donation

Thursday December 17, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 17, 2020

A COVID Christmas can still be a giving time

Christmas is traditionally the biggest time for giving in Canada, but in this pandemic year that almost certainly won’t be the case.

December 8, 2018

Burdened by COVID-19-related financial stresses, fewer Canadians will be donating to charities this year, and many of those who do will offer less. At the same time, the pandemic has piled new responsibilities on top of the already burdensome workloads of many of the country’s charities that do everything from supporting the homeless to funding hospitals and vital medical research.

We’re not trying to make the year more depressing than it’s already been, but for the country’s charities, these conditions have created the perfect storm. And those fortunate Canadians who are still able to give to others should be aware of this.

They should listen to Bruce MacDonald, chief executive of Imagine Canada which works to support other charities across the land.

“The crisis is of a scale that we’ve not seen before,” he says, and his organization’s research backs his warning. No less than 68 per cent of Canadian charities have reported a drop in donations since the pandemic began. That translates into a massive, 30.6-per-cent decline in overall charitable revenues and possible losses of between $4.2 billion and $6.3 billion heading into a new year.

December 23, 2004

Hundreds of charities have already closed in 2020, even as 46 per cent of organizations in the sector told Imagine Canada that demands for their services have risen. Without a quick — and as yet unforeseen — turnaround, more charities will be forced to close while others will lay off staff and cut back the services they provide.

The public may not quickly notice some of these changes, even if they eventually prove profound. While there are close to 90,000 registered charities in the country, most are small, with budgets less $500,000 and are mainly run by volunteers. But the public might be surprised by some of the big-name charities have suffered a major hit.

December 18, 2001

The Globe and Mail recently reported that donations to the Canadian Cancer Society plunged by 70 per cent or $70 million this year while Cystic Fibrosis Canada had to cut 10 of its 69 staff members after what is expected to be a $6-million drop in its revenues.

Givings to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada fell by $13.5 million, just over 20 per cent, while after reducing its own operating costs by 30 per cent, the hard-hit United Way of Calgary is warning the organizations it supports that its funding to them could fall by the same amount.

Yes, the challenge facing the nation’s charities is grim. It’s not about numbers, either; it’s about people and social well-being. But it makes no sense to try to guilt every Canadian into stepping up because so many can’t.

Pandemic Times

Just 51 per cent of Canadians recently surveyed by Imagine Canada said they intend to make charitable donations this holiday season, a steep drop from the 62 per cent who answered in the affirmative in 2014. Thirty-six per cent of those who do plan to give say they will give less and the reason is often the same — the pandemic’s financial fallout.

So where does that leave Canada in this supposed season of giving? Whatever upheaval this year has brought, millions of Canadians have survived COVID-19 unscathed, their incomes and lifestyles untouched by the coronavirus. That’s also a fact.

To them we would say first: Consider the urgent, diverse and pervasive needs all around you. Then, we would simply add: Please remember your means. (Globe & Mail) 

 

Saturday October 26, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 26, 2017

Bill Morneau vows to donate share profits

On Thursday the embattled finance minister said he will donate the profits earned on his Morneau Shepell shares since he was elected to charity.

The finance minister met with the conflict of interest commissioner earlier in the afternoon.

“I told her it was the intent of my family to donate any difference in value from my family shares from the time I was elected on Oct. 19, 2015, until now,” he told the House of Commons.

Morneau said he doesn’t know what the value of the proceeds is yet.

Morneau said he will unload the million shares, worth about $20 million, he has in Morneau Shepell, the human resources and pension management company his father founded.

“If he hadn’t owned those stocks over the last two years while ministers are banned from owning stocks then he wouldn’t have those profits in the first place,” said Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre.

