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Wednesday August 29, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday August 29, 2012

New Federal riding for Hamilton?

Hamilton is set to receive a new seat in the House of Commons in time for the next federal election.

A commission tasked with reviewing Ontario’s federal ridings has recommended a new, U-shaped riding called Waterdown Glanbrook that stretches along Hamilton’s outer edge. The proposed district is made up of rural land that’s now part of Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale and Niagara West–Glanbrook.

The new riding is one of 15 new electoral districts in Ontario proposed by the commission. The report, released Monday, still faces a public commenting period and review by a parliamentary committee.

If the Waterdown–Glanbrook riding is approved, political science professor Henry Jacek says it will likely go to the Conservatives, given its largely rural population.

However, Jacek also argues that the proposal to whittle down Ancanster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale to only Ancaster and left-leaning Westdale and Dundas could make for an interesting race come the 2015 federal election.

“It will be much more competitive than Ancaster is right now,” Jacek said.

David Sweet, MP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale, could not be reached for comment.

Justice George Valin, who chaired the commission reviewing Ontario’s ridings, said the suggestion to create the new riding arose out of a formula that requires the population of each electoral district to come as close as possible to 111,166 people. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Tuesday July 24, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday July 24, 2012

Toronto police funding ‘huge victory,’ says Mayor Ford

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford declared victory after getting an assurance Monday from the province that funding would continue for a special police unit charged with addressing the root causes of violence.

Funding for the Toronto anti-violence intervention strategy (TAVIS) unit comes from the province, and Ford said Monday that Premier Dalton McGuinty committed to extending that funding on a permanent basis.

“I think that’s a huge victory for the taxpayers of Toronto,” Ford said in brief remarks after a meeting Monday afternoon with the premier and Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair that was called in the wake of a recent spate of violent gun crime in the city.

“I take Mr. McGuinty at his word. He told me straight out and no, there was no BS. I wasn’t going to sit there and listen to it,” Ford said.

“I asked for funding for TAVIS and he said, ‘Yes, we’re going to continue funding TAVIS.’ That’s what the people want. People want to live in this great city, which it is, and people want to come here and create jobs and have a safe environment to create jobs.”

Chief Blair said the funding commitment from the province will allow police to build on what TAVIS has already accomplished and to plan future deployments.

The mayor has previously disparaged youth outreach initiatives as “hug-a-thug” programs, while the premier has said a balanced approach is needed, with a need to invest in both social programs and police initiatives.

In another development, Ford will meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Toronto on Tuesday to discuss gun crime. (Source: CBC News)

 

Saturday July 21, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Saturday July 21, 2012

Rob Ford’s gun crime call-in

Mayor Rob Ford says he wants to banish everybody convicted of gun crimes from Toronto, not just immigrants.

“I don’t care if you’re white, pink, or purple, I don’t care what country you’re from, I don’t care if you’re a Canadian citizen or not. All I’m saying is, if you’re caught with a gun and convicted of a gun crime, I want you out of this city,” Ford said on NewsTalk 1010 Thursday night during an interview in which he struggled to explain himself.

Ford said on AM640 on Wednesday that he would be asking the prime minister to look at “immigration laws” in finding a way to implement his exile proposal. Though federal immigration minister Jason Kenney said on Twitter that he agreed, the cryptic comment was generally received with a mix of anger and bewilderment.

Ford called in to the NewsTalk show hosted by John Downs and Ryan Doyle to address the criticism. He said he had spoken imprecisely in the Wednesday interview and had not meant to single out immigrants.

The new interview, however, was itself perplexing, sounding at times like an Abbott and Costello routine about the federal government as Ford uncertainly attempted to explain to Downs why he mentioned immigration laws if he had not been referring to immigration. (Source: Metro News) 

 

Wednesday June 6, 2012

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday June 6, 2012

Opposition to stall budget bill

The federal NDP is warning it’s prepared to force potentially hundreds of confidence votes – taking dozens of hours – on amendments to the Conservatives’ sweeping budget bill that will keep the Tories on their toes in the House of Commons.

The NDP, Liberals and Green party leader Elizabeth May are informally teaming up to delay passage of bill C-38 and highlight to Canadians what they say is undemocratic tactics by the government to stuff so many “reckless changes” into one piece of legislation that will overhaul environmental protection and the country’s social programs.

While the government views the opposition’s tactics as procedural stunts, the proposed reforms in the 425-page budget implementation bill would have profound impacts on Canadians of all ages for decades to come. Bill C-38 proposes major reforms to Canadian environmental and fisheries laws, natural resource project approvals, employment insurance benefits, Old Age Security eligibility and food safety, among the hundreds of measures included in the legislation.

To combat the looming changes, opposition parties have been introducing dozens of substantial amendments at the Tory-dominated House of Commons finance committee, which is reviewing the bill, and a subcommittee that already examined the proposed reforms to environmental protection and resource development.

The finance committee is expected to send the legislation back to the Commons as early as today, where the Green party leader (who doesn’t have a seat on the committee) plans on introducing somewhere between 100 and 200 major amendments of her own. (Source: Saskatoon Star Phoenix)

 

Wednesday January 11, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday January 11, 2012

New Democrat MP defects to the Liberals

The federal Liberals have gained a new Quebec MP at the expense of the New Democrats, with the surprise defection of rookie MP Lise St-Denis.

But it remains to be seen whether this is a short-term morale boost for the Liberal party — on the eve of its big convention in Ottawa this week — or a long-term sign of shifting political fortunes away from the NDP.

Liberal interim leader Bob Rae warned against seeing any big trends in the MP’s decision to move to Liberal benches in the Commons.

“It’s certainly not a day where we’re going to make some exaggerated claim as to what trend does this represent. I have no idea,” Rae said Tuesday at a news conference with St-Denis.

St-Denis, though, said she saw far enough into the future to predict that she wasn’t going to feel comfortable sitting in the NDP benches, even after the party gets a new leader in late March. St-Denis was a supporter of the leadership bid of Quebec MP Tom Mulcair.

“I don’t know if anything’s going to change if I wait,” she said.

St-Denis admitted that she had never expected to be elected when she ran for the NDP in last spring’s federal election.

She was equally candid when said she wasn’t elected on her own strength, but on that of the late NDP leader Jack Layton.

“They voted for Jack Layton. Jack Layton died,” St-Denis said when asked how her constituents would feel about her changing parties. (Source: Toronto Star)