Democracy

Wednesday June 19, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 19, 2019

Crowd Contrast

A city that was thirsty to celebrate its first major professional sports title in more than a quarter century erupted in joy Monday, with tens of thousands of fans jammed on to the streets of downtown Toronto for the championship parade.

June 15, 2019

The parade was more than two hours behind schedule as the buses carrying the Raptors were held up by the massive amount of fans on the streets. Just after 2:20 p.m., the national anthem was played at Nathan Phillips Square with the crowd singing O Canada as the wait continued for the Raptors.

It was followed by a flyby from the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Snowbirds demonstration team.

Raptors superstar Kawhi Leonard came out last, serenaded with chants of “MVP, MVP, MVP!”

The fans then gave a rousing rendition of Queen’s “We Are The Champions” before the politicians began their speeches.

Mayor John Tory said the city would rename a part of Bremner Blvd. as Raptors Way. Tory also gave the team a key to the city, handing it to Leonard. (Hamilton Spectator) 

Meanwhile, Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through Hong Kong on Sunday to voice their opposition to legislation that would allow people to be extradited to mainland China where they could face politically-charged trials.

March 24, 2008

The massive demonstration took place three days before the semi-autonomous Chinese territory’s government plans to bring the highly-contentious bill to the full legislature in a bid to win approval by the end of the month.

Police estimated the crowd at 240,000, but organizers said more than one million took part.

The protest was one of the largest in recent Hong Kong history, underscoring fears over China’s broadening footprint in the former British colony. It appeared to be even bigger than a massive pro-democracy demonstration in 2003 against a proposed national security law, according to Associated Press journalists who covered both events.

Late Sunday night, a group of demonstrators broke through barriers at government headquarters, where the march had ended. The crowd briefly pushed its way into the lobby, but police in riot gear used batons and pepper spray to push the protesters outside. Most had dispersed by 1 a.m., but police continued pushing protesters away for kilometres over a period of two to three hours.

There was still a strong police presence on streets throughout downtown Hong Kong as of 3 a.m. Monday. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Wednesday April 10, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 10, 2019

Foreign interference in 2019 election ‘very likely’: report

The 2019 federal election is “very likely” going to be the target of foreign cyber interference, with voters being the most likely targets of this anticipated meddling, a new report from Canada’s electronic spy agency warns.

April 12, 2018

The report is also putting renewed spotlight on the risks of not having more robust cybersecurity and transparency requirements for social media platforms and political parties in place in advance of this year’s campaign, given these two areas are cited as being potential targets for foreign actors.

“An increasing number of foreign adversaries have the cyber tools, the organizational capacity and a sufficiently advanced understanding of Canada’s political landscape to direct cyber interference during the 2019 federal election, should they have the strategic intent,” the report states.

The report is an update to the 2017 Cyber Threats to Canada’s Democratic Process report published by the Communication Security Establishment (CSE).

September 17, 2015

The 2017 report noted that Canada’s electoral process would not be immune from potential interference by outside actors, and that federal candidates, parties, and voters are all at risk. The update notes that the likelihood of online election meddling has increased as the amount of cyber interference in other countries has increased over the last two years.

Now, CSE says that it is “highly likely” that interference in Canada’s democratic process will be done using similar tools that have been implemented in other countries, such as amplifying polarizing political issues, promoting one party over another or discouraging participating in the election altogether.

The document repeatedly cites Russia as an example of a foreign country that has been proven to be conducting this kind of cyber interference, including during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Though a CSE official speaking to reporters on background said it is not anticipated that interference in the Canadian election will be on the same scale as what Americans experienced.

The intention of cyber interference is to compromise or gain access to information, or to use online means to “covertly manipulate online information” in order to influence voters’ opinions and ultimately the outcome of the election. (Source: CTV News) 

 

Saturday July 28, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday July 28, 2018

Doug Ford defends unilateral moves to slash Toronto council, axe regional chair elections

There’s a new sheriff in town.

November 20, 2013

Brandishing his political clout, recently elected Premier Doug Ford is unilaterally slashing the number of councillors at Toronto city hall and cancelling democratic elections for regional chairs in Peel, York, Niagara and Muskoka.

Ford’s disruption of civic elections on Friday triggered an eruption in municipal politics across the GTHA. In one surprise development, Jennifer Keesmaat, Toronto’s outspoken former chief planner, entered the city’s mayoral race and will take on John Tory.

