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Wednesday December 7, 2022

December 7, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 7, 2022

Get’em while you can: Hamilton Christmas tree hunters scrambling amid shortage

Don’t dally, Christmas tree hunters: some local farms are already out of seasonal evergreens amid a chronic shortage exacerbated by inflation and extreme weather.

December 4, 2021

In the Hamilton area, several tree farms are warning their fields could be bare by next weekend — while a few are already sold out or not opening at all.

Jim Watson is selling only pre-cut evergreens this year — and only on weekends — because a series of “terrible, dry summers” wiped out fields of trees that might otherwise be open for the U-cut crowd.

But that didn’t stop eager tree hunters from flooding his Mount Hope farm the day it opened Nov. 26. “People are really trying to get a tree early,” Watson said, adding he would be surprised if he has enough pre-cut fir, spruce and pine to stay open beyond the Dec. 10 weekend.

Thursday April 8, 2021

April 15, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 8, 2021

Ford government pandemic spin is wearing very thin

If you had the pleasure of watching Wednesday afternoon’s media briefing, in which the Ontario government announced its latest stay-at-home-order to fight the spread of COVID-19, you might have noticed two competing narratives.

May 29, 2020

The first came courtesy of Premier Doug Ford and Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams, along with Health Minister Christine Elliott. It goes like this: Even though the province has been listening to health experts from the outset, and has acted accordingly, the COVID variants are proving even more contagious and deadly than originally predicted. So in spite of everything the government has done, more is necessary, hence the one-month stay-at-home-order with new restrictions and clear directions to Ontarians; Stay home except for food and pharmacy needs, health-care appointments and outdoor exercise.

From Ford and Elliott in particular, you would have heard the word “decisive” used repeatedly along with “nimble” several times. In short, the government has done all the right things, but the darned variants are more nasty than anyone predicted, so this one big last push is needed.

November 12, 2020

The competing narrative came from journalists questioning the three. One asked what took so long when health experts were saying even before Ford pulled the emergency brake six days ago that a hard lockdown is essential to even put a dent in spread. Modelling weeks ago predicted the hospital admission and ICU overload we are now seeing. Local medical officers of health and public health experts including the government’s own science table have pushed for another stay-at-home lockdown, the kind we had after Christmas through until February.

There is a mountain of advice from health experts, all of it unanimous that the half measures imposed by Ford and his advisers a week ago wouldn’t be enough to slow the spread.

April 3, 2021

Yet it didn’t move aggressively to vaccinate vulnerable essential workers, it didn’t adequately lock down retail, leaving big box stores open with reduced capacity. It chose not to close schools, leaving the difficult call to local medical officers of health resulting in a patchwork of open and closed schools across the province. The government saw the frightening hospital admission and ICU capacity numbers, and the accompanying dire predictions.

March 1, 2012

Now, six days after it pulled the half-baked emergency brake, Ontario is under a stay-at-home order for the next month. And there is no guarantee that won’t be extended. Some form of lockdown is predicted for hot zones until the end of June.

You can make your own judgment on which of the two narratives is closest to the truth. But this has to be said: Had the government done what it was being advised to do much sooner, we would not be in this position. But it didn’t and here we are.

Somewhat lost in Wednesday’s news cycle was one of the most stark, potentially terrifying, developments to date in the pandemic. Government sources say the provincial cabinet will soon have to pass an order indemnifying intensive care doctors from liability for making decisions about which critically ill patients get treatment, and which do not. As they did in Italy at the height of the first wave, and in New York state.

The question came up in the briefing, and Elliott was quick to minimize it, saying that if Ontarians do the right things, those terrible measures won’t be needed. But the fact that the government recognizes the need for such protection is a brutal indicator of just how bad things have become.

Let’s hope critical care doctors don’t need to employ that protection. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)

Thursday February 25, 2016

February 24, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 25, 2016

The rising price of driving

Gas prices in Ontario will rise about 4.3 cents a litre and residential natural gas bills will go up about $5 a month under the Liberal government’s cap-and-trade plan.

Premier Kathleen Wynne said she expects the program won’t increase electricity costs for the industrial and commercial sectors. She revealed economic impacts Wednesday, a day before her government introduces its budget, which is expected to include more details about carbon pricing.

“The cost of doing nothing is much, much higher than the cost of going forward and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” she said. (Source: CP)

Meanwhile, Hamilton is in the midst of a $10-million-plus installation of cameras on the Red Hill Valley Parkway and at hundreds of major city street intersections in order to allow better signal and traffic control in emergencies.

But it turns out those cameras can track speeding cars, too.

Not enough to send you a ticket — the city deliberately chose an image resolution for the cameras that is supposed to be too low to allow eyeballing of your face, licence plate or curtainless bedroom window.

But the cameras are capable of tracking vehicle speed and speeding trends over time, said councillor and police board chair Lloyd Ferguson — and that could help police “focus enforcement where and when it’s needed.”

City council formally asked the province to allow photo radar on the Red Hill and Linc late last year after a consultant suggested a troubling spike in parkway collisions was due in part to chronic speeding. Toronto has made a similar request to use the contentious technology to save on policing costs. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Meanwhile, Hamilton Councillors voted to hike the cost of a monthly city parking lot pass by $10 this year, but put off any debate on meter rates until next year.

Temporary exemptions are also in the works for municipal lots in Dundas and on Concession Street, with the possibility of adding Ottawa Street and Kenilworth Avenue at a budget meeting Friday.

In theory, the rate bump should provide the city with an extra $238,000 in revenue — although senior director of bylaw and parking Marty Hazell noted the city will pay about $61,000 of that total for its own employees to park.

Downtown Coun. Jason Farr applauded the lot rate hike as a good first step, but added he’s still interested in a “robust discussion” on the city’s $1 meter rates.

“It’s the cheapest deal in Ontario,” he said. “I think we need to address that if we’re truly trying to encourage more people to get out of their cars and onto the bus.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Thursday June 14, 2012

June 14, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Thursday June 14, 2012

Bob Rae bows out of Liberal leadership race

Bob Rae, 63, who has been interim head of the Liberals since Michael Ignatieff resigned after the 2011 election, stunned his colleagues Wednesday by revealing he would step aside.

“It hasn’t been an easy decision,” said Rae, who promised last year when accepting the interim leader’s post that he would forgo a bid for permanent leader.

“As time went on, more and more people started saying, ‘Well, are you interested in the permanent job?’” the former Ontario premier explained.

“I therefore have naturally been thinking about this question and been wrestling with it,” he said. “I’ve reached the conclusion that the way in which I can serve the party best is by not running for the permanent leadership.”

Since last summer, Rae provided his party with dynamic leadership in Parliament and most observers expected him to try to keep the job on a long-term basis. But some Liberals said privately Rae was hit with an unexpectedly negative backlash from within his own party after CBC-TV ran a story last week saying he was going to join the leadership race.

“What was clearly a trial balloon — leaking this stuff last week — clearly, the trial balloon did its job,” said one former Liberal MP. “The response was not, shall we say, what Bob was hoping for.”

The idea that Rae would go back on his pledge not to seek the permanent leadership angered some Liberals, insiders said.

Rae acknowledged the importance of this issue Wednesday, telling reporters: “For me, the foremost question was the reality that in accepting the interim leadership, I did it with the public expectations that I would not run for the permanent leadership. (Source: Toronto Star)