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Thursday July 25, 2019

August 1, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 25, 2019

History the best teacher on dealing with China

While everyone’s attention has recently been focused on events of 50 years ago —i.e., the Apollo 11 mission —the world has continued to turn. Canada’s problems with China have not gone away.

October 2, 1999

So it might be wise to focus less on the moon than on more recent historic events. In May 1999, during the heat of the war in the former Yugoslavia, NATO accidentally bombed the Chinese Embassy there. Tensions between China and the U.S. escalated, negotiations to get China into the World Trade Organization failed, and it took some time for diplomacy to right itself. China joined the WTO in 2001.

The finance minister of Singapore at the time, Heng Swee Keat, took Bill Clinton’s secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, aside and offered a few words of wisdom. It was not in the best interest of the United States to adopt an adversarial stance with China. Heng had more significant pearls to offer Beijing: Tap western markets, western technology and western capital and develop your own economy.

March 24, 2008

Twenty years is not a long time, particularly not when dealing with China, which has always played a long game. But Beijing took Heng’s advice and we are watching that long game unfold. Over several decades now, China has made inroads in the West —in technology specifically — and dumped a lot of capital in the developing African countries.

China’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” launched in 2013, is yet another example of the country’s strategic goals: A trade infrastructure costing anywhere between $1 trillion and $8 trillion and involving 70 countries that will tie China to Europe and other Asian nations through a “belt” tying together China, Eurasia and Russia, and a maritime “road,” across several oceans and seas to the Suez Canal and up into Europe.

June 17, 2017

The plan is to end Chinese dependence on the United States. After decades of accumulating capital and technological knowledge, China is in a position to fundamentally alter the way global trade works.

Canada will, inevitably, be affected, especially if, as predicted, China expects the road part of its initiative to include an Arctic pass. This new Silk Road will not be the stuff of Marco Polo, which benefited the West immensely, but will be a huge boon to China and the allies it creates through the initiative.

All the more reason, then, that Canada must resolve its strained relationship with China sooner than later.

December 12, 2018

The present conflict stems from the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive of Huawei, China’s big tech firm. She is wanted in the United States on fraud charges and, under a U.S.-Canadian extradition treaty, she is under house arrest here. China subsequently imprisoned two Canadian citizens and threatens to execute a third already in prison. How we got to this point matters less than how we get out of it.

International pressure, and a wider agreement involving the United States, could free the Canadians, get Meng out of Canada, and resolve this issue. That pressure can also see Canada, as a participant in dialogue with the 10 members of the ASEAN, using diplomacy within the organization to work with China on an amicable solution.

December 5, 2017

Canada must follow the advice of Singapore in 1999 and not adopt an adversarial stance with China, but at the same time it cannot be so naive as to think that an economic solution — like the U.S. imposition of tariffs — will work either.

China saw that move coming a long time ago and has been defending itself against it. Prosperity did not lead to a more politically liberal China. Ask the pro-democracy protesters right now in Hong Kong.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” Lao-Tze wrote 2,500 years ago. Canada must be careful not to trip. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Posted in: Canada, International Tagged: 2019-26, Canada, China, diplomacy, domination, Economy, fish, Huawei, International, pressure, Trade, USA

Saturday September 8, 2018

September 7, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 8, 2018

Scientists urging people to stop dumping aquarium and market fish into Hamilton Harbour

Harbour scientists say they have been finding some strange new creatures in Hamilton Harbour this summer, suggesting people are dumping aquarium and fish market species into the waters.

June 24, 2015

“We’ve seen some fish that really should not be there and it’s really a sign of people purposefully and irresponsibly and illegally releasing fish into Hamilton Harbour,” said Becky Cudmore, senior science adviser on aquatic invasive species with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Among the findings are four tilapia fish and a type of aquarium catfish. This is on top of an established population of goldfish, the outcome of untold numbers of people emptying their aquarium fish into the bay and Cootes Paradise.

“What we are seeing with goldfish is something we don’t want to see happening with other species,” she said.

She believes the tilapia, a non-native species originally from the Middle East and Africa, were bought at a fish market and then released into the harbour in a misguided effort to save the fish from being eaten.

“It’s not fair to the fish because they are not meant to be in that water,” said Cudmore. She urged people with unwanted aquarium fish to take the fish to pet rescue centres or back to the store where they bought them.

She expects tilapia in the harbour will die out over the winter because the species prefers tropical environments. But some could survive by using warm water effluent from Hamilton steel mills as an overwintering haven.

Tys Theijsmeijer, the head of natural lands for the Royal Botanical Gardens, says as well as adversely affecting native species, introduced species can bring new diseases to the ecosystem. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: carp, crab, diversity, ecosystem, fish, goldfish, Hamilton, harbour, invasive, mitten, native, species, tilapia

Wednesday February 17, 2016

February 16, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

2016-02-17Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 17, 2016

Hamilton is Hot!

