Editorial Cartoon

Tuesday February 5, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 5, 2019

Jagmeet Singh questions Canada’s recognition of Venezuelan opposition leader

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is questioning Canada’s decision to recognize a Venezuelan opposition leader as the country’s interim president, after prominent members of his party lashed out at the Liberal government’s foreign policy move Thursday.

March 31, 2018 – retraction

In a statement to the Toronto Star, Singh said it should be up to Venezuelans to decide who leads their country, which was roiled by deadly protests this week as the socialist regime led by Nicolas Maduro tries to cling to power amidst economic collapse and a mass exodus of migrants from the South American nation.

Canada’s foreign affairs minister, Chrystia Freeland, announced Wednesday that Ottawa will recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president and support his “commitment to lead Venezuela to free and fair presidential elections.” Canada was among the “Lima Group” of countries that called on Maduro to step down earlier this month, declaring that he seized power through “fraudulent and anti-democratic elections” last year.

Freeland’s decision came after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Guaido as Venezuelan leader, prompting the Maduro regime to cut diplomatic ties with the United States.

Animated!

The NDP leader, however, is calling for a United Nations-led dialogue to “avert a disaster” in Venezuela, and said Thursday that all countries deserve to choose their leaders without “authoritative pressure or foreign interference.” He also condemned military action against protesters by the Maduro regime.

“Canada should not simply follow the U.S.’s foreign policy, particularly given its history of self-interested interference in the region,” Singh said.

“The question of who is to lead Venezuela should be in the hands of Venezuelans.” (Sourec: Toronto Star) 

 

Saturday January 12, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 12, 2019

Paving over Ontario Place for mall, casino would be travesty

A gambling casino. A 1.6-million-square-foot “megamall.” An amusement park, including the world’s largest ferris wheel.

July 30, 2012

These are just some of the things that Premier Doug Ford has mused about locating at the site of Ontario Place, the 62-hectare park on the west side of Toronto’s downtown, adjacent to the CNE grounds.

Much of Ontario Place has been closed since 2012, when then-premier Dalton McGuinty was trying to save money. But in truth, it had been on the decline for years, the victim of outdated thinking and vision. In 2017, his successor Kathleen Wynne unveiled a partial redevelopment plan worth about $30 million, which would have seen a waterfront park be a central attraction.

That plan received strong public support, and much of the money has been spent. But Ford’s government killed it early on after being elected. Nowhere on the list of things Ford is exploring is public parkland.

February 3, 2012

This is more than just a Toronto story. Ontario Place is an important public asset for all Ontarians. Paving it over for a mall, casino or amusement park would be a travesty. But it appears that’s where Ford is headed. He appointed a crony and Conservative fundraiser to oversee the redevelopment. And considering that his environment minister is the former head of the province’s gambling corporation, anything is possible.

Ford and his brother, Rob, brought some of their plans forward while the latter was mayor and the former was a councillor. Their ideas were soundly defeated in the face of public opposition.

Now that he’s premier, Ford probably thinks public opposition doesn’t matter. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s right about that. (Source: Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Tuesday November 13, 2018

November 13, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 13, 2018

The good, the bad and the ugly of corporate welfare

Federal government investment in private business — disdainfully called “corporate welfare” by critics — can raise the blood pressure of even the most Zen taxpayer. Consider:

April 4, 2017

Last month, Ottawa wrote off a loan and other subsidies granted to Chrysler for $2.6 billion. The interest is also in the wind. Or how about the Ontario government’s $220 million investment in Toyota to create some 450 jobs (which works out to a $488,888 subsidy per job). And then, of course, there is Bombardier, the grandmother of all corporate welfare recipients.

The Quebec-based transportation company got its first government handout in the mid-1960s. By now, depending on who you believe, Bombardier has received something like $3.7 billion from Canadian taxpayers. And just to add insult to injury, the company isn’t exactly prospering.

October 13, 2016

Last week, it announced it was cutting 5,000 jobs, including 500 in Ontario, and it sold off one of its aircraft divisions. It also announced a new contract to provide rail cars to the City of Montreal, but that good news didn’t offset bad news about its stubborn corporate debt. Analysts are again speculating that Bombardier’s turnaround may be wishful thinking, and its share prices took the expected nosedive at that news.

Most galling is the reality that those billions, just like the billions in Chrysler bailout money Ottawa just wrote off, are never coming back to public coffers.

February 18, 2016

What can we do, other than get all red in the face and grind our collective teeth? It’s not like you can vote for a different party to avoid these so-called investments. All parties do them, in Bombardier’s case, pretty much equally.

Or, we can try and do what makes sense but is typically very hard for average taxpayers struggling to get by in this challenging world — look at the big picture, and look at it over time, not in the moment.

