banana republic – mackaycartoons

Wednesday July 31, 2024

July 31, 2024 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 31, 2024

Doug Ford Must Respect Judicial Independence While Addressing Crime Concerns

February 28, 2024

Premier Doug Ford’s recent rhetoric on holding judges and justices of the peace (JPs) “accountable” for their bail decisions has struck a chord with many Ontarians worried about rising crime and declining public safety. However, while the Premier’s tough-on-crime stance resonates with a populace eager for solutions, his approach risks undermining the foundational principles of judicial independence and the rule of law.

Ford’s comments at a recent Mississauga press conference, where he announced the $134-million purchase of new police helicopters, included a vow to collect statistics on bail decisions and ensure judicial officials are held accountable. The Premier’s narrative is clear: lenient bail practices contribute to repeat offences, posing a threat to public safety. “We have some of the greatest justices of the peace and judges in the country,” Ford stated, “but there’s some that continuously give people bail — not once, twice, three times, four times, five times.”

This rhetoric taps into widespread frustration among voters who see the justice system as overly lenient, particularly towards repeat offenders. Supportive comments reflect this sentiment: “Finally, someone is listening! These repeat offenders should NOT be granted bail!” and “We must protect society from Repeat Offenders.”

News: Doug Ford vows to hold JPs and judges ‘accountable’ for decisions

June 16, 2021

However, Ford’s approach to addressing these concerns — by threatening judicial accountability measures and stacking the courts with politically aligned appointees — poses significant risks. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) and prominent legal professionals have rightly raised alarms about the potential erosion of judicial independence. Shakir Rahim of the CCLA called Ford’s comments “an unacceptable and dangerous attack on judicial independence, the constitution, and the rule of law.”

Judicial independence is a cornerstone of our democracy, ensuring that every person who goes to court has their case heard by an impartial decision-maker, free from political pressure. As Douglas Judson from the Federation of Ontario Law Associations (FOLA) pointed out, the idea that judges could be sanctioned based on political preferences is “clearly disturbing.” Michael Spratt, a prominent criminal lawyer, further noted that incorrect bail decisions can already be appealed by prosecutors, highlighting that existing accountability mechanisms are in place without compromising judicial impartiality.

The worrying parallels between Ford’s approach and the tactics of authoritarian leaders like Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela cannot be ignored. Maduro has notoriously undermined judicial independence by packing the courts with loyalists and using the judiciary to suppress dissent and uphold his regime’s policies. Under Maduro, the Venezuelan judiciary has become an extension of the executive, routinely issuing arrest warrants for political opponents, and failing to protect human rights. This manipulation of the judiciary has enabled widespread human rights abuses and eroded the rule of law in Venezuela. Ford must avoid this authoritarian playbook and respect the independence of Ontario’s judiciary.

December 1, 2022

Instead of encroaching on the judicial branch, Premier Ford should focus on legislative solutions that address public safety concerns without compromising judicial independence. Enhanced data collection on bail decisions and crime statistics is a positive step, as it allows for informed policymaking. However, this data must be used to improve the justice system through legislative reforms, not to intimidate judges or justify political interventions.

Ford’s government could, for example, propose legislative changes that set clearer guidelines for bail decisions, ensuring they balance public safety with the rights of the accused. Investments in crime prevention programs, mental health services, and community support initiatives would also address the root causes of crime, offering a more sustainable solution than simply toughening bail conditions.

Premier Ford’s impulse to take direct action on crime is understandable and resonates with many voters. However, in his eagerness to respond to public concerns, he must not undermine the democratic principles that safeguard our justice system. Respecting judicial independence while pursuing legislative avenues for reform is the only way to ensure that Ontario remains both safe and just.

In the words of Michael Spratt, when these institutions are broken, they are “very, very hard to fix and repair.” Ford must tread carefully, lest his efforts to protect public safety inadvertently damage the very foundations of our democratic society.

Thursday February 28, 2019

February 28, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay – Thursday February 28, 2019

The moral catastrophe of Justin Trudeau

The dangerous files are never the obscure ones. Scandals don’t happen in the weird little corners of government, in amateur sport or in crop science. They happen on the issues a prime minister cares most about, because everyone gets the message that the rules matter less than the result.

