Wednesday September 19, 2018
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 19, 2018
Burlington
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Bad Drive, Good Flight
After five days of traffic nightmares, the Burlington Skyway has reopened.
The Ministry of Transportation made the announcement on Monday at 3 p.m. after removing four damaged vehicles from the bridge, making temporary repairs, and removing all debris.
All lanes opened at around 6 p.m. after workers paved a 60-metre stretch and repainted the road lines.
According to the MTO, permanent repairs still need to be made, including the fabrication and installation of a new steel beam to replace the one that was damaged in Thursday’s crash. That work will be done at night over the next two months to ensure any lane reductions will have a minimal impact on traffic.
Astrid Poei from MTO said it is too early to estimate the cost of damages, but it could run into the millions.
“This is not a cheap endeavour,” said Poei.
The Toronto-bound lanes of the Skyway were closed on Thursday afternoon after a dump truck with its box open struck the overhead truss of the bridge.
Sukhvinder Singh Rai, 34, of Brampton, faces impaired driving charges and is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 22.
In the aftermath of the crash, traffic was diverted to Eastport Drive, the Red Hill Valley Parkway, the Linc, Burlington Street and Fruitland Road. David Ferguson, superintendent of traffic engineering for the city, said the impact was felt throughout the city, including on the Mountain. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)
Meanwhile, Major roads and highways have reopened Tuesday in the wake of severe flash flooding across Burlington and parts of Halton Region over the Civic holiday.
Burlington was hit with the equivalent of two months of rainfall in one day.
According to Environment Canada, 150 millimetres fell in highly localized areas Monday night. Another 20 millimetres was expected. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s Lancaster has safely landed at Goose Bay, Labrador, finishing the first leg of its journey to England.
According to a tweet from Matthew Munson, who paid $79,100 in an eBay auction for a seat on the historic trip, the bomber “landed at Goose Bay after a few fly pasts. What an epic journey here.”
On Wednesday the plane is scheduled to fly to Keflavik, Iceland, and continue from there to RAF Coningsby in England on Friday. Over its six-week tour, the bomber will take part in a series of air shows, many of which will also feature the world’s only other airworthy Lancaster owned by the RAF.
The celebrated Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum plane took off from Hamilton shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday before a crowd of hundreds of cheering onlookers. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)
Friday, February 21, 2014
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, February 21, 2014
Tories want to dump Lift Bridge
The federal government wants to off-load the half-century-old Burlington Canal Lift Bridge onto the cities of Hamilton and Burlington.
But outraged local politicians say cash-strapped cities can’t afford to take on responsibility for more aging infrastructure — especially a bridge that controls commercial ship traffic and acts as a critical emergency detour for the QEW.
Coyotes and the lift bridge
“It’s a real jaw-dropper,” said Councillor Chad Collins, who has been pushing the federal government to add a safe, multi-use pathway to the bridge that connects the Hamilton and Burlington sections of the beach strip.
“There is no financial reason — and no capability — for us to take on something like that,” he said, pointing to the city’s estimated $200-million infrastructure deficit.
His cross-bridge colleague in Burlington, Rick Craven, was even more blunt in his dismissal of the idea.
“For them to abandon their responsibilities and dump on the municipalities, that is not acceptable … they are not going to get away with it,” said the Ward 1 councillor.
Opposite the lift bridge
Craven called the bridge an “absolutely critical piece of infrastructure” because of its twin service to 10,000 vehicles and 6,500 vessels each year.
The bridge serves local motorists and the HSR, but also acts as an emergency route for the QEW when the skyway bridge is blocked. The lift bridge also rises and falls about 4,000 times a year to allow vessels into Hamilton Harbour.
Council received a letter Wednesday from Diane Finley, the minister of public works and government services, responding to the request for a safe trail across the bridge. Finley wrote the ministry has been “directed to divest of the bridge” and, therefore, can’t spend money on non-essential improvements. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)
Friday, January 31, 2014
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, January 31, 2014
Canada’s lonely tower on Hamilton Harbour
When the Canada Centre for Inland Waters officially opened in May 1972, it was described as the “finest of its kind in North America, maybe in the world,” by the federal environment minister at the time.
But 40 years later, critics say the sprawling agency on the Beach Strip is a shadow of its former self, a victim of a steady stream of downsizing and changing government priorities. They say it is backtracking on its Great Lakes research mandate and is no longer the steady hand of science it once was to guide the restoration of Hamilton Harbour.
