Democracy

Tuesday October 19, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 19, 2021

Steven Del Duca is promising Ontario a better way to vote

Fresh from the last federal election, months away from the next provincial campaign, Steven Del Duca wants to talk about how people vote.

September 3, 2021

And why they don’t.

The question is whether Del Duca, the leader of Ontario’s Liberals, can do anything to reverse the steady decline in voter turnout — and turn around the electoral fortunes of his own party after hitting bottom in 2018.

After all, his party did its bit to boost democracy in the last election, even if inadvertently. Whenever people are angry enough to “throw the bums out,” as they were with Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government, voters come out in force and the turnout goes back up — but it’s a blip.

Unfortunately, the lopsided results from those massive swings can sometimes prove even more vexing for voters: Premier Doug Ford won 40.2 per cent of the vote in the 2018 provincial election fair and square. Yet that percentage handed his Tories a disproportionate 76 of the 124 seats at Queen’s Park, giving him a rock solid 61.3 per cent majority in any legislative vote.

December 2, 2016

Ford’s boasts of winning a landslide were built on shaky ground. The vast majority of the electorate — who supported NDP, Liberal or Green alternatives — were sidelined in opposition, shut out of government.

It doesn’t add up. Yet nothing seems to change — and likely never will if we don’t rethink things.

Now, Del Duca is trying to reframe the reform question by recasting the way voters cast their ballots. He may be a voice in the wilderness, but given the wild gyrations in our electoral system, his idea deserves a hearing from voters even if his political rivals refuse to listen.

For too long, Canadians have boxed themselves in with a false choice between two rigid alternatives — proportional representation (PR) that reflects the popular vote, versus our current winner-take-all system (dubbed first past the post) that generates disproportionate majorities out of whack with voter sentiment.

September 11, 2007

The problem with PR is that it’s a poor fit for a vast territory like Canada or Ontario with strong geographical and historical allegiances to the constituency system. There’s a compromise solution to that problem, but it’s a hard sell — and voters weren’t buying it when they had the chance in a 2007 referendum that flopped spectacularly in Ontario.

Speaking to his party’s annual general meeting, Del Duca proposed a better fit for Ontario: The ranked ballot. (Continued: The KW Record) 

 

Wednesday June 16, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 16, 2021

Ford government pushes through controversial election spending bill with notwithstanding clause

The government of Premier Doug Ford has pushed a controversial bill through the Ontario legislature limiting third-party election advertising by employing a rarely used legislative power.

June 11, 2021

Bill 307, which used the notwithstanding clause to reintroduce parts of a law struck down by a judge last week, passed Monday by a margin of 63 votes to 47.

The clause allows legislatures to override portions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a five-year term.

A judge found it was unconstitutional for the government to double the restricted pre-election spending period for third-party advertisements to 12 months before an election call.

The Progressive Conservative government argued the extended restriction was necessary to protect elections from outside influence.

The bill passed Monday afternoon after a marathon weekend debate in which opposition politicians argued the government was trying to silence criticism ahead of next June’s provincial election.

“It’s obviously a move from a man who’s desperate to cling to power,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

December 9, 2010

The New Democrats spent the day trying to drag out the process by introducing a variety of motions on pandemic-related issues they argued should be the focus of the sitting. Ford said earlier on Monday that he wouldn’t be swayed.

“We’re fighting for democracy,” Ford said at Queen’s Park. “I’ll work all day, all night to protect the people.”

Last week, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan found it was unconstitutional for the Progressive Conservative government to double the restricted pre-election spending period for third-party advertisements to 12 months before an election call.

A bill that took effect this spring had stretched the restricted spending period from six months to one year before an election is called, but kept the spending limit of $600,000 the same.

Morgan found that the government didn’t provide an explanation for doubling the limit, and his decision meant sections of the law involved in the court challenge were no longer in effect.  (CBC) 

 

Saturday November 14, 2020

November 14, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday November 14, 2020

Putin’s Russia Is Last Major Country Yet to Congratulate Biden on Winning 2020 Election 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is the last major world leader yet to congratulate Joe Biden on winning the 2020 election, following China’s recognition on Friday of the president-elect’s victory.

October 2, 2020

Putin won’t congratulate Biden until legal challenges to the U.S. election are resolved and the result is official, according to the Associated Press.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian leader, told reporters on Monday that this year’s election is different from those in past years.

“Obviously, you can see that certain legal procedures are coming there, which were announced by the incumbent president. Therefore, this situation is different, so we consider it correct to wait for the official announcement,” Peskov said.

The Chinese Communist Party congratulated Biden on Friday, although it noted Trump’s legal battles against the election results.

“We respect the American people’s choice and extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters, according to China’s state-run Global Times newspaper. “We also understand that the U.S. election result will be decided in accordance with U.S. laws and procedures.”

Other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Saudi Arabia’s royal family, have also congratulated Biden since his victory was projected last Saturday.

November 14, 2017

“We respect the American people’s choice and extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters, according to China’s state-run Global Times newspaper. “We also understand that the U.S. election result will be decided in accordance with U.S. laws and procedures.”

Other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Saudi Arabia’s royal family, have also congratulated Biden since his victory was projected last Saturday. (Newsweek)

Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday November 25, 2020

I find it odd political cartoonist Mackay would depict Russian President Putin (Nov. 14) pleased that Trump lost the 2020 U.S. election. It is believed by many that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election to have Trump win! What changed in four years?

