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Friday, November 14, 2014

November 13, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

November 14, 2014

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, November 14, 2014

U.S.-China climate change deal already facing challenges

A landmark agreement on climate change between the U.S. and China, the world’s top two polluting nations, faced immediate challenges from experts who warned that it would require an overhaul of China’s economy and from Republicans in Congress who vowed to undermine the deal.

President Obama’s ramped-up push on environmental issues set up a clash with GOP leaders, who blasted the far-reaching agreement with China as bad for business and promised to try to block the regulations necessary to meet its targets for curbing carbon emissions. Administration officials asserted that they would not be deterred.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke out about an agreement President Barack Obama reached in China on climate change.

The standoff was the clearest sign yet that Obama plans to prioritize his agenda — and his legacy — over hope of sowing goodwill with the incoming Republican-controlled Congress. Even as both parties promised to heed voters’ calls to find common ground after last week’s midterm election, the White House and Republican leaders have since drawn lines in the sand over immigration as well as environmental policy.

The China pact signaled that the president “has no intention of moving towards the middle,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told reporters Wednesday.

Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, likely to succeed Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) as chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee in the Republican-led Senate next year, called the deal a “nonbinding charade.”

“I will do everything in my power to rein in and shed light on the EPA’s unchecked regulations,” he said. Inhofe, perhaps Congress’ most prominent climate change skeptic, has long criticized the Environmental Protection Agency.

Administration officials touting the deal appeared unfazed by Republican promises to throw up roadblocks, describing congressional support as a bonus but not a necessity.

“It would be nice if we had some help and support from the Congress,” said a senior administration official, who requested anonymity in discussing strategy. “But we think we have the ability under laws that have already been passed by Congress — principally the Clean Air Act, but other laws as well — to get these reductions … with authorities we already have.” (Source: Los Angeles Times)

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

January 28, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, January 29, 2014

State of the union audience will see Harper in anti-Keystone ad

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will make a cameo appearance on an international stage Tuesday night — though it’s hardly one he would have chosen.

The prime minister will be cast in the villain’s role in an anti-Keystone XL pipeline ad airing during the U.S. broadcast of President Barack Obama’s state of the union address.

The ad is designed to build pressure from elements of Obama’s political base who want him to reject the pipeline, and it will be broadcast to the mostly left-leaning audience of the MSNBC network before and after the president’s speech.

Harper’s recession plan of attack in 2009

Harper’s image appears at the beginning and the end of the ad. It shows him shaking hands with the ex-premier of China, Wen Jiabao.

The message of the spot is that the proposed pipeline would benefit Chinese companies heavily invested in the oilsands far more than it would help ordinary American consumers.

“It’s a sucker-punch to America’s heartland,” says the narrator, while the Chinese and Canadian leaders are seen pressing palms.

“(The Chinese are) counting on the U.S. to approve TransCanada’s pipeline to ship oil through America’s heartland and out to foreign countries like theirs. …Keystone’s a sucker’s deal for America. Just say no to Keystone.” (Source: CBC News)

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

November 12, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Would someone please plug Justin Trudeau back in?

Next time, try Norway Postmedia’s Michael Den Tandt thinks the cringeworthy promotion for Justin Trudeau’s “Justin Unplugged” event, and his bizarrely appreciative comments about China’s political system at that event, however they might have been intended, represent “the worst kind of unforced, bone-headed error — the equivalent of Stephen Harper kicking a chair in public, or Tom Mulcair bellowing ‘Viva Che Guevara!’ on the steps of the Centre Block,” in that they speak directly to people’s doubts and misgivings about the politician in question. In Trudeau’s case, it suggests he’s not very substantial and not very smart.

The Sun Media editorialists make another good point: That Liberal women would put together such a ridiculous promo for this event suggests that even “Trudeau’s own team doesn’t take him that seriously.”

In the Montreal Gazette, Celine Cooper — who enjoys “getting into my pyjamas on a Friday night and snuggling in on the couch with my best girlfriends, a glass of Chablis and a bowl of microwave popcorn to watch reruns of Sex and the City” — agrees with Conservative MP Michelle Rempel that the “biggest problem facing women” is “crap” like the condescending, stereotype-enforcing invitation.