First, so-called corporate welfare is far from new. It goes back as far as the days when Canadian railroads were getting royal treatment in the form of prime pieces of real estate. But what if, back in the ’60s, the government of the day had said no to Bombardier and set the tone for the future? (Continued: Hamilton Spectator)  

 

Tuesday October 23, 2018

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 23, 2018

The Eisenberger train rolls on

Fred Eisenberger handily won the so-called “LRT referendum” election to become the city’s first repeat mayor since amalgamation.

But it is still unclear whether his signature project, a controversial $1-billion light rail transit line, will survive the election of a council that remains badly divided over LRT.

The veteran politician, 66, fought off a surprising challenge from Vito Sgro, a behind-the-scenes Liberal organizer who was not well known but ran a well-organized “Stop the Train” campaign hinging on the use of LRT cash for other infrastructure.

Eisenberger told jubilant supporters at his Upper James Street headquarters that there was a “fair number” of votes cast against LRT — “but we got more.”

“I see that as a mandate for us to move forward on LRT,” he said to a huge cheer from supporters squeezed into the room. 

The veteran politician, who has served two terms as mayor separated by a defeat, repeatedly rejected the notion that LRT was the defining campaign issue. But Monday night, he told The Spectator “for those who wanted to make it a referendum, well, I consider this a referendum.”

It’s possible the fraught debate helped push up voter turnout in 2018 to an unofficial 38 per cent — not fantastic, but an improvement from last election’s dismal showing of around 34 per cent.

The LRT is backed by an unprecedented coalition of politicians, businesses, developers, education and health institutions, unions and anti-poverty groups.

But that establishment support certainly did not translate into a unified council. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

Alternative Outcomes

As with most elections it’s never easy to fully prepare the perfect cartoon for the end result. Less complicated about the 2018 Mayoral election, compared with previous campaigns, was the fact that it was a two person race among a full slate of fringe candidates. Yesterday, I drew up three scenarios, all involving the proposed LRT. Full disclosure, two of the versions were revisions of cartoons drawn for the 2014 municipal vote which never went to print. The one which ran above, dubbed “happy Fred”, was the more celebratory version for Mayor Eisenberger – it was also the last cartoon I created, thinking it was the least likely cartoon to be used.  The version I put most effort into was “sad Fred”, showing him asleep at the levers as his train glided off a cliff.  If the numbers had been tighter between the Mayor and his main challenger Vito Sgro, I thought sad Fred would work best by reflecting his downplaying of LRT as a major issue in 2018. There was only one Sgro victory version, and as the first, and perhaps only depiction I ever draw of the man, it was the first cartoon I drew yesterday, showing him above the neck, and full-faced. Yesterday morning as people began casting ballots, Vito Sgro was viewed as a very possible candidate to topple Eisenberger and take Hamilton on a future course without LRT. While the project is by no means a for sure thing for this city, with several anti-LRT councillors returning or elected, it’ll take a Mayor with a mandate to champion it among council and the Doug Ford government. It has been more than 10 years since the offer of $1 billion was presented to Hamilton to upgrade its transit system, I think it’s time to get it moving once and for all.

…It has been a loooong conversation on making LRT and enhanced GO Transit a Billion dollar reality in this city.  Here’s a gallery of transit cartoons from the past 10 years or so…

October 23, 2018
August 14, 2018
February 3, 2015
October 25, 2013
September 25, 2008

Not to mention these from 2010 and before:

              

 

Tuesday March 13, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 13, 2018

Organized mob used G20 tactics in Locke Street attack

An organized masked mob that wreaked havoc on the Kirkendall North neighbourhood over the weekend strategies similar to those used during the 2010 G20 riots in Toronto.

The group of 30 people, brandishing a banner that read ‘We Are The Ungovernable,’ donned black clothing and face coverings to conceal their identities — a tactic called “black bloc,” said Insp. Paul Hamilton on Monday.

After smashing a handful of storefront windows with rocks, lighting fireworks and setting off smoke bombs, they fled — some on foot and others by vehicle — from Locke Street South Saturday night, ditching their clothing after the unprecedented attack.

“They’ll strip off their black clothing and now they’re wearing something orange, and then they go down another street and they strip that clothing off, and it becomes very difficult,” he said. “Our immediate concern was for the public safety.”

Police believe they have recovered pieces of clothing, including some tucked at the top of neighbourhood driveways, as well as information about some of the getaway cars used, but no arrests have been made.

Who is responsible for the attack and what their motives are is not clear, but police have said they are investigating a possible link to the anarchist book fair that took place in the city over the weekend.

Later Monday, a sheet of plywood boarded up the window of The Tower, the meeting place of Hamilton anarchists on Cannon Street East at Victoria Avenue. A message was written across it in black letters: “We are not the least afraid of RUINS for we carry a new world here in our hearts” followed by the letter A in a circle, the anarchist symbol.

An anonymous poster on the website Anarchistnews.org claims to have taken part in the rampage, saying ” all my worst bosses have been small business owners — the problem isn’t the size of the business, it’s that the relationship is exploitative.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator)  

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