coalition – mackaycartoons

Wednesday May 31, 2017

May 30, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 31, 2017

B.C. NDP and Greens to release details of their power-sharing deal

B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan held a triumphant meeting of his MLAs at the legislature Tuesday, as his party prepares to overthrow the governing Liberals and take power with the help of the B.C. Greens.

March 11, 1999

Horgan arrived to a standing ovation and a flurry of desk thumping as NDP MLAs and party staff crowded into the Opposition board room at the legislature to hear details of a power-sharing agreement announced Monday with the Greens.

“Wow, what a race, what a contest, what an election campaign, and how excited are we today?” Horgan said to applause.

“We’ll have the opportunity as a caucus of 41 New Democrats to ratify an agreement that will bring stability to the legislature and allow us to focus on the things we campaigned on, allow us to ensure we can make life more affordable for British Columbians, that we can protect the services people care about, and most importantly we can make sure the economy works for everybody.

“That’s what we campaigned upon, that’s what we’re going to deliver. I’m very excited to have you all here, and I’m very excited about the prospect of forming the next government of British Columbia.”

Combined, the NDP and Greens hold 44 seats in the legislature, compared to 43 for the Liberals.

Horgan said the NDP will release a copy of the agreement with the Greens at 2 p.m. Tuesday. He mentioned it will allow an NDP government to improve housing affordability, improve health care, defend the coast from pipelines and improve the education system. (Source: Vancouver Sun)

Saturday October 3, 2015

October 2, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 3, 2015

Justin Trudeau and Tom Mulcair battle each other as Stephen Harper pulls ahead

In this election campaign, Justin Trudeau and Tom Mulcair have nothing kind to say about each other.

New Democratic Party leader Mulcair dismisses Trudeau as a callow youth. Echoing Conservative attack ads, his New Democrats say the 43-year-old Liberal leader just isn’t ready to become prime minister.

From time to time, and again echoing the Conservatives, Mulcair dismissively refers to his Liberal rival as “Justin.”

Trudeau is no less harsh. He accuses Mulcair of duplicity — of saying one thing in French and another in English. He says the NDP, by pandering to Quebec separatists, threatens national unity.

He dredges up old charges that Mulcair, a former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister, once contemplated the idea of exporting fresh water in bulk.

All of this occurs at a time when Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are quietly edging up in the polls.

For the Liberals and New Democrats, the back and forth attacks make sense. Each hopes to present itself as the unique alternative to the governing Conservatives.

That in turn, they calculate, requires them to tear each other down.

But to a wide array of Liberal and NDP voters, the two opposition parties appear to be engaging in a game of mutually assured destruction.

These so-called progressive voters desperately want Harper gone. And they are horrified by the real possibility that this war to the death between Liberals and New Democrats will split the anti-Harper vote, thus allowing the Conservatives to win power again.

Recent polls have underscored those fears.

On Tuesday, Forum Research released a poll putting the Conservatives in first place among decided voters, with 34 per cent support. The NDP and the Liberals were significantly behind at 28 and 27 per cent respectively.

That follows an earlier Ekos poll that shows the Conservatives leading with 35 per cent support.

In fact, the possibility of a Conservative win has never been out of the question. Harper’s claim to be a good economic manager has always had resonance. (Continued: Toronto Star)

The Telegram, St. John’s, Newfoundland

Thursday April 16, 2015

April 15, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 16, 2015

Trudeau might be open to forming coalition with NDP, but not with Mulcair as leader

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says he would “maybe” be more open to the idea of forming a coalition with the NDP if Tom Mulcair was not running the party.

Asked on Tuesday whether having someone other than Mulcair as leader would change the dynamic in terms of a coalition between the two parties, Trudeau replied: “I don’t know…. Honestly, I don’t want to get into hypotheses. Maybe, but maybe not.

“There are no problems in terms of personality,” he told The Canadian Press in an interview from Oakville, Ont. “Mr. Mulcair is a veteran politician who has proven himself.

“His style is anchored in the old way of practising politics. Politics needs to be about rallying. And we have very different perspectives on how politics should be practised.”

Some recent polls have suggested the possibility of a minority government in Ottawa after this fall’s election.

Mulcair reiterated his openness last month to a possible coalition with the Liberals if it is necessary to topple Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.

The Opposition leader accused Trudeau at the time of putting personal interests ahead of those of Canadians because the Liberal leader had repeatedly expressed his lack of interest in discussing coalitions.

