Border

Friday April 30, 2021

April 30, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 30, 2021

Cabinet’s ability to award Buy American exemptions ‘strenuously limited,’ Biden says

President Joe Biden set some Canadian pulses racing again Wednesday with more tough Buy American talk, telling Congress he has “strenuously limited” cabinet members from granting exemptions to the 88-year-old protectionist doctrine. 

February 23, 2021

In the same breath, however, the speech marking Biden’s first 100 days as commander-in-chief offered a measure of comfort by suggesting Buy American would not offend the terms of trade deals like the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. 

“American tax dollars are going to be used to buy American products, made in America, to create American jobs. That’s the way it’s supposed to be, and it will be in this administration,” Biden declared. 

The notion of keeping U.S. government spending on American soil, a philosophy that dates back to 1933, will be the “one principle” guiding the $2.2-trillion infrastructure package dubbed the American Jobs Plan, he added. 

“I might note, parenthetically, that does not violate any trade agreement. It’s been the law since the ’30s,” Biden said through sustained applause in the House chamber, where COVID-19 allowed only a relative handful of lawmakers to attend. 

September 17, 2020

“I’ve made it clear to all my cabinet people: their ability to give exemptions has been strenuously limited. It will be American products.”

Much of what Biden said on the subject, including mention of trade agreements and cabinet members, did not appear in the prepared version of his remarks distributed to reporters before the speech. 

And it offered little solace or clarity for Canadian stakeholders still smarting from the punishing steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by Biden’s stridently protectionist predecessor, Donald Trump. 

“Those policies continue to concern us — ‘Made in America’ failed to embrace the integrated nature that we have in the steel business,” said Catherine Cobden, head of the Canadian Steel Producers Association. 

“Protectionism between neighbours and allies hurts everyone. We’re really hopeful that that’s not the way this plays out.”

The picture is likely to become more clear by midsummer, when an internal review of the existing rules — including how domestic content is defined and whether information and communication technology should be covered — is due. (Canadian Press) 

 

Friday March 12, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 12, 2021

Summer Dreaming

New variants of the coronavirus are spreading rapidly in Ontario and unless they are better controlled, the province risks facing a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, an expert panel advising the province’s government said on Thursday.

February 17, 2021

It warned that the next few weeks are critical as the progress made in bringing the coronavirus under control in the province has stalled.

“Variants of concern continue to spread across Ontario. Our ability to control the rate of spread will determine whether we return to normal or face a third wave of infection,” the panel said in briefing material.

While mutations in viruses are inevitable, strains identified as “variants of concern” have worrisome changes that may give the virus advantages, increasing transmissibility or reducing the effectiveness of vaccines, according to the briefing materials released by the province’s science advisory and modeling consensus tables.

Graphs published online ahead of the briefing showed cases of the new variants in Ontario have jumped from below 5 per 100,000 residents each week in early February to nearly 20 per 100,000 residents each week in early March.

That increase has been balanced to some extent by a decline in cases of earlier variants of the virus. (Reuters) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-canada-ontario/coronavirus-variants-could-cause-third-wave-in-ontario-expert-panel-idUSKBN2B32WV

April 18 2020

Meanwhile, as vaccine rollout continues to ramp up in Canada and the United States, some American politicians are calling on the Biden administration to reopen the Canada-U.S. land border by this summer.

In a letter addressed to U.S. President Joe Biden, Rep. Brian Higgins of New York asked that Biden work with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for “a partial re-opening of the Northern Border by Memorial Day of this year with a full re-opening by July 4.”

Higgins, who also chairs the congressional Northern Border Caucus, wrote that the current border restriction between the two countries “tears at the fabric of our community and is a critical problem for individuals, families, and businesses.” (CTV) 

 

Friday April 17, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 17, 2020

Canada to keep border restrictions with U.S. for long time: Trudeau

Coronavirus cartoons

Canada’s border restrictions with the United States will remain in place “for a significant time” as the two nations fight the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.

Washington and Ottawa agreed last month to clamp down on non-essential travel while allowing massive trade flows to continue across their long shared frontier.

“There’s a recognition that as we move forward there will be special thought given to this relationship. But at the same time we know that there is a significant amount of time, still, before we can talk about loosening such restrictions,” Trudeau told a daily briefing.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday told reporters the two nations were “doing well” and said, “It will be one of the early borders to be released.”

The two nations’ economies are highly integrated, and allowing trade to continue avoided major problems for the auto sector as well as the transportation of food and medicines.

 



Part of a Politico package featuring Canadian cartoonists

 

Although Trudeau’s government has enjoyed good relations with the Trump administration over the last 18 months, tensions still remain. Last month, Ottawa slammed a U.S. proposal to deploy troops along the border to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus, prompting Washington to drop the plan.

