s “only undiscovered national historical site.”

The prime minister paid tribute to the search teams — a partnership between Parks Canada, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the Arctic Research Foundation, the Canadian Coast Guard, the Royal Canadian Navy and the government of Nunavut — whose work since 2008 has paid off.

“This discovery would not have been possible without their tireless efforts over the years, as well as their commitment, dedication and the perseverance of the many partners and explorers involved,” Harper said.

2011-2015

Franklin’s crew became locked in the ice during a doomed search for the Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean in 1845. All 128 crew members eventually died, though there’s evidence to suggest some may have survived for several years.

Many searches throughout the 19th century attempted to find the lost ships, but the mystery of what happened to John Franklin and his men has never been solved. (Source: CBC News)

OTHER MEDIA

This cartoon was posted to Yahoo Canada News, ipolitics and National Newswatch.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Harper celebrates #FranklinExpedition find #cdnhistory http://t.co/2KksxNTljE pic.twitter.com/47XSamvPP5

— mackaycartoons (@mackaycartoons) September 10, 2014

IN HARPER’S CANADA Libraries and archives ARE being TRASHED, books ARE being BURNED. SCIENTISTS ARE being CENSORED…

Posted by Occupy Canada on Thursday, September 11, 2014