Tory, for his part, is calling for a referendum on the size of Toronto’s city council.

from 47 members to 25 and is dealing a body blow to a political enemy, Patrick Brown, his predecessor as Progressive Conservative leader, who was a front-runner for the Peel post.

Those hopes dashed, Brown immediately registered to run for mayor of Brampton against Linda Jeffrey.

But Ford, who never discussed his plans during the June 7 election campaign, signalled that he is more powerful than any municipal leader and suggested civic governments could effectively be run from Queen’s Park.

June 22, 2018

“We’re going to get things done. We’re going to run city hall a lot more efficiently than before,” the premier told reporters 12 hours after the Star revealed his sweeping changes.

“No one has ever said to me: ‘Doug, we need more politicians,’ ” said Ford.

“In fact, it’s the opposite. People tell me that we have too many politicians making it harder to get things done, making it harder to get things built, making it harder to deal with the real problems we face,” he said.

Ford, a one-term Toronto councillor while his late brother, Rob Ford, was mayor from 2010 to 2014, said he was fed up with the “hours and hours of endless debate . . . all of it taking place on the taxpayer’s dime.”

“It’s clear that the size of government is just too large.”

City wards will mirror provincial and federal riding boundaries if the legislation, which will be tabled Monday, is passed. (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

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Wednesday July 18, 2018


Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday 18, 2018

After Putin summit outrage, Trump says he accepts that Russia meddled

July 16, 2018

After outrage over his failure to hold Russia accountable for interfering in the 2016 U.S. election during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he accepts the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia did in fact meddle in the election.

At a joint news conference with Putin after a summit in Helsinki on Monday, Trump stunned politicians back home by shying away from criticizing Putin for Moscow’s efforts to undermine the election, contradicting the findings of American intelligence agencies.

After outrage over his failure to hold Russia accountable for interfering in the 2016 U.S. election during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he accepts the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia did in fact meddle in the election.

April 8, 2017

At a joint news conference with Putin after a summit in Helsinki on Monday, Trump stunned politicians back home by shying away from criticizing Putin for Moscow’s efforts to undermine the election, contradicting the findings of American intelligence agencies.

On Monday, when asked about the meddling, Trump said that while his intelligence officials had said “they think it’s Russia” that Putin “just said it’s not Russia.”

“I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Trump said.

But back at the White House on Tuesday, he told reporters that he meant to say wouldn’t instead of would. He told reporters, “The sentence should have been I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.”

June 7, 2000

As the president said he has “full faith” in the intelligence agencies, the lights in the conference room briefly went out. As they came back on, he said that while he feels strongly that Russia’s actions had no impact on the outcome of the election, he accepts the intelligence community’s conclusion that meddling took place.

But even as he tried to clarify his previous statement and assert support for U.S. intelligence agencies, he left room for other actors to be implicated. (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Tuesday November 21, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 21, 2017

Robert Mugabe accused of breaching constitution to promote his ‘corrupt’ wife

July 22, 2008

A concerted drive by parliament and the people, with the backing of the military, is due to take place on Tuesday to try and force Robert Mugabe to resign. MPs will start impeachment proceedings against the President while hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to march on his mansion vowing to put it under siege until he leaves.

But there were also reports that Mr Mugabe has called for a cabinet meeting on Tuesday as well to show that he is still in charge. A notice from his chief secretary has instructed all members to attend at 9am. The President is nonetheless still under house arrest and many of his ministers have been detained following last week’s military coup. The place where cabinet meetings are held, Munhumutapa Building in the centre of the capital, is now shut and guarded by soldiers and an armoured personnel carrier.

July 25, 2008

The moves come after an extraordinary and chaotic 24 hours in which Mr Mugabe apparently agreed to resign on state television but instead used the broadcast, sitting next to military commanders who are his captors, to vow that he will stay on in office to unify the nation and supervise reforms.

Mr Mugabe then ignored an ultimatum from his own party, Zanu-PF, which had stripped him of leadership, to resign by midday Monday or face impeachment. There are differing accounts of how long it will take to remove the President from office through the process, ranging from one day to more than a week.

February 27, 2002

Separately, the organisation of veterans who fought in the war against white minority rule has announced that it will take legal action at the High Court to force Mr Mugabe’s resignation. Its head, Christopher Mutsvangwa, charged that the President had condemned himself out of his own mouth when making his speech on which he admitted failures by his government. (Source: The Independent)