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Saturday December 5, 2020

December 12, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday December 5, 2020

Justin Trudeau won’t escape his election promise to lift water-boil advisories in First Nation communities

October 21, 2016

Five years after their election promise to lift the water-boil advisories in every First Nation community by March 2021, the federal Liberals have officially admitted they won’t meet that goal.

It was an embarrassing concession reluctantly made this week after much media prodding. And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deserves the barrage of criticism coming his way from Indigenous leaders who are disheartened and disappointed by the news.

It is unacceptable that any resident of any First Nations community must wait a day longer for what almost all Canadians routinely take for granted: being able to fill a glass with safe, clean water when they turn on a tap in their home. 

Trudeau has previously taken heat for breaking campaign promises to overhaul the electoral system and balance the budget, He should take his licks for failing to keep this pledge, too. 

February 20, 2020

But for all that, thank goodness he made it. The federal Liberals have, in fact, made significant progress in ensuring Indigenous communities have a safe supply of water, one of life’s essentials not only for drinking but bathing and cooking. 

When they came to power in 2015, there were no fewer than 105 long-term water-boil advisories in effect across Canada. Their efforts resulted in 97 of those advisories being lifted. The Liberals remain committed to getting the job done, too, and appropriately announced $1.5 billion in this week’s mini-budget to make that happen.

Yet, as they made advances in some First Nations communities, new problems and new advisories appeared in others. That’s why today, 59 long-term water-boil advisories remain in effect. That’s why there will be at least another dozen water-boil advisories in effect going into next year, the year everything was supposed to be fixed. 

July 23, 2019

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said this week the pandemic is partly responsible for these delays, which seems a reasonable explanation — to a point. But Miller also said the Liberals didn’t initially understand the “state of decay” in infrastructure in many First Nations communities.

So is what we’re left with a case where non-Indigenous politicians see a half-full glass on the safe-water front while Indigenous people see one that’s half-empty? Perhaps it’s both. 

First Nations communities have every right to be angry that another promise to them has been broken. The Neskantaga First Nation in Northwestern Ontario, for instance, has been living with a drinking-water advisory for 25 years and was evacuated in late October after an oil sheen was discovered on its reservoir. Today, more than 250 band members are living in hotels in Thunder Bay 400 kilometres away

June 3, 2015

Can anyone seriously imagine a non-Indigenous community, for instance in southern Ontario, going more than a few days with a contaminated municipal water supply? Anyone who remembers the Walkerton, Ont., water crisis of 2000 will know how quickly authorities responded to a deadly E. coli outbreak in the town’s water supply, and how that led to more stringent water standards across the entire province.

Despite all this, the current federal government can still be credited for doing far more than its predecessors — Liberal as well as Conservative — and going a long way to ending an intolerable situation that should have been remedied decades ago.

No, the Liberals won’t meet the deadline of their campaign promise. But they should eventually keep the rest of the pledge to make safe First Nations water systems. That promise, even if critics say it has been broken, spurred necessary action and held the Liberals accountable in a way previous governments were not. It was a promise worth making as well as keeping. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2020-41, balanced budget, balloons, Canada, Electoral reform, indigenous, Justin Trudeau, Liberal, promise, safe water, trust

Tuesday July 17, 2012

July 17, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday July 17, 2012

The Condi Distraction

If Team Romney’s leak that the candidate is considering Condoleezza Rice as a running mate was an effort to change the subject after a tough week on the campaign trail, it wasn’t very successful.

Mitt Romney spent last week being booed by the NAACP when he wasn’t being hounded by the Obama campaign over his tenure at Bain Capital and his refusal to release more tax returns. On Thursday night, the Drudge Report said that the former secretary of state was on Mr. Romney’s short list of VP choices.

Several Republican women like the idea of Ms. Rice joining the ticket. “Condoleezza Rice is an incredible choice, incredibly qualified with her foreign policy experience,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, expressing a sentiment echoed by Sarah Palin and others. But social conservatives and pundits were skeptical, noting that Ms. Rice is pro-choice and not popular among foreign policy hawks.

A Romney-Rice ticket “would deactivate the base,” Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention told The Wall Street Journal. “It will turn some serious contributors and activists into just voters, and some voters into fishermen.” Commentator George Will was even more direct. Mr. Romney “would lose 40 states,” he said Sunday on “This Week.”

Moreover, the VP talk has not stopped the political press from focusing primarily on Bain and Mr. Romney’s tax records. The Obama campaign believes that attacking Mr. Romney’s private equity background can lure white working class voters in politically important Rust Belt states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, even though people like Cory Booker and Steve Rattner have taken exception to the tactic. (Source: Wall Street Journal) 

 

Posted in: USA Tagged: balloons, Condi, Condoleezza Rice, election, floating idea, GOP, Mitt Romney, President, Republican, rifles, Running Mate, USA, vice

Monday July 20, 2009

July 20, 2009 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday July 20, 2009

Astronauts call for mission to Mars

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the man’s first steps on the moon on July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin said Mars should become the focus of renewed commitment to space travel.

The second man to walk on the lunar surface, he called for the United States to set a goal of reaching the planet by 2035: “To realise that dream we need a unified space vision. The greatest challenge for us is this: ‘Americans, do you still dream great dreams?’, ‘Do you still believe in yourselves, are you ready for a great national challenge?'”

Speaking at a commemorative event at Washington’s National Air and Space Museum, the 79-year-old called on the next generation and our political leaders to follow the president’s campaign slogan of “Yes we can!”

Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 commander and the first man on the moon, made a rare public appearance and offered tacit support for his former colleagues. Touting the benefits from the Cold War competition with the USSR to reach the moon, he said: “It was the ultimate peaceful competition. I won’t go as far as to say it prevented war, but it was a diversion, it allowed both sides to take the high road with objectives in science and engineering and provided an engine for cooperation.” (Source: Telegraph) 

 

Posted in: International, USA Tagged: anniversary, astronaut, austerity, balloons, Budget, crafts, cuts, landing, lunar, Mars, mission, moon, NASA, ScienceExpo, Space, travel, USA

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Please note…

This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

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