The centre was intended to be Canada’s flagship headquarters for fresh water management, a 54,000-square-foot complex of six interconnected buildings with more than 520 federal employees (with claims, apparently unrealized, of eventually having 1,000 workers). Now it’s estimated there are closer to 350.
Environment Canada, the main government department in the facility, won’t say how many scientists work at the facility or how many used to work there.
2011-2015
Spokesperson Mark Johnson said in a statement the department is focused on “achieving and maintaining a clean, safe, and sustainable environment for Canadians” and the government is spending “significant money each year in direct research to support these goals. Environment Canada’s Canada Centre for Inland Waters (CCIW) provides scientific information to support informed decisions about the environment…”
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the other main government department at the CCIW, did not respond to a request for staffing numbers.
According to the union that represents scientists in the federal government — the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada — there are nearly 25 fewer scientists at the CCIW than in 2010.
But Tom Muir, a retired environmental economist who worked at the CCIW for 30 years, says that’s only part of the story. He says the decline in scientists — through attrition and layoffs — has been going on for more than a decade. And he estimates the number of positions has fallen by 40 to 60 over a 10-year period. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)
SOCIAL MEDIA
This cartoon was somewhat of a sensation on Facebook, with over 30,000 hits over the Feb. 1 2014 weekend and over 750 shares. It was also featured on the iPolitics website showcase of cartoons. This cartoon is available for print through the Artizans syndicate.
For my edible friends at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters #cdnpoli #HamOnt http://t.co/JjjZqRq8Y8 pic.twitter.com/ZZL6UnN62K
— mackaycartoons (@mackaycartoons) January 31, 2014
Saturday, October 26, 2013
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, October 26, 2013
RBG hunt eyed for November
An organized deer hunt at the Royal Botanical Gardens — if it goes ahead — will not be an extension of the annual hunt held by the Hamilton Conservation Authority, says the HCA chair.
Chris Firth-Eagland stressed that while the conservation authority has shared protocol and contact information about their annual Haudenosaunee hunt, the RBG’s program would be “something completely new.”
The RBG wants to control the growing deer population on its land — the plants are threatened — and get the increasingly bold animals to “act like normal deer again,” said Carlo Balistrieri, head of horticulture.
“We are seriously looking at it,” he said. “There is potential for a small pilot this year.”
Last year’s eight-week hunt in the Dundas Valley Conservation Area killed about 37 deer, well below the limit of 80. This year, the hunt will be restricted to archery — no guns allowed.
Firth-Eagland said the HCA has connected RBG staff with Haudenosaunee hunters to discuss the potential program.
Both Dundas Valley and the RBG have an overabundance of deer, according to surveys in recent years. One count by 15 RBG volunteers and staff in February spotted 162 on the north and south shores of Cootes Paradise.
Balistrieri, who prefers the term “controlled harvest” over “hunt,” said they are looking at it as a template because the Haudenosaunee people “share a lot of the ethos in common, and we felt they would be good to talk to.
“They have experience, expertise … they have a lot of the same cares and loves for the land and the plants and animals that we do.”
While Balistrieri was unable to provide specifics on what the RBG hunt would entail, he did say, “I can certainly tell you that we would not be interested in seeing firearms used in any way on the property.”
He also said “there are relatively few areas (within the RBG) where it’s even appropriate to do something like this, were it to happen.”
While he was unable to provide specifics around potential safety concerns at the RBG lands versus the Dundas Valley, he said the RBG area is “actually probably safer.”
The HCA’s Haudenosaunee hunt is expected to begin the third week of November. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)
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FEEDBACK
RBG deer cull not open to non-natives (Oct. 26)
The views held by many about hunting and hunters perpetuate stereotypes that make informed decision-making impossible.
A few years ago, I decided to take up hunting because of my concern with factory farming. The barely humane conditions, the antibiotics and steroids concern me. I also wanted to educate my children about how creating a healthy lifestyle can be done without depending on such a crazy industry.
After taking the courses and meeting other hunters, I have learned that this is a community that prides itself on the humane harvest of animals for food. This is a community that takes its role in preserving the natural environment to heart. And hunters generally understand that to waste an animal that has been killed is unethical.
So, to the board at the Royal Botanical Gardens, I say please educate yourselves and you will see that one cultural group does not hold a monopoly on ethical hunting. And, to the cartoonist of the Spec, please continue to enjoy the sight of your chemically and biologically altered food as it trundles by you on the highway towards mass slaughter; but, please spare me your sanctimonious views.
Pheroze Jeejeebhoy, Hamilton