Canada – Page 340 – mackaycartoons

Thursday April 3, 2003

April 3, 2003 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 3, 2003

No Tears Shed for Air Canada

Graeme’s Gallery 2003

No tears were shed by travel agents when Air Canada flew into bankruptcy protection yesterday.

Despite a vast monopoly, Air Canada could not overcome its own bad management and bad customer relations, they said.

“It’s their own doing,” said travel agent Marius Enthoven of Travel Headquarters in Vancouver. “I don’t think they’ve listened to the traveller.”

Enthoven blamed the airline’s complex pricing of tickets, gouging of the business traveller and overpriced one-way fares.

“You phone Air Canada and you get nothing but bureaucracy,” he said of its customer service. “They are unpleasant. They love to quote rules at you and they are not willing to do anything for you.

“They have forgotten that the customer who travels in that seat, and who makes a phone call, may be a nuisance, may ask stupid questions, but they pay their salaries.” (CP)

Saturday March 1, 2003

March 1, 2003 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday March 1, 2003

Sea King Helicopter Crash

The Sea King helicopter was about seven metres in the air when it suddenly dropped on the flight deck of the HMCS Iroquois and rolled on its side. The picture was reminiscent of anything that’s old and tired, and dying, being expected to carry out tasks that it no longer can handle. It just keeled over, like the last dinosaur.

Each time Jean Chrétien learns of another Sea King mishap that threatens the lives of our soldiers, does he hang his head in shame that he was the one who quashed the deal to replace these aircraft when he came to power in 1993? He must be embarrassed, at the very least.

Yesterday’s crash on the Iroquois forced the destroyer to turn back to Halifax from its mission to the Gulf of Oman where it was to take up command of eight warships involved in Operation Apollo, patrolling against illicit arms traders in Afghanistan.

This is a disgrace to the entire nation — it must certainly be for Chrétien. (CP)

Wednesday February 19, 2003

February 19, 2003 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 19, 2003

National Spending Spree

Graeme’s Gallery 2003

After a decade of shortchanging Canadians, the Chretien government is going on a spree, with nearly $9 billion in new spending, the kind of budget not seen since the Liberal heydays of the early 1980s.

The budget lauds Canada’s enviable economic record for the increased spending, predicting growth of 3.5% next year. Billing itself as the “Northern Tiger,” Canada is the only G7 country predicting a surplus over the next year.

Some new spending, such as an extra $35 billion in health care funds over the next five years, was already known. But other program spending, such as $470 million for agriculture, caught many people flat-footed.

And despite an $800 million infusion of cash, the increase in military funding fell far short of expectations amid the countdown to war in Iraq. Business leaders say the budget could have done much more to stimulate the economy by lowering taxes. “It was a missed opportunity,” said Thomas D’Aquino, head of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. (CP)

Thursday January 30, 2003

January 30, 2003 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday January 30, 2003

Sweating the Sweater Stuff

Defence Minister John McCallum came under a barrage of unfriendly fire yesterday when he made a “flippant” remark about Tory MP Elsie Wayne’s glistening sweater.

The comment came after Wayne asked the minister if special paint to identify Canadian armoured vehicles in the battlefield would be used to ensure our soldiers didn’t become victims of friendly fire.

“What steps has the minister of defence taken to obtain the necessary marking system to avoid any more tragic losses?” Wayne asked as the sequined pattern in her black sweater shimmered under the Commons lights.

“If our soldiers were to wear the dress of the honourable member … they would be very well identified,” shot back McCallum to the laughter of some Grit MPs.

“It was a sexist remark and it was a remark that trivialized a very serious question – quite literally about the life and death of Canadian Forces in service,” grumbled Tory Leader Joe Clark outside the Commons.

A furious Wayne demanded an apology. (Source: CBC News)

Saturday January 25, 2003

January 25, 2003 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 25, 2003

Waiting to Dance

Jean Chrétien has cast doubt on whether Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction, a position that puts Canada at odds with the United States and Great Britain.

“I don’t know if Saddam has these weapons,” Mr. Chrétien said in a weekend interview with the Financial Times of London. In the interview, he took credit for convincing George W. Bush, the U.S. President, to win United Nations approval to dispatch weapons inspection teams to Iraq before launching military action.

”I said to Bush when we met in Detroit [last fall] after his Camp David meeting with Tony Blair –no argument, you must go to the UN Security Council. And he went to the Council.”

The Bush administration opted for weapons inspections on the insistence of France, Russia and China, three of the five permanent members of the Security Council who objected to military action unless there was evidence showing Iraq was a danger to the international community. The United States and Britain are the other permanent members. (CP)