Unsurprisingly, both politicians claimed victory in the Great Sledding Showdown at the Garth Street reservoir this weekend.

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Friday November 13, 2015 Lobby begins as city to choose tobogganing hills Council has signed off on a plan to identify and make safe at least three city-owned snow hills this winter for sanctioned sledding - despite a long-standing bylaw ban. It could cost close to $40,000 for the city to add signage, hay bales, monitoring and any other required safety features to the as-yet unidentified hills. But the race to add favourite hills to the list has already begun - and the city could end up approving more than three official tobogganing spots. City staff have promised to report back this year on likely locations. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) Hamilton, Ontario, minecraft, children, sedentary, toboggan, tobogganing, winter, sports, fitness, litigation, legal

Friday November 13, 2015

Regardless, tobogganing fans were the clear winners Saturday as the city officially opened one of three sanctioned sledding hills, ending a much-maligned ban that earned unwanted international publicity for Hamilton last year.

“We’ve put the fun back in winter,” declared Mayor Fred Eisenberger before hitting the slope at the popular — and now legal — sledding hill. “And, ah, hopefully we have no more lawsuits … If anyone is thinking about lawsuits, just get back in the car.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Saturday January 9, 2015 Hamilton Harbour becoming giant goldfish bowl Millions of tiny ones are swimming around after a summer that saw weather and water conditions turn Cootes Paradise into a massive breeding ground for the carp-like creatures. The non-native fish species Ñ that people buy as pets and sometimes, ill-advisedly, release into local waterways Ñ have suddenly gone viral in the bay and have become the latest complication in its rehabilitation. It used to be that goldfish in the Ontario outdoors had a very low survival rate and little success at reproducing. But officials at the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada say that's been changing in recent years in the warmer weather we've been experiencing. They've noticed exponential increases in numbers being counted at the Desjardins Canal Fishway Ñ from 20 or less per year in the late 1990s to 2,500 this past spring. And early this winter, millions of five centimetre, young-of-the-year goldfish have been seen swimming in giant schools at various locations in the harbour, including the section of the canal below the railway bridge. "They seem to be heading toward taking over," says Tys Theysmeyer, the head of natural lands for the RBG. Becky Cudmore, an invasive species expert with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, says it's a problem being noticed at numerous locations in the lower great lakes, with Hamilton Harbour being a particular hot spot. "With increased warming trends we're seeing an increased ability of some fish species to survive in areas where we wouldn't think they could survive," she says. Theysmeyer says low water levels in the early summer in Cootes Paradise Ñ where fish tend to reproduce Ñ that suddenly rose later on also assisted goldfish reproduction. Shallow water is good for eggs, slightly deeper water is better as the tiny fish start to swim around. When water levels jumped 50 cms, d

Saturday January 9, 2015

Meanwhile, Hamilton Harbour has a new problem to add to its list of woes — goldfish.

Millions of tiny ones are swimming around after a summer that saw weather and water conditions turn Cootes Paradise into a massive breeding ground for the carp-like creatures.

The non-native fish species — that people buy as pets and sometimes, ill-advisedly, release into local waterways — have suddenly gone viral in the bay and have become the latest complication in its rehabilitation. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Friday December 11, 2015 Payday loan industry comes under microscope The province is moving to protect vulnerable people from cash stores and collections agencies Ñ but a local councillor calls the efforts "half-hearted." If passed, new legislation by the Ontario government promises to increase protections under the Payday Loans Act, Consumer Protection Act and the Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act. The aim is to provide safeguards such as a cap on the rates charged by cheque-cashing services, a grace period for repayment for customers of rent-to-own services and reasonable costs for optional insurance on instalment loans. It would also offer longer repayment periods for repeat payday loan borrowers, and expanded rules against unfair collection practices from businesses that purchase and collect overdue debts. But Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Green says the legislation "doesn't go nearly far enough in terms of really tackling the core elements and the predatory nature of this industry." There are 813 licensed payday lenders in Ontario Ñ more than there are McDonalds restaurants. Roughly 35 of those are in Hamilton, according to the ministry's online database. For starters, Green wants to see the "ridiculous" interest rates on payday loans slashed. Green put forward a motion this summer to limit and regulate these stores at a municipal level, which would have made Hamilton the first city in the province to do so. Staff is now looking into the feasibility of that. In the meantime, he and a working group made up of local agencies, including credit unions, are actively researching a model for a market alternative low-cost loan service. Tom Cooper, director of Hamilton's Roundtable for Poverty Reduction (HRPR), says he'd like to see provincial legislation that enables municipalities to license lenders at the local level. He agrees there's more work to do on this. "At the end of the day É these services are predatory by nature and they'll continue to take a

Friday December 11, 2015

Meanwhile, The City of Hamilton is ready to get tough on payday lenders with a triple licensing whammy.

