denier

Tuesday September 22, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday September 22, 2020

No charges laid at ‘mega meet’ car rally in Ancaster; Premier Ford calls gathering ‘totally unacceptable’

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling an impromptu car “mega meet” that saw several hundred people gather in an Ancaster parking lot Saturday night “totally unacceptable” amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

July 29, 2008

Speaking to media Sunday, Hamilton police Supt. Will Mason said officers arrived at the parking lot of the Ancaster Cineplex Cinemas at 771 Golf Links Rd just shortly after 6 p.m. following a tip from the Project Eliminate Racing Activity on Streets Everywhere (ERASE) team.

Mason said the task force — which consists of the OPP as well as York and Peel Regional Police forces — had informed Hamilton police that an event coined “Mega Meet 2.0” was planned for that evening in the area. 

When officers arrive on scene, Mason said they found a “large group” of vehicles already setting up in the parking lot. 

Over the next hour, Mason said the group “swelled” to completely fill the movie theatre lot, the adjacent Indigo bookstore lot and had “spilled” into the smaller surrounding lots.

In a statement Sunday, Ford said the “reckless behaviour” seen in the lots was “totally unacceptable.”

“While Ontario has made incredible progress in the fight against COVID-19, we cannot take that progress for granted,” he added. 

With an initial response of three Hamilton police officers, Mason said the force called in the ERASE team for assistance to “prevent a repeat of previous incidents.”

May 26, 2020

No charges — neither traffic violations or for gathering in large groups — were laid during the police response, said Mason. 

On Saturday morning, Ford announced that the province would be clamping down on the number of people allowed at social gatherings in Ontario to slow the spread of the virus. 

Effective immediately, private, unmonitored gatherings are to be limited to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors. 

Saturday evening’s event garnered several hundred people — well beyond the limit, said Mason. 

“The goal at that time was to disperse the crowd as quickly as possible. That helps us mitigate both the risk of COVID-19 as well as the risk of street racing,” he said. “Stopping all of those individuals and issuing fines just exacerbates the size and the duration of that gathering.” (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Saturday September 19, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 19, 2020

Bold plans of federal Liberals grounded by resurgent COVID-19

The high-flying trial balloons the federal Liberals launched just a month ago, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament, have all but disappeared amid the ominous clouds of rising COVID-19 numbers across central and western Canada.

August 27, 2020

It bears noting that the bold and ambitious new agenda team Trudeau was foreshadowing just a few weeks back has been overshadowed by the renewed urgency in Ottawa and provinces to our west to deal with the resurgent health crisis and the prospects for additional economic misery that come with it.

Most folks will recall that soon after pulling Parliament’s plug on Aug. 18, Trudeau and his newly minted Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland were bullish, not only about a post-pandemic recovery, but about a green recovery. There were also musings from within the federal government about lasting changes to Canada’s employment insurance and income assistance safety nets.

But back then the curve was flat. In mid-August, Canada was posting about 350 new COVID-19 cases daily.

Beginning in late August and accelerating through September, the number of new cases identified daily has spiked back up to over 1,000 — levels not experienced in Canada since late May or early June. The majority of those are in Quebec and Ontario, although the West is also experiencing a resurgence.

October 20, 2018

The rise in case numbers and the fear that they portend a second wave of the virus, has tempered or delayed the government’s longer-term ambitions and refocused the Trudeau Liberals on immediate measures that are required to respond to the health emergency and its economic toll.

The government’s longterm vision of transformational change to a green economy and a more robust and enduring income support program has given way to the reality that Canada remains in the grip of the coronavirus.

It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that the trial balloons about a bold and ambitious new agenda were intended, not so much as a preview of the upcoming Throne Speech, as a distraction from the controversy that surrounded the government when Parliament was prorogued.

September 1, 2018

Prorogation meant that several parliamentary committees examining the controversy around an aborted billion-dollar federal contract to the WE charity went into hiatus. The prime minister and former finance minister Bill Morneau had close ties to the charity.

That controversy seems a long time ago now, although when Parliament resumes following Gov. Gen. Julie Payette’s reading of the speech Wednesday, those committees are likely to resurrect their inquiries. (Chronicle-Herald) 

 

Saturday September 29, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 29, 2018

Doug Ford kills Drive Clean emissions testing

The brakes are being slammed on the controversial Drive Clean auto emissions plan.

Premier Doug Ford announced Friday that as of April 1 of next year, the “outdated” mandatory program for passenger cars and trucks will lend.

July 11, 2018

Instead, the Progressive Conservative government will clamp down on big commercial polluters by enhancing the smog checks on transport trucks and other industrial vehicles.

“By ending Drive Clean tests and repairs for passenger vehicles, this government is reducing the burden on residents and families who own a car,” Ford said at a service garage on Martin Grove Rd.

“They no longer need to take time out of their days to take their vehicles in for unnecessary tests,” the premier said, adding the government will save $40 million a year.

That’s because the previous Liberal government eliminated the $30 test fees last year, but Queen’s Park still had to foot the tab.

Created by former Tory premier Mike Harris in 1999, Drive Clean has long been a bone of contention for motorists because most vehicles passed the emissions tests.

Successive PC and Liberal governments resisted the temptation to halt the program because it kept 335 tonnes of pollutants out of the air annually.

Cars and trucks are responsible for one third of all emissions of greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change.

Green Leader Mike Schreiner said while “the Drive Clean program is no longer as relevant as it once was,” the new Tory government has done nothing to reduce pollution since taking office 12 weeks ago.

“When you look at the list of things this government has done on the environment file, all you see are cuts,” said Schreiner, pointing to the decision to exit the cap-and-trade climate accord with Quebec and California. (Source: Toronto Star)