Democracy

Wednesday September 28, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 28, 2022

Kremlin paves way to annexing 4 regions of Ukraine as it announces referendum results

The Kremlin paved the way Tuesday to annex part of Ukraine and escalate the war by announcing that residents of a large swath overwhelmingly supported joining with Russia in stage-managed referendums that the U.S. and its Western allies have dismissed as illegitimate.

May 3, 2022

Pro-Moscow officials said all four occupied regions of Ukraine voted to join Russia. According to Russia-installed election officials, 93 per cent of the ballots cast in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, as did 87 per cent in the Kherson region, 98 per cent in the Luhansk region and 99 per cent in Donetsk.

In a remark that appeared to rule out negotiations, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy told the UN Security Council by video from Kyiv that Russia’s attempts to annex Ukrainian territory will mean “there is nothing to talk about with this president of Russia.”

The preordained outcome sets the stage for a dangerous new phase in Russia’s seven-month war, with the Kremlin threatening to throw more troops into the battle and potentially use nuclear weapons.

The referendums in the Luhansk and Kherson regions and parts of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia began Sept. 23, often with armed officials going door to door collecting votes. The ballots asked residents whether they wanted the areas to be incorporated into Russia.

March 4, 2022

Moscow-backed officials in the four occupied regions in southern and Eastern Ukraine said polls closed Tuesday afternoon after five days of voting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to address Russia’s parliament about the referendums on Friday, and Valentina Matviyenko, who chairs the parliament’s upper house, said lawmakers could consider annexation legislation on Oct. 4.

Meanwhile, Russia ramped up warnings that it could deploy nuclear weapons to defend its territory, including newly acquired lands, and mobilizing more than a quarter-million more troops to deploy to a front line of more than 1,000 kilometres. 

After the balloting, “the situation will radically change from the legal viewpoint, from the point of view of international law, with all the corresponding consequences for protection of those areas and ensuring their security,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

Many Western leaders have called the referendum a sham, and the UN Security Council was scheduled to meet later Tuesday in New York to discuss a resolution that says the voting results will never be accepted and that the four regions remain part of Ukraine. Russia is certain to veto the resolution. (CBC) 

 

Thursday January 6, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday January 6, 2022

A year after Jan. 6 riot, Americans and Canadians agree U.S. democracy in peril: poll

January 8, 2021

One year after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, a majority of Americans and Canadians alike say democracy in the United States is under threat, a new poll suggests.

The poll, conducted by the Angus Reid Institute and released Thursday, also found stark differences in how the event is viewed by conservatives and liberals in both countries.

The divide is more severe in the U.S., where 68 per cent of respondents who voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election disagree that the riots were an act of domestic terrorism — an opinion at odds with the FBI and other officials — while nearly three quarters still believe Trump won the election that he lost.

“There are only two (major) political parties in the U.S. … and this has become the narrative of one of those parties,” said Matthew Lebo, a political science professor at Western University who studies U.S. and Canadian politics.

“You cannot have a democracy with only one party that believes in democracy.”

Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the riots, which saw supporters of Trump violently storm the Capitol building and disrupt the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory the previous November. Seven people, including police officers, died during and after the siege.

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