Climate

Tuesday May 14, 2019 

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 14, 2019 

Nearly two-thirds of Canadians oppose provincial governments spending taxpayers’ dollars to battle federal carbon tax, poll says

Nearly two-thirds of Canadians oppose provincial governments spending taxpayers’ dollars to battle the federal carbon tax, says a new poll released Monday as the Ontario government launched a new television ad slamming the levy.

April 30, 2019

About 64 per cent of respondents said it is unacceptable for provinces to opt out of the federal effort to combat climate change, including the carbon tax, according to a survey done by Nanos Research for The Globe and Mail. As well, 64 per cent of respondents said they oppose provincial governments spending public money to fight the tax.

Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick are pursuing legal challenges to the levy, which the Liberal government imposed in those provinces that do not have a carbon pricing system of their own, as part of Ottawa’s overall effort to meet its international commitment to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

April 17, 2019

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is expected to unveil legislation on May 22 to rescind the provincial carbon tax adopted by the former New Democratic Party government. Mr. Kenney said he, too, will launch a legal challenge if, as promised, the federal government imposed its carbon tax in place of the provincial one that is to be cancelled.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his ministers have launched a multipronged opposition campaign that includes the court challenge in which a decision is expected soon; frequent ministerial photo ops highlighting the cost of the levy; a move to require gas stations to post stickers detailing the cost, and paid advertising. In a spot to air Monday, an Ontario government ad says the carbon tax will cost the average family $648 a year in 2022. Like the rest of the provincial material, the Ontario ad does not include any mention of the fact that the federal legislation requires all revenue raised to be returned to the province, with 80 per cent of families expected to receive more through a rebate delivered on their income tax return than they paid out in tax.

April 15, 2015

“It’s pretty clear that Canadians don’t like the idea of provinces opting out with the exception of Canadians in the Prairie provinces,” pollster Nik Nanos said. “While the carbon tax and the rebate is not a big political winner [for the federal Liberals], people definitely don’t like using provincial tax dollars to fight the federal carbon tax.”

The survey – which has a margin of error of three percentage points – polled 1,000 Canadians by phone and online between April 25 and 28. (Globe & Mail) 

 

Wednesday February 25, 2015

Wednesday February 26, 2015Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 25, 2015

The ‘sophisticated’ Toronto ‘mystery tunnel’ no one can explain

It’s damp. It’s dim. It’s underground. Welcome to the Toronto “mystery tunnel.”

On Monday afternoon, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation released a breathless dispatch soaked in intrigue, underground hovels and mystery. They had found a tunnel! And no one knows why it’s there!

Nearly eight feet tall, the tunnel extended more than 20 feet near York University in north Toronto. Sitting close to the Rexall Center, which will host the Pan American Games this summer, the tunnel was equipped with lights, a power generator, reinforced walls and ceiling.

Unnamed sources told the Canadian journalists that unknown persons had spent weeks of work on the tunnel of unknown origin. The operators had hauled away the dirt to veil their tunnel-making process. The National Post, another Canadian news outlet that hopped on the story in terrorism-rattled Canada, estimated someone had spent “thousands of dollars” on the tunnel.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014So who was behind it? Well-heeled drug dealers looking for a secluded spot to cultivate a drug empire? No, the CBC found. Not that: “Authorities have essentially ruled out the possibility that the tunnel was going to be used as a drug lab or marijuana grow-op, according to sources…Toronto police have refused to comment on the mystery tunnel.”

Many questions went unanswered. “First and foremost is the question around the context of the tunnel – where is it positioned?” Ray Boisvert, a Canadian security intelligence expert, asked the CBC. “How deep was it? How accessible was it? And what sort of things could be sent through that tunnel, being people or material?”

Boisvert discerned darkness in the mystery tunnel. It seemed to be too close to the Rexall Center. “I would want to be able able to have some sense that we know what the purpose of that particular tunnel was and who was likely – if not who, precisely – was behind it,” he said.