Russell Pape, Stoney Creek

Saturday October 17, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 17, 2020

Determined voters endure long lines to cast early ballots in historic election

October 2, 2020

Thousands of people, some braving hours-long waits, glitches and politically motivated obstruction, are flocking to cast early ballots and writing the story of a pandemic-era election that may change how America votes.

Heavy turnout at early voting centers in Georgia and Texas comes as many voters elsewhere take advantage of mail-in ballots, defying President Donald Trump’s misleading attempts to cast the election as the most corrupt in history. Another of the President’s many misinformation efforts — his claim that the Obama administration spied on his team — suffered a serious blow on Tuesday when it emerged in a Washington Post report that a Justice Department probe into one key aspect of the conspiracy theory will end without even a public report.

The candidates should have been making last minute preparations for the second presidential debate on Thursday night. But a drama initiated by the President’s diagnosis with Covid-19 caused the cancellation of the event after the President refused to take part in a virtual version — then demanded the reinstatement of the clash when he recovered.

April 30, 2020

Instead, Trump and Biden will take part in dueling town halls on NBC and ABC respectively. The arrangement may be a disservice to voters since they will only have one final chance to see the candidates on stage together on October 22. But given the President’s constant interruptions in the first debate, the format may actually allow a more forensic examination of each candidate’s positions. It is also certain to trigger the former “Apprentice” star’s obsession with television ratings.

Inspirational scenes of eager voters, in some cases in Georgia waiting eight hours to exercise their democratic rights, reflected enthusiasm on both sides at a raw moment in US history at the tail-end of a tumultuous presidential term.

Voters are facing the most difficult circumstances imaginable given the health emergency. Confidence in the election is also being challenged by court battles in a handful of states arising from apparent GOP efforts to complicate early balloting that Democratic voters prefer. There are also infrastructure problems — for example the registration portal in Virginia crashed on Tuesday on the last day when citizens can sign up to vote. 

Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden mostly concentrated Tuesday on winning votes rather than on how they will be counted. (CNN)

“Which brings us to Graeme MacKay (Hamilton Spectator)’s cartoon, comparing our previous attitude towards the commies with the great fall that seems to have gone after our pride, and he’s right not only about standing in line to vote but in the massive lineups for food among those who need it.”

Friday October 2, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 2, 2020

The decline of the American Empire

July 14, 2020

Whatever went on between Donald Trump and Joe Biden on Tuesday night, it wasn’t a presidential election debate, it was an unpresidential disaster. 

For the TV viewers unlucky enough to have stuck it out through this 90-minute waking nightmare, the experience was like standing in front of a 10-storey fan into which heavy artillery were constantly firing mud. Or like watching two guys wrestle in the gutter over a nickel.

From start to finish it was a high-decibel cacophony of insults, accusations and angry interruptions as the ever-pugnacious President Trump — staying true to brutal form — mocked the intelligence of his Democratic rival, accused Biden of being a stooge for socialists and even attacked his son, Hunter.

May 14, 2020

And while even a saint would have been rattled by Trump’s rude and blistering attacks, it was nonetheless disappointing to hear Biden respond in kind by calling the president a “liar,” a “racist,” and “the worst president American has ever had,” as well as telling him to “shut up, man.”

No matter who you think won this ugly verbal brawl, the losers were clear: the American people and every American ally around the world that still looks to the United States for leadership.

One of the most common responses of the American pundits who watched this dumpster fire was that they were ashamed of what they’d witnessed. That’s a stunning admission in a country known for its patriotism — but it was entirely appropriate.

April 23, 2020

No matter who wins this election, the office of U.S. president has been diminished, for now, shorn of the respect that should be due to the world’s most powerful leader and, in turn, to the world’s most powerful economic and military nation. 

How can this supposed beacon of democracy continue to shine when the democratic process of choosing its highest official is debased in this way, its light heaped with dirt? And how can the widening fractures in the U.S. on racial, economic and political lines be brought together when Trump, who might still be elected for another four years, not only treats his opponents with contempt but refuses in a public debate to denounce white supremacists? “Stand back and stand by,” was his bizarre and troubling message to one of these groups, the Proud Boys.

April 29, 2020

No wonder the dismay over this debate, as well as the state of disunion it signifies, spread far beyond the U.S. “There is a consensus in Europe that this is getting out of hand, and this debate is an indicator of the bad shape of the American democracy,” observed Ulrich Speck, an analyst with the German Marshall Fund in Berlin.

“European leaders must (be) thinking, ‘The American leadership is over,’” concluded Nicole Bacharan, a political analyst living in France, adding that authoritarian leaders such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin “must be telling themselves … they can do everything because the U.S. isn’t a leader anymore.”

The gleeful reaction in China, the emerging powerhouse that is challenging America’s global dominance, was also instructive. “Such a chaos at the top of U.S. politics reflects division, anxiety of U.S. society and the accelerating loss of advantage of the U.S. political system,” said Hu Xijin, editor of the Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party propaganda sheet.

Pandemic Times

The relative decline of the U.S., and its global economic and military empire, had been observed before Trump’s rise. His presidency has accelerated this decline and even if it is reversible it will take years to do so.

For Canada, which remains America’s closest neighbour and ally, the debate should serve as a reminder of this sad reality. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)