federalism – mackaycartoons

Wednesday December 21, 2016

December 20, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 21, 2016

Ottawa, provinces fail to reach a deal on health spending

Ottawa and the provinces have failed to reach a deal on health-care funding, despite a $11.5-billion pledge by the federal government to boost targeted spending on home care and mental health.

The federal government has now taken that offer off the table, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Monday, and the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) spending increase will revert to 3 per cent a year as of April 1, 2017.

Morneau had told the provinces he was willing to grow that key federal transfer by 3.5 per cent each year over the next five years — at a value of roughly $20 billion — but the provinces balked.

“We came to the provinces with a significant offer of funds … We’re disappointed we weren’t successful,” Morneau told reporters.

Jane Philpott, Canada’s health minister, said the federal government’s money could have made a real difference in the lives of many Canadians.

“I woke up this morning feeling very hopeful, thinking about half a million kids that are waiting for care for mental health services and hoping to be able to give them good news today,” she said.

“We’re disappointed that the provinces and territories did not feel like they could accept this offer and that they couldn’t find ways to use these resources immediately, to be able to get care out to Canadians.”

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa said while the provinces rejected the federal funding plan, it was Morneau who was responsible for ending the meeting early.

“There was an urgency to close the meeting off. We’re here, we desire an agreement, we need to come to a conclusion. Why have anybody attend if there’s nothing to negotiate or discuss?” Sousa said, adding Ottawa wasn’t willing to listen to evidence that its proposed funding plan would imperil the country’s health-care system. (Source: CBC News)

Wednesday December 7, 2016

December 6, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 7, 2016

‘We can’t abandon them’: Senators urge more language, mental health supports for Syrian refugees

One year after the first wave of Syrian refugees arrived in Canada, the Senate’s committee on human rights is urging the federal government to boost language training, mental health services and financial supports to ease the next phase of the resettlement process

December 11, 2015

Releasing a report called “Finding Refuge in Canada: A Syrian Resettlement Story,” committee chair Jim Munson said while the program has been a Canadian success story, the government and citizens must not be complacent.

“We can’t abandon them. We can’t let indifference set in. We need to do more to help them in their next resettlement steps,” he said during a news conference in Ottawa Tuesday.

In the last year, Canada has brought in more than 35,000 government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees fleeing conflict and violence in the region.

After the one-year mark, the federal government’s monthly living allowance ends for many families, which means they must support themselves or rely on provincial social assistance.

Senator Thanh Hai Ngo said it’s not fair to simply transfer the financial burden on the provinces.

“That’s not right. If you help them, you help them to the end. You don’t leave them in the middle of the street and say, ‘OK, that’s it I’ve done my job,'” he said.

According to information provided by Dawn Edlund, IRCC’s associate assistant deputy minister of operations, about 12 per cent of government-sponsored Syrian refugees have a job, while more than half of privately sponsored refugees have work.

Edlund acknowledged there have been challenges in addressing language training needs, but said approximately 87 per cent of eligible Syrian adults outside of Quebec had been assessed as of the end of August and 64 per cent had enrolled in language training at that time.

After additional funding was provided in June, preliminary figures show 95 per cent of government-assisted refugees are enrolled in some kind of language training, compared to 79 per cent of privately sponsored refugees. (Source: CBC)

Saturday January 30, 2015

January 30, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 30, 2015

Stephen Harper discovers Ontario: Goar

(Written by Carol Goar) The biblical parable of the prodigal son

The moral of the story — to forgive those who treat you badly — is counterintuitive in this era of caustic partisanship but it is relevant, especially for Ontario.

Stephen Harper, like the prodigal son in the narrative, turned his back on the province of his birth 37 years ago. He became a proud westerner, adopting the anti-central-Canada mindset displayed by his Alberta compatriots. He changed parties — he was a Liberal in Ontario — and climbed the political ladder, eventually becoming prime minister. His goal was to make Canada a “global energy superpower.” His plan was to speed up the development of heavy oil and export Alberta’s black gold to a fuel-hungry world.

Of late, things haven’t been going well. Alberta’s petroleum is landlocked. Foreign buyers aren’t clamouring for Canada’s “dirty oil.” For the last seven months, international oil prices have been dropping, blowing a hole in Harper’s economic strategy and leaving Ottawa unexpectedly short of revenue.