February 9, 2005

It’s a constant in politics. In 2016 I took one look at Bill Morneau’s first budget and wrote this, “The sponsorship scandal of the late Chrétien years was possible because it was obvious to every scoundrel with Liberal friends that spending on national unity would not receive close scrutiny from a government that was desperate to be seen doing something on the file. A government that considers the scale of its spending to be proof of its virtue is an easy mark for hucksters and worse.”

It wasn’t a perfect prediction. I kind of expected the hucksters and worse to be outsidegovernment. Unless the Trudeau Liberals can produce persuasive evidence that Jody Wilson-Raybould is an utter fabulist (and frankly, I now expect several to try), her testimony before the Commons Justice Committee establishes pretty clearly that the hucksters and worse were running the show. Led by the grinning legatee who taints the Prime Ministers’ office.

There will now be a period of stark partisanship. We’re in an election year. Loyal Liberals will tell themselves, and then everyone else, that the price of looking clearly at Justin Trudeau’s bully club (so many men; wonder how Katie Telford felt about that while she was signing off on every element of it) is ceding the field to Andrew Scheer. Who, they will tell themselves and then the country, is an actual Nazi.

September 22, 2017

I mean, after all, that’s pretty close to what they told one another, and then Jody Wilson-Raybould, last fall, isn’t it? There was an election in Quebec in the first week of October. And Ben Chin, a former journalist who did whatever Christy Clark needed done in B.C. before moving east to do whatever Bill Morneau and the PMO needed doing, used that thin reed of an excuse to try to sway Wilson-Raybould’s chief of staff, Jessica Prince. “If they don’t get a [deferred prosecution agreement], they will leave Montreal, and it’s the Quebec election right now, so we can’t have that happen,” Wilson-Raybould told the committee, paraphrasing Chin’s conversation with Prince.

I’ve never met a Liberal yet who doesn’t reliably confuse his electoral skin with the national interest. So much of what Trudeau and his minions have done in the last year stems from that instinct. Take the ludicrous half-billion-dollar bailout for people in my line of work, never explained, sprung out of nowhere in Morneau’s fall economic update—or as I now like to think of it, between Trudeau advisor Mathieu Bouchard’s meeting (yet another one) with Prince and Michael Wernick’s chat with Wilson-Raybould. You can get a lot of op-eds written with that kind of dough. Take the cool billion the Canada Infrastructure Bank coughed up to pay for a politically popular and impeccably well-connected transit project around Montreal… (Continued: Paul Wells, MacLean’s)

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

February 5, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Patrick Brazeau, Mac Harb charged by RCMP

Suspended Senator Patrick Brazeau and retired senator Mac Harb have been formally charged by the RCMP with one count each of fraud and breach of trust related to inappropriate Senate expense claims.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud announced the charges at a news conference at about 11:10 am ET Tuesday.

“The RCMP has proceeded to charge Mr. Brazeau and Mr. Harb with one count each of breach of trust and fraud under sections 122 and 380 of the Criminal Code, ” Michaud said. “Both Mr. Brazeau and Mr. Harb will be appearing in court at a later date.”

The Mounties allege Brazeau and Harb defrauded taxpayers by claiming travel and living expenses to which they were not entitled.

Brazeau was suspended from the Senate in October along with onetime fellow Conservative Senators Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin. The three former Conservatives were suspended without pay following an outside audit of their expenses.

Harb, who was a Liberal senator until his spending came under scrutiny through an external audit, retired in August after paying back $231,000.

Both Brazeau and Harb, along with Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin, were subject to a lengthy Senate investigation of their expenses claims and living allowances.

A Senate committee determined each of the four had claimed tens of thousands of dollars in expenses that they were not entitled to.
The Senate then passed its files to the RCMP.

The charges expected Tuesday against Brazeau and Harb are the first to flow from the RCMP’s own lengthy investigation of the spending scandal, underway since May 2013. (Source: CBC News)

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