The mystery tunnel, which the CBC called “sophisticated” and has since been filled in, was discovered when a member of the grounds crew saw a slab of corrugated steel and inspected further. He lifted the metal and found a tunnel nearly nine feet beneath the surface. A snow-trodden path led to a nearby tear in a fence, pictures showed.

Authorities are holding a news conference today to discuss the tunnel. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Thursday, February 5, 2015Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, February 5, 2015

City struggling to keep the streets clear of snow

Hamilton is pleading with storm-swamped homeowners to stop illegally shovelling snow back onto cleared streets and sidewalks — but some residents say city plows are to blame.

Iraq: January 4, 2003

The city fielded 70 snow-clearing complaints and counting in the 24 hours after Monday’s storm that left residents up to their knees. Many stemmed from snow pushed back onto previously cleared streets, either by commercial contractors or frustrated homeowners.

“It’s a big problem for us, especially where driveways are being cleared onto the roadway,” said winter control manager Bob Paul. He said local street clearing — and in some cases, re-clearing — will continue through Wednesday.

January 31, 2012

City bylaw officers are cracking down on snow dumping “problem areas” like the North End and west lower city, said enforcement manager Kim Coombs, noting residents risk a $105 fine for dumping snow back in the street.

But outraged residents on the east Mountain say the city’s own plows are to blame.

Sarah Nunes was part of a neighbourhood effort to quickly clear all sidewalks along East 35th Street after Monday’s storm. But later that night, snow banks on the street were shoved onto those painstakingly cleared walkways.

March 11, 2008

“We’re talking piles three times higher than our snowblowers and hard as a rock,” she said. “What are we supposed to do about that?”

Ward Councillor Tom Jackson said he visited several streets in his ward that suffered similar treatment, including East 31st, Virginia Court and Seventh Avenue.

“Some operator showed a reckless disregard,” said Jackson, who asked public works to investigate and send city equipment to clean up the mess. “It’s totally unfair, totally an insult to ask residents to deal with that.”

Paul said the city had complaints about a particular operator but added the plowing problem was “corrected” and represented the exception, rather than the rule. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Wednesday, November 19, 2014Illustration by Graeme MacKay – Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The Polar Vortex Cometh

A blast of Arctic air is expected to push across many regions of North America this week, including Western Canada and typically temperate areas in the U.S. Last winter, meteorologists referred to the dreaded “polar vortex” as temperatures plunged to punishingly low levels. Some theorized the cold snap was linked to the weakening of a polar vortex spinning above the North Pole.

Some scientists theorize that cold air spills out of the weakened whirlpool above the Arctic. The cold air then travels south across North America. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration notes, however, that extreme winter weather is often influenced by a host of atmospheric factors. (Continued: CBC News) http://www.cbc.ca/news/multimedia/what-is-a-polar-vortex-1.2829763

Tuesday October 30, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday October 30, 2012

The Devastating Hurricane Sandy

Noah mistaken as trick-or-treater during hurricane Sandy

Considering some of the contrasting factors of the Hurricane Sandy, it has been named as Frankenstorm. This storm features horrible magnitude and this is something that has stimulated its rage. It is expected to affect as many as 60 million people from North Carolina to New England this time. As noted by scientists, there seems to be an adverse, timely twist in the entire situation.

The full moon seems to aggravate the Halloween superstorm. After watching the pictures of New York City area, where flooding has already unwrap the disaster, one thing is confirmed that the upcoming situation will be terrible than the worse.

It has been anticipated that tonight in the form of a Category 1 hurricane, Sandy would make landfall on the New Jersey coast with winds as fast as 75 miles (120 kilometers) an hour.

Due to a harsh flow of the storm, Hurricane Sandy will bring the most devastating effects. A heap of water would pile up and with the force of storm’s winds; it will be pushed ahead.

As reported by Keith Blackwell, a meteorologist at the University of South Alabama’s Coastal Weather Research Center, “I think it will be catastrophic, to tell the truth. I’ve never seen anything like it that far north that takes such a hard westward turn into a major metropolitan area”. (Source: French Tribune)