David Suzuki – mackaycartoons

Wednesday April 11, 2018

April 10, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 11, 2018

Kinder’s Pipeline Pause Puts Pressure on Trudeau to Act, Somehow

Justin Trudeau has a lot riding on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. But the Canadian prime minister has few viable options to save it.

June 27, 2013

Kinder Morgan Inc. halted most work on the project Sunday, ramping up pressure on the federal government to somehow deter provincial opposition and protests from environmentalists before a May 31 deadline. Trudeau’s energy strategy is at stake, along with overall business confidence and the price of Canadian oil landlocked in neighboring Alberta.

His problem is that opposition from British Columbia has been mostly talk, leaving Trudeau essentially in a war of words that’s been enough for the Houston-based company to warn the uncertainty has become too great. Trudeau’s team backs the pipeline and flatly promises it will be built, though with the project already approved its options are few beyond trying to cajole the Pacific coast province.

June 8, 2017

“The consequence of their indirection has created a problem of certainty for the proponent. That problem is real,” Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said Monday in an interview at his Ottawa office. “We will look at every option available to the government of Canada — financial, regulatory, legal.”

Shares of Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. fell 13 percent Monday, the biggest decline since its initial public offering last May.

While cross-border pipelines are under federal jurisdiction, provinces have asserted themselves in recent years, muddying the outlook and allowing new challenges to pop up. In this case, British Columbia’s New Democratic Party government — whose razor-thin command of the provincial legislature relies on support of Green Party lawmakers — has dug in its heels. (Source: Bloomberg)

Published in the Western Star, Corner Brook, Newfoundland

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Thursday December 1, 2016

November 30, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 1, 2016

Liberals face flood of outrage in B.C. after approval of Trans Mountain pipeline

The federal cabinet’s decision to approve Kinder Morgan Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has prompted a flood of outrage and promises of protests, court challenges and civil disobedience in British Columbia.

October 13, 2016

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said he was “profoundly disappointed,” calling the decision a “big step backwards” for Canada’s environment and economy.

“I — along with the tens of thousands of residents, local First Nations, and other Metro Vancouver cities who told the federal government a resounding ‘no’ to this project — will keep speaking out against this pipeline expansion that doesn’t make sense for our economic or environmental future.”

September 26, 2015

The $6.8-billion project would triple the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline, from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels a day, and would add 980 kilometres of new pipe along the route from near Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C.

It would also increase the number of tankers leaving Vancouver-area waters seven-fold, from five to 34 per month, prompting fierce opposition from local mayors and First Nations who say any risk of a diluted-bitumen spill is unacceptable.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the project would be approved with 157 conditions at a news conference Tuesday. He said he expects the decision to be “bitterly disputed” by a number of people across the country, but said the project is in Canada’s best interests. (Source: Toronto Star)

Saturday September 26, 2015

September 26, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

David Suzuki Says He Called Justin Trudeau A ‘Twerp’

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist – Saturday September 26, 2015

During a testy phone call, Justin Trudeau dismissed David Suzuki’s views on the Liberal climate change policy as “sanctimonious crap,” according to Suzuki. Suzuki revealed the contents of the conversation during an interview on SiriusXM’s Everything is Political with Evan Solomon. Suzuki says he fired back, calling Trudeau a “twerp.”

The renowned scientist, broadcaster and activist says Trudeau called him personally June 28, 2015 to talk about the Liberal platform on climate change that was to be revealed the next day. “I didn’t call Justin, he called me,” Suzuki said. “He wanted an endorsement and he wanted to tell me exactly what his program was.”

For the record: Justin Trudeau’s speech on the environment: June 29, 2015

The program includes support for the Keystone XL pipeline, a rejection of the Northern Gateway pipeline and a commitment to work with the provinces to establish a cap-and-trade system.