A total of 1,048 people in Canada had died from the coronavirus by 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), slightly less than 10% higher than the death toll a day ago, official data posted by the public health agency showed.

The total number of those diagnosed with the coronavirus had climbed to 28,899. The respective figures at the same time on Wednesday were 954 deaths and 27,540 positive diagnoses.

Medical officials now expect the death toll to be between 1,200 and 1,620 by April 21, Theresa Tam, the chief public health officer, told a briefing.

She repeated comments she made on Wednesday about being cautiously optimistic the outbreak could be slowing down. (The Province) 


 

“Dear Leader’s latest initiative is to sign an executive order banning all immigration, and we can let the courts sort the legality of that out, but, in the meantime, those outside the US may be looking at it the way Canadian Graeme MacKay views living in a nation with intelligent leadership versus the one that is right across the border.”

Here’s an unauthorized version of the April 17, 2020 cartoon which found its way circulating through social media several months after originally posted. Obviously, it isn’t printable in mainstream media, and essentially puts words into the creator’s mouth which is never appreciated.  Whomever the mystery person is behind the re-adaptation gets a Social Media Jackass designation. Folks, remember, artistic work should never be manipulated, unless permission is granted by the artist.  

Saturday September 15, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 15, 2018

Canadians who smoke marijuana legally, or work or invest in the industry, will be barred from the U.S.: Customs and Border Protection official

Canadians will be barred from entering the United States for smoking marijuana legally, for working in Canada’s legal marijuana industry and for investing in legal Canadian marijuana companies, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official says.

Todd Owen, who spoke to the U.S. website Politico, said the U.S. does not plan to change its border policies to account for Canada’s marijuana legalization, which takes effect on Oct. 17.

“We don’t recognize that as a legal business,” said Owen, executive assistant commissioner for the office of field operations.

Owen’s comments corroborated anecdotal reports that have accumulated over the course of the year. Canadians with links to the nascent legal industry, including venture capitalist Sam Znaimer and the chief executive of a B.C. agricultural machinery company, have already been given lifetime entry bans.

Owen said border officers will not begin asking every Canadian about their marijuana use.

He said, however, that officers might ask if “other questions lead there,” or “if there is a smell coming from the car,” or if a dog detects marijuana residue.

Owen did not specify how much equity a Canadian has to hold in a cannabis company to be denied entry. Scott Bernstein, senior policy analyst at the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, said he is troubled by the lack of clarity.

Thousands of Canadians have shares in cannabis companies, which are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

“They’re investing in a completely legal industry in Canada, but it happens to be the cannabis industry …. That person who owns a mutual fund and maybe doesn’t even know where their money is going, are they going to be covered as well?” Bernstein said.

Bernstein, who also expressed concern about U.S. profiling of people stereotyped as likely marijuana users, said the Canadian government should negotiate with the U.S. at least to secure entry for workers and investors.

But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that he does not think he has the right to press the U.S. on its admission policy. (Toronto Star) 

 

Tuesday June 19, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 19, 2018

Trump admin’s gyrating story on separating families at the border insults our intelligence

September 8, 2017

Don’t blame us. In response to growing public outrage over family separations at the border, the president said on Friday that he wasn’t responsible for the policy. “I hate the children being taken away,” Donald Trump said. “The Democrats have to change their law. It’s their law.” His sentiments have been echoed by top administration officials and leading Republicans.    

The problem is that such statements are at best misleading and at worst flat out lies. The family separations at the border are a byproduct of decisions by the Trump administration. It speaks volumes that the president and some of his allies are unwilling to own the policy of separating children from their parents — let alone offer a sound legal basis for it.     

December 8, 2015

The president has repeatedly claimed that Democrats are responsible for the family separations that have become a national scandal. But as news outlets such as The Associated Press have pointed out, this is not true. It is Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ “zero tolerance” policy, which requires that nearly all unauthorized border crossers be criminally prosecuted, that has led to families being split apart. 

Because minors cannot be sent to adult jails, there are now nearly 11,000 immigrant children <https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/surge-migrant-children-government-shelters-trump-admin-pushes-zero-tolerance-n878601> in government custody without their parents.

January 13, 2018

Yet on Sunday night, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen tweeted, “We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period.”

This statement defies reality — especially given that Homeland Security has published guidelines on its website outlining how such separations take place.

Sadly, prominent Republicans have followed the president’s lead in assigning blame for this inhumane policy. “What is happening at the border in the separation of parents and their children is because of a court ruling,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said at a news conference Thursday. That same day, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tweeted, “I want 2 stop the separation of families at the border by repealing the Flores 1997 court decision requiring separation of families + give DOJ the tools it needs 2 quickly resolve cases.” (Source: USA Today) 

 

 

 

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