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Friday May 15, 2015

May 14, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 15, 2015

Province set to unveil LRT game-changer for Hamilton

The province is close to announcing a game-changing commitment to light rail transit in Hamilton, The Spectator has learned.

Sources at both levels of government say a transit funding commitment is imminent — perhaps as early as next week — but hinges on overcoming serious logistical hurdles.

The LRT waiting game gallery

A spokesperson for Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca wouldn’t comment on the specific timing or substance of the anticipated announcement, but promised the minister “will be in the city in the coming weeks to discuss what Ontario’s … transit and transportation infrastructure plan means for the residents of Hamilton.”

The province wants to green-light part or all of the city’s requested $811-million LRT line — but potentially deal-breaking details still need to be nailed down, said sources who didn’t want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the discussions.

A transit garage and GO expansion have also been discussed as additional or alternative announcements. If all goes well, a visit is expected any time between next week and early June.

Premier Kathleen Wynne raised eyebrows when she spoke in the legislature about the importance of working with Hamilton to “build that LRT.”

She later corrected the record to say she meant “rapid transit.”

The city asked for both $811 million for LRT and $302 million for express buses and a maintenance facility in advance of the provincial budget.

Sources say a critical question is whether there’s enough cash to build LRT all the way from McMaster University to Eastgate Square — especially given the province is insisting on a spur-line connecting to at least one GO station. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Tuesday May 8, 2012

May 8, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday May 8, 2012

Merkel readies for fight

Angela Merkel is under pressure to defeat the popular backlash against austerity to save her political skin and preserve Germany’s dominance in the eurozone.

Over the next four weeks, the German chancellor will face the fight of her political life on all fronts, domestic and European, at a moment when one slip could sink her government and tear down the European Union’s single currency.

Merkel must take the lead in trying to find an answer for the crisis in Greece, after three-fifths of Greek voters rejected EU austerity measures. Ger-man taxpayers have put $275 billion on the line to bail out countries such as Greece, and Germany’s patience is running out with countries that reject the prescribed economic medicine of debt reduction while continuing to demand the handouts.

To appease her highly taxed voters, who are worried that EU bailouts have breached Germany’s constitution, Merkel has made German economic aid conditional on all eurozone countries signing the “fiskalpakt”.

The treaty, signed by 25 EU countries, gives Brussels officials the right to block bud-gets that break spending rules which are enshrined in national constitutions, as is the case in Germany.

The measures, the chancellor assured German voters, would prevent eurozone countries going bust and leaving Ger-many holding bailout bills.

Merkel on Monday insisted Greece had to stick to the austerity program so resoundingly rejected by voters and that the reforms to the Greek economy were of “utmost importance”(Source: Vancouver Sun)