“I said, ‘Justin, stop it, you’re just being political, you just want to make headway in Alberta,’” Suzuki says he told Trudeau. “You’re for the development of the tar sands, you’re for the Keystone pipeline, but you’re against the Northern Gateway, you’re all over the damn map!”

Maclean’s explains: Where the leaders stand on the environment

Suzuki went on to advise Trudeau that taking the target of a 2 degree rise in temperature seriously means 80 per cent of the oil sands has to stay in the ground. Suzuki believes stopping oil sands development will mean “no debate about pipelines or expanding railways or shipping stuff offshore—none of that comes into it.”

Suzuki says this is when the exchange turned nasty. “He said, ‘I don’t have to listen to this sanctimonious crap. I proceeded to call him a twerp.” (Source: MacLean’s)

Wednesday July 23, 2014

July 23, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 23, 2014

Pen Canada hit with audit by Canada Revenue Agency, joining other charity groups critical of Harper government

The Canada Revenue Agency has launched a political-activities audit of Pen Canada, a small charity promoting freedom of expression that has criticized the Harper government in the past.

Two tax auditors showed up Monday morning at the tiny Toronto offices of Pen Canada, asking to see a wide range of internal documents.

Pen Canada’s president, Philip Slayton, says the tax agency gave notice of the audit two or three months ago, and that the group is “fully co-operating.”

Pen Canada represents more than 1,000 writers and supporters, including Canadian literary luminaries Margaret Atwood and Yann Martel, and presses for freedom of expression at home and abroad.

The group has been highly critical of the Harper government in recent years for the muzzling of scientists on the public payroll, and for alleged spying on Canadian citizens in concert with U.S. eavesdropping agencies.

This latest political-activity audit is among more than 50 that the agency has begun since 2012, which some critics have said creates an “advocacy chill” as charities self-censor for fear of losing their ability to raise funds through tax-deductible donations.

The wave of audits was announced by the federal government in the 2012 budget, and some groups have been under threat of losing their charitable status for more than two years. The list of targets includes Amnesty International Canada, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Canada Without Poverty, and the David Suzuki Foundation.

The Canada Revenue Agency says its work is conducted without political direction from government. (Source: National Post)

SOCIAL MEDIA

Revenue Canada knocks on the doors of the nation’s leading advocacy charity groups. #cdnpoli http://t.co/fQr1Uo7M7w pic.twitter.com/S2jo6ekt3m

— mackaycartoons (@mackaycartoons) July 23, 2014

Saturday, February 2, 2013

February 2, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, February 2, 2013

Putting Climate Change in the Budget Now Will Save Lives and Money

The failure of world leaders to act on the critical issue of global warming is often blamed on economic considerations. Over and over, we hear politicians say they can’t spend our tax dollars on environmental protection when the economy is so fragile. Putting aside the absurdity of prioritizing a human-created and adaptable tool like the economy over caring for everything that allows us to survive and be healthy, let’s take a look at the economic reality.

A new scientific report concludes that climate change is already costing the world $1.2 trillion a year and is eating up 1.6 per cent of global GDP, and rising. It’s also killing at least 400,000 people every year, mainly in developing countries. That’s not counting the 4.5-million people a year who die from air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels.

As Michael Zammit Cutajar, former executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told the Guardian: “Climate change is not just a distant threat but a present danger — its economic impact is already with us.”

But we’re to believe that corporate profits, ever-increasing growth, consumer culture, disposable products and often meaningless jobs to keep it all going are more important than the health and survival of humans and other species, and true long-term economic prosperity.

The report, “Climate Vulnerability Monitor: A Guide to the Cold Calculus of a Hot Planet,” was compiled by 50 scientists, economists and experts for the Europe-based non-governmental organization DARA and 20 countries that joined to form the Climate Vulnerable Forum.

As stated in the preface, it “challenges a conventional view: that global action on climate change is a cost to society. Instead, it enlightens our understanding of how tackling climate change through coordinated efforts between nations would actually produce much-needed benefits for all.” (Source: Huffington Post)