Under proposed new regulations, payday outlets will each have to fork over a $750 licensing fee.

Each outlet will have to display a mandatory poster showing the whopping annualized interest rates of their loans.

And all outlets will be required to display credit counselling information to borrowers.

The staff recommendations are intended to help people understand the financial dangers of using the high interest loan services, which are widely seen as preying upon the desperate and disadvantaged. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Saturday, October 25, 2014Meanwhile, until now, it’s been a pie-in-the-sky idea. But the city wants to take the idea of gondolas into the mainstream.

City officials are intrigued by the notion of gondolas that would go up and down the Niagara Escarpment and have just added the concept to the transportation master plan (TMP) to get public input on the idea.

Transportation officials have been talking about gondolas for “two or three months now,” said Al Kirkpatrick, the city’s manager of transportation planning.

The city is reviewing its TMP to determine how transportation will grow in Hamilton over the next 30 years.

The team is hosting public input sessions in June, Kirkpatrick said. And as it does, it’s asking people about gondolas as a way of moving people between the upper and lower city. (Source: CBC News)

Friday August 28, 2015Friday August 28, 2015Meanwhile, “Hamilton,” the Broadway musical phenomenon, brought its thrillingly diverse hip-hop-infused narrative nationwide — and beyond — on the Grammy Awards on Monday.

As expected the show won for Best Musical Theater album. The award was presented on-air and creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda rapped his acceptance speech.

“We won a Grammy, mothef—ers,” director and star Lin-Manuel Miranda told a live audience — as he raised the award to the air — from inside the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York, the show’s home on Broadway. (Source: NY Daily News)

 

Posted in: Entertainment, Hamilton Tagged: broadway, carp, fish, goldfish, Gondola, Hamilton, musical, Payday loans, sled, tobogganing, Transit

Thursday February 11, 2016

February 10, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Thursday February 11, 2016 Netflix border crackdown cuts off some customers, but unblocking services fight back Yes, the Netflix crackdown on cross-border watching is real. Customers worldwide have grown accustomed to sneaking over virtual walls to stream shows and movies restricted to other countries. Now, Netflix is stopping some virtual travellers at the border, finally enforcing its age-old policy that says viewers aren't allowed to access Netflix in other regions. Meanwhile, unblocking companies that help virtual travellers defy the rules are fighting back. And some are already declaring victory in the battle to keep Netflix's borders wide open. Numerous customers with the unblocking company Unblock-Us started reporting technical problems soon after Netflix announced its crackdown on Jan. 14. For a fee, unblocking services do the technical legwork to help customers hide their location so they can hop borders. For example, the service would help a Netflix Canada customer watch Sons of Anarchy on Netflix U.S. The Canadian version doesn't carry the show. "Help," wrote one border hopping customer on the Unblock-Us tech support site on Jan. 27, explaining that he lives in Toronto and can no longer stream content on Netflix UK. Another customer posted, "I live in Norway and am currently using your service to watch American Netflix, but now it doesn't work anymore." "Netflix blocked in Australia," reported someone else. Barbados-based Unblock-Us did not respond to CBC News's request for comment. But a post on its site updated on Feb. 3 declared, "We have a solution." It said blocked customers need to contact the support team, which would "have some simple steps for you to follow" to resume service. (Source: CBC News) http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/netflix-crackdown-1.3440348 Netflix, cable, television, entertainment, CRTC, consumers, fish, VPN, Internet

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 11, 2016

Netflix border crackdown cuts off some customers, but unblocking services fight back

Yes, the Netflix crackdown on cross-border watching is real.

Customers worldwide have grown accustomed to sneaking over virtual walls to stream shows and movies restricted to other countries.

Friday March 20, 2015Now, Netflix is stopping some virtual travellers at the border, finally enforcing its age-old policy that says viewers aren’t allowed to access Netflix in other regions.

Meanwhile, unblocking companies that help virtual travellers defy the rules are fighting back. And some are already declaring victory in the battle to keep Netflix’s borders wide open.

Numerous customers with the unblocking company Unblock-Us started reporting technical problems soon after Netflix announced its crackdown on Jan. 14.

For a fee, unblocking services do the technical legwork to help customers hide their location so they can hop borders.

Wednesday September 24, 2014For example, the service would help a Netflix Canada customer watch Sons of Anarchy on Netflix U.S. The Canadian version doesn’t carry the show.