“Can he confirm now if he will donate the resulting tax savings that he will enjoy from the charitable tax credit to help pay off his deficit?” (Source: CBC News) 

Letter to the Editor, Hamilton Spectator  (Saturday Nov 4, 2017)

One-sided cartoon unfair to Morneau

RE: Oct. editorial cartoon

This amusing cartoon, portraying our finance minister doing hoops for his salvation from not putting his family business in trust, is surely very one sided.

He originally sought the advice of our ethics commissioner, who told him that it was not a necessity for him to do so. Now that he is trying to rectify his “mistake” he is subjected to much scorn by the opposition parties.

A cheering Justin Trudeau reminds me that it is hard to recall one MacKay cartoon with something positive about our PM.

A bigger concern is the lack of media support for left-wing Canada. It is easy to list six families/corporations who own the majority of our major print and broadcast media and are all supporters of the Conservatives. Even the CBC, with its president and eight Harper-appointed directors, too often follows suit.

The Star and Spectator used to provide regular support but these days, I find that to be hit and miss. All issues should be subject to scrutiny but it would be refreshing to have more balance.

Richard Ring, Grimsby

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Friday August 26, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Friday August 26, 2016 Ontario Liberals wonÕt ban cash-for-access events OntarioÕs Liberal government has bowed to public and opposition pressure to tighten caps further on political donations, but is still not banning cash-for-access fundraising. Government House Leader Yasir Naqvi on Monday released proposed amendments to Bill 201, the LiberalsÕ campaign-finance reform legislation. TheÊbill is under review by a legislative committee, which has been holding public hearings for the past two months. The changes include a $3,600 limit per donor Ð divided among the central party office, riding associations and individual candidates Ð in a year withÊan election or by-election, or $2,400 in a year without either. Currently, donors can contribute up to $33,250 annually; the original text of the billÊwould have brought that down to $7,750 in a year with an election or by-election. But the Liberals opted not to make cash-for-access illegal, allowing the controversial fundraising practice that started the furor over campaign financeÊto continue. Instead of a legislated ban, Mr. NaqviÕs office said he will consult the opposition parties on a code of conduct for MPPs that would offerÊguidelines for raising money from stakeholders. The government turned down an interview request for Mr. Naqvi. His spokesman, Kyle Richardson, refused to answer questions directly on why theÊLiberals are not prohibiting cash-for-access. ÒGovernment amendments are based on the feedback heard at public hearings held across Ontario. We are committed to working with theÊopposition,Ó Mr. Richardson wrote in an e-mail. Under the cash-for-access system, revealed by The Globe and Mail this spring, corporations, unions and wealthy individuals paid up to $10,000 forÊaccess to Premier Kathleen Wynne and members of her cabinet, typically over cocktails and dinner. At most events, corporate and union leaders in aÊgiven sector Ð including const

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday August 26, 2016

Ontario Liberals won’t ban cash-for-access events

Ontario’s Liberal government has bowed to public and opposition pressure to tighten caps further on political donations, but is still not banning cash-for-access fundraising.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Wednesday March 30, 2016 Ontario, the Wild West of Political fundraising Kathleen WynneÕs Liberals will rake in roughly $3 million in a single fundraiser Wednesday night. At their sumptuous Heritage Dinner, ÒVictory TablesÓ are priced at $18,000 for corporate high-flyers, and the biggest donors are feted at a private cocktail reception by a grateful premier. But thatÕs only half the story of how the governing party raises big money. In Ontario, the Wild West of fundraising, cabinet ministers are assigned secret targets as high as $500,000 a year, the Star has learned. The unsavoury spectacle of OntarioÕs politicians supplicating big business and big labour for events such as the Heritage Dinner is only a small piece of the fundraising puzzle glimpsed by the public. Beyond the showy hobnobbing, shadowy appeals by cabinet ministers for corporate money are the untold story at QueenÕs Park. Corporate and union contributions that Wynne persists in publicly defending create a demonstrable conflict of interest for cabinet ministers, which is why they were banned for federal parties in 2006, and are no longer legal in four other provinces. And yet, according to multiple sources, top cabinet ministers at QueenÕs Park are given financial targets that are typically in the range of $250,000 annually Ñ double that amount in some cases. These quasi-quotas are never written down, conveyed instead by the Ontario Liberal Fund through confidential meetings and phone calls. They are the price of admission to power, revealed here for the first time, and they are astonishingly high. The two most marketable ministers are Charles Sousa, the minister of finance, and Eric Hoskins, who helms the provinceÕs $52-billion health care budget. Both are expected to bring in as much as $500,000 a year, well-placed sources have confirmed. SousaÕs control of the provincial treasury, tax policy and auto insurance makes him a prime t

