candy – mackaycartoons

Thursday September 22, 2016

September 21, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 22, 2016

Donald Trump Jr. Compares Syrian Refugees to Skittles That ‘Would Kill You’

Donald Trump Jr. is facing intense backlash on social media after he posted a message on Twitter Monday night that compared Syrian refugees to a bowl of Skittles sprinkled with a few that “would kill you.”

November 20, 2015

“This image says it all. Let’s end the politically correct agenda that doesn’t put America first,” the post said.

Mr. Trump, a top adviser in his father’s presidential campaign, appeared to suggest that the nation was faced with a blind selection process in which a few potentially poisoned pieces would be lurking among the thousands of Syrians fleeing a brutal five-year-old civil war.

November 18, 2015

The post, shared widely on Twitter, drew swift condemnation and comparisons to white supremacist memes.

Social media users shared images of displaced residents in the region. President Obama’s chief speechwriter, Jon Favreau, invoked Omran Daqneesh, the bloodstained, dust-coated boy who was shown sitting in an ambulance after an airstrike and who became a symbol of the suffering in Aleppo, Syria.

July 22, 2016

The post also spurred a strong response from Wrigley, the owner of Skittles:

“Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. We don’t feel it’s an appropriate analogy. We will respectfully refrain from further commentary as anything we say could be misinterpreted as marketing,” the company said in a statement that was emailed on Tuesday by a spokeswoman and that initially appeared in The Hollywood Reporter. (Source: New York Times)

Saturday June 7, 2014

June 7, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 7, 2014

Stephen Harper to attend swearing-in for Ukraine’s new president, Petro Poroshenko

Stephen Harper announced Tuesday that he will travel to Kyiv during his upcoming European trip to attend the swearing-in of Ukraine’s new president, Petro Poroshenko.

The ceremony is set for Saturday, and if Harper does indeed attend it will mark his second trip to Ukraine since mass protests toppled the government of former president Viktor Yanukovych in February.

Russia has since annexed Crimea and Ukrainian forces have battled pro-Russian forces in the country’s east. In response, Canada has levied sanctions against Russia.

“Canada has been a leader in the global response to Russian aggression in Ukraine,” said a statement about the trip released by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Canada also sent a large team of election officials to help oversee Ukraine’s national election, which Poroshenko — a billionaire chocolate magnate — won in May.

Harper’s decision to stand behind Poroshenko during the swearing-in – several other high profile politicians including U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden will be there as well – is likely intended to send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Harper has taken a harder line than most toward the Russian leader, the CBC’s Chris Hall reports.

“His boldness has increased since Russian troops first made an open grab for power in Crimea,” Harper said in a recent speech. (Source: CBC News)

Tuesday October 23, 2000

October 23, 2000 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 23, 2000

They’re Off; Chretien calls Nov. 27 vote; opposition calls it opportunistic

Canadians will decide Nov. 27 whether the Liberals should be punished for calling an early election or rewarded with a third mandate.Amid opposition claims that his government is arrogant, cynical and out of touch with ordinary Canadians, Prime Minister Jean Chretien visited Governor General Adrienne Clarkson at her official residence yesterday.

He asked her to dissolve Parliament, officially triggering a campaign that had been going on informally for weeks.

Speaking outside Rideau Hall against a backdrop of autumn leaves, the prime minister said an early election is necessary to let Canadians decide what should be done with the country’s burgeoning massive budget surplus.

Immediately, the other parties dumped all over the Liberals, protesting that the election call — just three-and-a-half years into their five-year mandate — is unnecessary and opportunistic.

Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark, NDP leader Alexa McDonough and Canadian Alliance campaign co-chairman Jason Kenney each described Chretien’s go vernment as arrogant, framing what is likely to emerge as a central theme of the campaign.

“What’s happened today is that Jean Chretien has walked off the job, ” Clark said. “He’s walked off the job with a lot of business left to be done.”

The dissolution of Parliament leaves 20 pieces of legislation unfinished, effectively killing them.

“The record of this government is that of arrogance, ” Kenney said. “Canadians are tired of this tired government.”

Chretien calls Nov. 27 vote; opposition calls it opportunistic

“I wouldn’t expect them to say anything else, ” Heritage Minister Sheila Copps said.

“It is an election campaign and obviously they’re out to oppose the government. The reality is it’s the Alliance-Reform that asked for the election originally. Asking people to make a choice when you’re in the fourth year of the mandate — I don’t consider that arrogant.”

The smiling prime minister, who walked to the Governor General’s residence with his wife Aline, said he was feeling both confident and humbled by the opportunity to ask Canadians for another mandate.

Copps enjoys the highest profile among local Liberal MPs, who represent every riding in Hamilton, Halton, Brant and Niagara.

But Marlene Richards, Canadian Alliance riding association president for Ancaste r-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot, said she is sensing that voters in the Hamilton area are hungry for a change.

“There’s something exciting in the air, ” she said. “I’m feeling very, very positive about our own riding.”

Most local Alliance riding associations expect to nominate candidates within the next week.

During the weekend’s provincial Tory party convention in Toronto, both federal Alliance leader Stockwell Day and Conservative leader Joe Clark made appearances, seeking to win support for their competing camps among Mike Harris Tories.

The future for Day and Clark will depend on their ability to make gains in vote-rich Ontario, which holds more than one-third of all the seats in the federal Parliament. (Hamilton Spectator, A1, 10/23/2000)