Terry Glavin, writing in the Ottawa Citizen, transcribes Trudeau’s impromptu attempt to explain himself in the aftermath of his China comments: “Ah, in this world we are competing with countries that have the capacity to react to big issues quickly and completely. We need to make sure that even though we have to compete with them, ah, we can get things done completely, and that means that not, that not falling back on our, ah, not weakening on our human rights, making sure that we are still protecting all of the things we know. But we do need to get together to support people.” Glavin suggests “a Miss Teen USA contestant wouldn’t get away with saying something like that,” but he doesn’t think Trudeau is actually an ill-intentioned commie-hugger. He just thinks the Liberals are “a shambles,” and that Trudeau is “a ridiculous, morally illiterate and fathomlessly unserious person.”

CBC’s Terry Milewski not very usefully tries to compare the nice things Trudeau said about China to some nice things Stephen Harper has said about China, none of which he said after being asked about a government he admires.

In the Journal de Montréal, Richard Martineau reminds us of Trudeau père‘s willingness to publicly admire dictatorial regimes and their leaders, and to say things about them that in hindsight — albeit years later, as opposed to seconds — look very silly. He also reminds us of the astonishing hagiography of Fidel Castro that Trudeau frère Alexandre penned for the Toronto Star some years back. Maybe the Trudeaus need a new family rule: If communism comes up, just run away. (Source: National Post)

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

October 8, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Stephen Harper to boycott Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka

The Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, has said he will not attend a November summit of the Commonwealth in Sri Lanka because of what he called human rights abuses on the island.

“We remain disturbed by ongoing reports of intimidation and incarceration of political leaders and journalists, harassment of minorities, reported disappearances, and allegations of extra-judicial killings,” he said in a statement on Monday.

The UN’s human rights chief said last month Sri Lanka could be sliding toward an authoritarian system as the country’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, gathered power around him.

Harper is the only leader from the Commonwealth, which groups Britain and many former colonies, to announce he will boycott the November summit. Britain also has criticised human rights in Sri Lanka.

Harper said it was unacceptable that Sri Lanka had yet to investigate allegations of atrocities during and after a long civil war with Tamil rebels, which ended in 2009. Sri Lanka has denied allegations its troops committed major crimes.

“It is clear that the Sri Lankan government has failed to uphold the Commonwealth’s core values, which are cherished by Canadians … I will not attend the 2013 Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Colombo,” said Harper.

Canada will be represented by Deepak Obhrai, the parliamentary secretary to the foreign minister, John Baird. (Source: The Guardian)

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This cartoon is featured in a gallery of editorial cartoons at Yahoo! Canada News and posted to the Yahoo! Canada News Facebook page. It’s also found at Cagle Cartoons.

Monday, April 15, 2013

April 15, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Monday, April 15, 2013

China must do more to resolve N. Korean Missile Crisis

Secretary of State John Kerry has called on China to do more to help resolve the North Korean missile crisis, saying the country provided the Pyongyang regime with a “lifeline.”

In an interview with NBC’s TODAY that aired on Monday, Kerry also said any deal with the rogue state would need to be structured so that Pyongyang could not later renege on its terms.

In recent days the North Koreans have readied missiles for launch and some speculated this would happen on Monday, when the nation celebrates the birth of founder Kim Il Sung, current leader Kim Jong Un’s grandfather.

In an interview in Tokyo before flying back to the U.S. on Monday, Kerry said that if the missiles were not fired “that would mean perhaps we’re turning a corner and there’s a possibility of moving in a better direction.”

“Everybody understands the negative side of what happens if there is a shoot. And my hope is that we can move in a different direction here. China, I think, is serious about this,” he said. “They understand the instability this is creating.”

Kerry said it was “very important” for the United States to make clear to North Korea that there would be “consequences for their action” and to reaffirm its security agreements with its allies in the region.

“That done, I think it is very important to the Chinese to focus on the fact that … if they’re not prepared to put the pressure on the North — and they have the greatest ability to have an impact on the North — then this can become more destabilizing,” he said. “And that instability is not in China’s interest, certainly. It’s not in anybody’s interest in the region.”(Source: NBC News)