March 30, 2016

Government House Leader Yasir Naqvi on Monday released proposed amendments to Bill 201, the Liberals’ campaign-finance reform legislation. The bill is under review by a legislative committee, which has been holding public hearings for the past two months.

The changes include a $3,600 limit per donor – divided among the central party office, riding associations and individual candidates – in a year with an election or by-election, or $2,400 in a year without either. Currently, donors can contribute up to $33,250 annually; the original text of the bill would have brought that down to $7,750 in a year with an election or by-election.

But the Liberals opted not to make cash-for-access illegal, allowing the controversial fundraising practice that started the furor over campaign finance to continue. Instead of a legislated ban, Mr. Naqvi’s office said he will consult the opposition parties on a code of conduct for MPPs that would offer guidelines for raising money from stakeholders.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð

April 7, 2016

The government turned down an interview request for Mr. Naqvi. His spokesman, Kyle Richardson, refused to answer questions directly on why the Liberals are not prohibiting cash-for-access.

“Government amendments are based on the feedback heard at public hearings held across Ontario. We are committed to working with the opposition,” Mr. Richardson wrote in an e-mail.

Under the cash-for-access system, revealed by The Globe and Mail this spring, corporations, unions and wealthy individuals paid up to $10,000 for access to Premier Kathleen Wynne and members of her cabinet, typically over cocktails and dinner. At most events, corporate and union leaders in a given sector – including construction, finance, insurance and pharmaceuticals – gave money to spend time with the cabinet minister responsible for making policy decisions and handing out contracts in the donors’ industry. (Source: Globe & Mail)

 

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Thursday, July 24, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, July 24, 2014

Bills to safeguard blood, chemo drugs to be reintroduced in Ontario legislature

Ontario is taking aim once again at two pay-for-plasma clinics in Toronto, dusting off legislation to ban paid donations two weeks after Health Ministry inspectors swooped in to seize records at the facilities.

The bill from Health Minister Eric Hoskins is being combined with another proposed law aimed at preventing another chemotherapy “under-dosing” scandal by having hospital pharmacies inspected and licensed.

Thursday July 3, 2014Hoskins revived the legislation — first introduced before the June 12 election campaign but never passed in the minority parliament — on Tuesday saying it will be a “safeguard” against tainted blood products and troubles with the mixing of cancer medications that 1,202 cancer patients received.

The businessman operating Canadian Plasma Resources clinics said the raid has virtually halted operations in which subjects who qualified were paid $25 to give blood in a “research trial.”

“Since they took our documents we’re now temporarily stopped,” Barzin Bahardoust told the Star.

His company has been waging a battle with the government for months, with the province approving new regulations and insisting Canadian Plasma requires a laboratory licence.

Bahardoust rejects that claim, hence the government’s push for legislation that Hoskins said will make it “unequivocal” that paying for blood donations or accepting payment is illegal.

“We stand firmly against payment for blood or plasma donations,” Hoskins added, noting the 1997 Krever Commission recommended against paid donations to prevent vulnerable people with diseases from selling their blood for cash.

The commission examined the 1980s tainted blood scandal — which left 30,000 Canadians with HIV and hepatitis C from questionable donations, some from prison inmates in the United States. (Source: Toronto Star)