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Friday September 8, 2018

September 6, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

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

Worries, praise follow Ontario government’s new free speech directive

Universities and colleges in Ottawa say they’ll work with the Ontario government to meet next year’s deadline for crafting free speech policies, as campus groups both laud and worry about the new directive.

August 24, 2018

The province announced last week that schools have until Jan. 1, 2019 to develop, implement and comply with policies that meet a minimum standard the government sets — or risk losing funding.

That standard is based on the University of Chicago Statement of Principles of Free Expression, which doesn’t allow for hate speech but precludes shielding students from ideas they might disagree with or find offensive.

There are fears, however, that the Progressive Conservative government’s new directive could blur the line between free speech and hate speech.

“There’s a limit as to where healthy debate becomes a little bit of an issue. Because as we’ve seen in the past, some of these things have led to students feeling unsafe, students feeling like they were targeted or hated,” said David Oladejo, president of Carleton University Students’ Association.

Oladejo said he welcomes clarification on university free speech policies, as long as they’re not vaguely worded and students don’t feel unsafe on campus.

He said he doesn’t believe there have been any incidents in recent years in which Carleton students have felt threatened by either groups or guest lecturers. (Source: CBC)

Wednesday June 6, 2018

June 5, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 6, 2018

Trump adviser says president wants to make separate trade deals with Canada and Mexico

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to split NAFTA negotiations in two, pursuing separate deals with Canada and Mexico rather than trying to update the three-country North American pact, Trump’s top economic adviser says — but it was unclear on Tuesday whether the president was doing anything to act on that desire.

November 3, 2017

Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said Trump was “not going to withdraw from NAFTA” but wanted to try “a different approach” because the three-country negotiations have stalled. Kudlow said the administration was waiting to hear back from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government about the idea of separate negotiations.

The Trudeau government shrugged off Kudlow’s remarks as insignificant chatter, noting that Trump has long expressed the opinion that two-country deals are better than multi-country deals. A Canadian official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Trump administration had not made any official request about splitting up the talks.

“People have speculated about separate negotiations for about 18 months now. As Canada has maintained right from the beginning, we believe in a trilateral NAFTA,” Andrew Leslie, parliamentary secretary to the foreign affairs minister on Canada-U.S. relations, told reporters in Ottawa.

“There’s all sorts of sounds coming from all sorts of sources. We react to the facts,” Leslie said.

Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders declined to express a firm preference for separate negotiations. Sanders said the president is “open” to separate agreements but that the best deal for American workers might come through NAFTA.

Kudlow said Trump had asked him to express his preference for separate negotiations. (Source: Toronto Star)

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Saturday April 28, 2018

April 27, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 28, 2018

Federal program funds summer job to help ‘stop Kinder Morgan pipeline’

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to vow that the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion “will be built,” his government’s summer jobs program is funding a position with an activist group working to stop the project.

April 19, 2018

A call for applications for an “organizing assistant,” posted online by the non-profit group Dogwood B.C., says the job involves working to help the group’s network “stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline and tanker project.” It notes the position is funded by the federal Canada Summer Jobs Program.

The temporary full-time job is open to students. It pays $15 per hour for 9 to 12 weeks of work and is based in Vancouver.

But according to the organization receiving the funding, this kind of political push-and-pull is nothing new.

Dogwood B.C. said it has received funding for such positions since 2010, under both the Trudeau and Stephen Harper governments. The organization even got the funding when it was fighting the Enbridge Northern Gateway project, which Harper supported.

Kai Nagata, Dogwood’s communications director, said the group isn’t certain yet how many students it will hire with the help of federal funding this year. He said that in past years, students have worked on other projects as well, including one to prevent U.S. thermal coal exports from moving through Vancouver.

“The federal government has never thought to impose its political agenda on kids canvassing in B.C. on environmental issues,” said Nagata, who previously worked as a reporter for both CBC and CTV. (Source: CBC)

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Friday December 8, 2017

December 7, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 8, 2017

Trudeau hails ‘substantial progress’ in China but fails to spark formal trade talks

If little else came of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s trade mission to China this week, you can at least be sure of this: Canada’s cattlemen are excited to sell more cow stomachs.

December 5, 2017

For while Trudeau and his coterie of ministers and officials left the country Thursday without proclaiming the anticipated launch of trade talks, there were a few comparative baby steps towards a deeper economic relationship.

Among them was a deal to export more beef and pork, which got John Masswohl of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association pumped about cashing in on parts of the animal that don’t sell in Canada — including the digestive organs of his bovine commodity.

“We think over the next five years that will be another $125 million in exports for us,” Masswohl said this week, referring not just to the stomachs, but the fresh beef and T-bones he now expects to hit the massive Chinese market.

December 5, 2017

He hastened to add, however, that the government’s broader goal of landing a comprehensive trade deal with the world’s second-largest economy would be even better — for profits, for predictability, for safeguarding against the protectionist impulses of the American president.

Of course, he’s not alone in feeling that way.

Trudeau himself spent much of his time in China extolling the virtues of a trade agreement. In the days before he landed in Beijing, staff from his office framed the trip’s main purpose as a way to ramp up trade and investment with the ever-rising authoritarian powerhouse, and Canada’s industry minister told Global News that the government’s “objective” was to become the first Group of Seven country to launch free trade talks with China. (Continued: Toronto Star)

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Friday September 2, 2016

September 1, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 2, 2016

Trudeau and Chinese premier explore possible free trade deal

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has brought Canada closer to China after agreeing with the Chinese premier to deepen the countries’ relationships — and explore a possible free trade deal.

After meeting with Trudeau, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told reporters through a translator that Canada and China will launch a feasibility study on an eventual free-trade deal.

A senior Canadian official later said the two countries have ongoing technical discussions on free trade, but stressed that there are no negotiations under way at this point.

“This year marks 45 years of diplomatic relations between Canada and China,” Trudeau said as he stood beside Li in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, which overlooks Tiananmen Square.

“My father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, played an important role in establishing a partnership between our two countries when he was prime minister. So, I’m very happy to be extending that effort now.”

The countries also agreed to hold annual meetings between the Chinese premier and the Canadian prime minister on a range of issues, including national security and the rule of law. (Source: Toronto Star)