Last week, the prime minister changed his tune . “The oil industry isn’t remotely the entire Canadian economy,” he told an audience in St. Catharines after the governor of the Bank of Canada had called the 57-per-cent drop in petroleum prices since last June “unambiguously negative for the Canadian economy.”

Finance Minister Joe Oliver echoed his boss’s message: “We have a highly diversified economy. The manufacturing sector is something that we are proud of and will continue to be important to the Canadian economy.”

Other members of cabinet and federal officials are signalling that Ontario will be the focus of the government’s spring budget. Manufacturers and exporters are already benefitting from the drop in oil prices and the value of the Canadian dollar. With a little help from Ottawa, they could generate enough growth to stave off a deficit and save Harper’s reputation as an astute economic manager. (Continued: Toronto Star)

Wednesday August 27, 2014

August 26, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 27, 2014

Canada’s premiers running out of excuses for inaction: Hébert

Every summer the country’s premiers converge on some picturesque spot in Canada for their annual gathering.

Last year it was Niagara-on-the-Lake. This year it’s Prince Edward Island. The backdrop changes as do some of the characters but the script, for the most part, remains the same.

Year in and year out the premiers usually find one or more apples of discord with the federal government of the day to chew on.

Some years they are unanimously aggrieved over some action of their federal partner. Last summer it was Ottawa’s labour training scheme.

On other occasions it is perceived federal inaction — as in the case this year of infrastructure spending — that is in their sights.

Over the past decade Stephen Harper’s lack of interest for convening first ministers’ conferences has been a recurring theme.

This is not to say that some of the concerns raised by the premiers are not real.

Their grievances over the initial federal labour training reform were serious enough. The proposition stood to cause more systemic problems than it would have solved. And a united provincial front did go some way to bring the federal government to the table.

But it also seems that when the premiers spend time in the same room they conveniently forget that they are not, as a group, devoid of the power to do more than tear up their shirts in front of the cameras.

(Brian Simpson/Government of Prince Edward Island)

When repeatedly faced with what they collectively see as a federal leadership vacuum it apparently does not cross their minds to fill it with more than empty words. By all indications, thinking outside the federal-provincial box does not come easily to this generation of premiers.

It is not that they are not equal partners with the federal government in the federation but that they don’t often act like they are.

(Source: Toronto Star)

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

April 9, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Quebec Liberals win majority: ‘Division is over’

Philippe Couillard’s Liberals have won the Quebec election with a majority government, crushing the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois and Premier Pauline Marois.

Liberal candidates won in 70 of the province’s ridings, the Parti Quebecois won 30, the Coalition Avenir Quebec took 22 and Quebec Solidaire picked up three. The PQ got about 25 per cent of the popular vote, its lowest share since 1970.

In a stunning turn of events, Marois lost her own seat in Charlevoix-Cote-de-Beaupre to Liberal Caroline Simard.

Couillard, who was a neurosurgeon before he entered politics, easily won his riding of Roberval, defeating PQ incumbent Denis Trottier.

Taking the stage at Liberal headquarters after most of the ballots had been counted, Couillard vowed to run an inclusive and “stable” government that represents the interests of all Quebecers.

“Our language, our flag belongs to all Quebecers,” he said.

Addressing the province’s anglophones in English, Couillard said: “We are all Quebecers. We should all focus on what brings us together. What unites us makes us stronger.”

He later added in French: “Division is over; reconciliation has arrived.”

In her concession speech, Marois announced she will step down as PQ leader and ensure an “orderly transition.”

“Quebecers have spoken and we must respect this result,” she said. “We had so much to offer, so much to accomplish for Quebecers.”

The defeat of the PQ came after a 33-day election campaign many observers described as one of the nastiest in decades.

The Parti Quebecois had only been in power for 18 months. Its controversial values charter, which aimed to prevent public sector workers from wearing “ostentatious” religious symbols, and the push for sovereignty did not sit well with voters.

For many, it was no surprise: opinion polls had been putting the Liberals in the lead for days leading up to election day. (Source: CTV News)