“Help,” wrote one border hopping customer on the Unblock-Us tech support site on Jan. 27, explaining that he lives in Toronto and can no longer stream content on Netflix UK.

Another customer posted, “I live in Norway and am currently using your service to watch American Netflix, but now it doesn’t work anymore.”

“Netflix blocked in Australia,” reported someone else.

Barbados-based Unblock-Us did not respond to CBC News’s request for comment. But a post on its site updated on Feb. 3 declared, “We have a solution.”

It said blocked customers need to contact the support team, which would “have some simple steps for you to follow” to resume service. (Source: CBC News)

 

Posted in: Canada, Entertainment Tagged: Cable, consumers, CRTC, Entertainment, fish, internet, netflix, Television, VPN

Saturday January 9, 2015

January 8, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Saturday January 9, 2015 Hamilton Harbour becoming giant goldfish bowl Millions of tiny ones are swimming around after a summer that saw weather and water conditions turn Cootes Paradise into a massive breeding ground for the carp-like creatures. The non-native fish species Ñ that people buy as pets and sometimes, ill-advisedly, release into local waterways Ñ have suddenly gone viral in the bay and have become the latest complication in its rehabilitation. It used to be that goldfish in the Ontario outdoors had a very low survival rate and little success at reproducing. But officials at the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada say that's been changing in recent years in the warmer weather we've been experiencing. They've noticed exponential increases in numbers being counted at the Desjardins Canal Fishway Ñ from 20 or less per year in the late 1990s to 2,500 this past spring. And early this winter, millions of five centimetre, young-of-the-year goldfish have been seen swimming in giant schools at various locations in the harbour, including the section of the canal below the railway bridge. "They seem to be heading toward taking over," says Tys Theysmeyer, the head of natural lands for the RBG. Becky Cudmore, an invasive species expert with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, says it's a problem being noticed at numerous locations in the lower great lakes, with Hamilton Harbour being a particular hot spot. "With increased warming trends we're seeing an increased ability of some fish species to survive in areas where we wouldn't think they could survive," she says. Theysmeyer says low water levels in the early summer in Cootes Paradise Ñ where fish tend to reproduce Ñ that suddenly rose later on also assisted goldfish reproduction. Shallow water is good for eggs, slightly deeper water is better as the tiny fish start to swim around. When water levels jumped 50 cms, d

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 9, 2015

Hamilton Harbour becoming giant goldfish bowl

Millions of tiny ones are swimming around after a summer that saw weather and water conditions turn Cootes Paradise into a massive breeding ground for the carp-like creatures.

The non-native fish species — that people buy as pets and sometimes, ill-advisedly, release into local waterways — have suddenly gone viral in the bay and have become the latest complication in its rehabilitation.

It used to be that goldfish in the Ontario outdoors had a very low survival rate and little success at reproducing.

But officials at the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada say that’s been changing in recent years in the warmer weather we’ve been experiencing.

They’ve noticed exponential increases in numbers being counted at the Desjardins Canal Fishway — from 20 or less per year in the late 1990s to 2,500 this past spring. And early this winter, millions of five centimetre, young-of-the-year goldfish have been seen swimming in giant schools at various locations in the harbour, including the section of the canal below the railway bridge.

“They seem to be heading toward taking over,” says Tys Theysmeyer, the head of natural lands for the RBG.

Becky Cudmore, an invasive species expert with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, says it’s a problem being noticed at numerous locations in the lower great lakes, with Hamilton Harbour being a particular hot spot.

“With increased warming trends we’re seeing an increased ability of some fish species to survive in areas where we wouldn’t think they could survive,” she says.

Theysmeyer says low water levels in the early summer in Cootes Paradise — where fish tend to reproduce — that suddenly rose later on also assisted goldfish reproduction. Shallow water is good for eggs, slightly deeper water is better as the tiny fish start to swim around.

When water levels jumped 50 cms, doubling the volume of water, Cootes Paradise “basically turned into a goldfish factory,” he says.

Most troubling, he says, is when the invading fish become fully grown. They can reach more than 40 cms in length, much smaller than mature carp, but big enough to cause similar damage to a fragile ecosystem.

Carp are destructive because they crowd out other species and are constantly churning up the bottom in their search for food. This inhibits the growth of plants and indigenous fish species.

The RBG has taken extensive steps to push them out of Cootes Paradise, most notably by using the fishway that operates like a gate for hand sorting of desirable and non-desirable species trying to return from Hamilton Harbour to Cootes in the spring. Those efforts have been largely successful.

But huge populations of carp remain in the harbour throughout the year and are a factor in discouraging the growth of desirable fish species such as pike and bass there. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: biology, carp, Cootes, fish, goldfish, Hamilton, harbour, invasive, Paradise, species
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