“Whenever we have opened that door, Justin Trudeau slams it shut,” Mulcair said. “My first priority is to get rid of Stephen Harper. The first priority of Justin Trudeau is Justin Trudeau.” (Source: CBC News)

Thursday March 19, 2015

March 18, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Thursday March 19, 2015

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 19, 2015

Dancing and Governor-Generalling

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is reiterating his openness to a possible coalition with the Liberals if it is necessary to topple Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.

While expressing confidence he will become prime minister with a majority government, Mulcair told reporters Tuesday the scenario of a minority government cannot be excluded and that turfing the Tories is imperative.

The Opposition leader accused his Liberal counterpart, Justin Trudeau, of putting personal interests ahead of those of Canadians.

Trudeau has repeatedly stated he’s not interested in discussing coalitions.

“Whenever we have opened that door, Justin Trudeau slams it shut,” Mulcair said in Montreal. “My first priority is to get rid of Stephen Harper. The first priority of Justin Trudeau is Justin Trudeau.” (Source: Toronto Star)

The NDP leader said this year’s election should be a three-way battle from the outset, paving the way for a social democratic government.Meanwhile, David Johnston will serve as Governor General for another two years, ensuring he’s around for the coming fall election and Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations in 2017.

Serving out the extension would put Johnston, 73, among the ranks of George Vanier, Vincent Massey and Roland Michener as one of the longest-serving Canadian governors general.

In making the announcement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday that Johnston had accepted the offer to remain in office until September, 2017, a period that will cover many of the events that year to mark the 150th anniversary of Confederation.

But the extension also ensures Johnston is around for a key event this year — the expected federal election this October, which could produce a minority government.

Observers had been expecting Johnston’s term to be extended to ensure his constitutional expertise was on hand should it be needed in the aftermath of the vote. (Source: Toronto Star)

Posted to Yahoo News Canada and National Newswatch.

December 1, 2008

December 1, 2008 by Graeme MacKay

I should’ve known something big was going to happen while I was spending last Friday at a midwest mall in the United States while all kinds of action was happening on the home front. It happened exactly two years ago when the same Prime Minister at the centre of the current political crisis was provoking national debate with a Quebec is a nation within a nation controversy.

Those were the early days of the Stephen Harper government. Now, it seems, we’re witnessing the dying days of his short lived second term government — reelected just 6 weeks ago to form a slightly stronger minority against a greatly weakened Liberal Party Opposition.

The impetus of the creation of a coalition of three divergent political parties now set to form a government is Stephen Harper’s inability to outline a serious effort to tackle the ominous economic challenges that lie ahead in what is now generally accepted as a worldwide recession. Perhaps the reality of the Conservative’s reluctance to throw money around is to a great extent due to questions swirling around what actions will be taken in two months time with a new administration in Washington. Of course any Canadian government can’t easily admit the reality that our economic stimulus policies are significantly influenced by actions made in the United States.

But really, this big hissy fit carried out by the Opposition is less about rescuing the nation with a big stimulus package, than it is about being needled by a rather pushy Prime Minister who wanted to take taxpayer subsidies away from political parties. And so, a hormone generated bout of revenge by 3 humiliated leaders is about to impose its very unstable will on Canadians during very unstable economic times.

From what I’m sensing, Canadians’ giddiness or outrage over this coalition is based on whichever way they voted in the election just a month and a half ago. Even going back several elections, though, Canadians have shown themselves to be anything but supportive of left of centre governments. As someone who has moved between supporting centrist Conservative and Liberal governments in the past, I’ve got a hard time accepting the Liberals cozying up so much with the NDP. I would guess that a lot of other voters who kept the Chretien majorities (before the taint of the sponsorship scandal) in power would share my sentiments.

More outrageous, however, for many more Canadians has got to be the position of the separatist Bloc Quebecois in propping up the Liberal-NDP alliance. Conversely, how are nationalist Quebeckers going to absorb the BQ warming up to the Liberal Party of Canada, with it’s Clarity Act architect, Stephane Dion at the helm.

Need more be said about how appalling the political situation in Canada has become when the Liberal Party’s most disasterous leader ends up becoming this nation’s next Prime Minister? A leader who turned the natural governing party into a regional rump concentrated in Toronto and Newfoundland.

Much more can happen in the space of a week, but as it stands, the haste to which the political triad is moving could very well be its undoing. The Conservatives may very well be the beneficiaries some weeks or months down the road if Canadians are suddenly thrust into an election. If today’s TSX all time one day record plunge is any indication of how the financial world is viewing the antics in Ottawa, a lot more damage can be done than a lackluster Conservative economic statement.