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Wednesday February 23, 2022

February 24, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 23, 2022

Was funding for Canada’s vaccine protests linked to Putin’s plans for Ukraine?

Joe Biden’s administration had two different and seemingly disparate international crises on its hands Friday when Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, strode to the podium in the White House briefing room.

January 22, 2022

Sullivan’s message was chilling: If Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to invade Ukraine, he said, it could happen before the end of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, which are scheduled to wrap up this coming Sunday.

At the same time, the White House had grown worried enough about the COVID-19 protests blocking vital commercial trade corridors at the Canada-U.S. border that it urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take a harder line.

Experts in both countries are wondering if the two situations have more in common than an initial glance might suggest.

Bessma Momani, a political-science professor at the University of Waterloo and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said she sees earmarks of Russia’s foreign interference techniques in the social-media maelstrom surrounding the protests in Canada.

“The Russian strategy has always been about divide, right? Sow dissent from within,” Momani said in an interview Monday.

February 11, 2022

The goal, she said, is to feed and foster the narrative — already well on its way in the U.S., but less so in Canada — that western-style democracies are prone to instability, insecurity and social upheaval.

“They picked up on this idea of culture wars and identity politics being yet another demonstration that democracy doesn’t work. And so it really is part of their strategy.”

Online news startup Grid reported last week that a single, stolen account was responsible for administering four of the most prominent Facebook groups at the centre of organizing and promoting the protests, which have entered their third week.

And NBC News has reported that the protests, originally branded as a “trucker convoy” comprising drivers angry at being forced to get vaccinated against COVID-19, were being promoted by fake accounts connected to so-called “content mills” in Bangladesh, Romania, Vietnam and elsewhere.

July 23, 2020

Momani said she suspects Canada’s global reputation as a stable liberal democracy in proximity to the U.S. has made it a tempting target for Russian hackers. She added the ensuing pandemonium has also provided Putin with a welcome distraction as he continues to amass troops, equipment and weapons near the Ukrainian border.

“If they were not patient zero behind this, they certainly helped add oxygen because the timing was appropriate for them,” she said.

“It’s going to be hard to pinpoint it, to completely say it’s all Russian intervention, but I have absolutely no doubt that they have their hand in this in some way.”

January 30, 2020

John Weaver, a professor of intelligence analysis at the York College of Pennsylvania, said it’s difficult to determine with any precision if Russia has been involved in sparking the social unrest on display in Canada.

But the fact that Canada is a prominent U.S. ally and trading partner, a G7 nation, a NATO member and part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network would make it a perfectly viable target, Weaver said.

“I believe it’s highly probable that they have some skin in this fight, but the degree to which that they do, I just don’t know,” he said. (National Observer) 

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to enter the Russian-controlled areas of southeast Ukraine following a decision to recognize the territories as independent states.

The decision to dispatch his troops to perform “peacekeeping duties” will be viewed in Ukraine and by other western allies as an occupation of the region and likely trigger tough sanctions and a Ukrainian military response. (The Guardian) 

 

Posted in: Canada, International Tagged: 2022-07, Canada, convoy, freedom, invasion, occupation, peace, protest, Russia, tank, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin

Saturday February 19, 2022

February 19, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 19, 2022

Majority have lost faith in Canada’s ability to keep peace and order in wake of trucker protests: poll

February 10, 2022

After weeks of protests snarling downtown Ottawa and blockading border crossings, nearly two-thirds of Canadians have lost faith in the ability of the country to maintain peace, order and good government and 53 per cent have lost faith in the enforcement of the law, according to a new poll.

The Maru Public Opinion poll, done from Feb. 15 to Feb. 16, found that 71 per cent of Canadians would vote for a “strong-willed person” who will enforce law and order, regardless of what political party they’re from.

This view is strongest in Quebec (86 per cent) and in British Columbia (74 per cent). In Ontario and Alberta — both provinces with conservative premiers — this number drops to 66 per cent, followed by 63 per cent in Atlantic Canada and 62 per cent in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

“Whether people know it or not, our daily politics and our ability to do things in this country is founded on the principle of peace, order and good government,” said John Wright, executive vice president of Maru Public Opinion. “That speaks to the door that opens to some form of populism that exists in other countries.”

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2022-07, Canada, convoy, federalism, freedom, Good Government, motto, occupation, order, peace, protest

Tuesday February 15, 2022

February 15, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 15, 2022

Invoking Emergencies Act is a last resort but this situation is a failure by police

Many will cheer the Trudeau government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with border blockades and the occupation of Ottawa. They’re fed up with the protests and that’s entirely understandable.

But we will not join the cheering. Federal emergency powers may now be necessary as a last resort, but going that route is a shocking admission of failure by governments at all levels.

This was and remains a policing issue. Right from the start, even before the truckers’ convoy rolled into Ottawa, there were laws on the books adequate to deal with this.

The situation could and should already have been resolved by good intelligence, smart planning and effective co-ordination among police forces.

But in Ottawa, in particular, we’ve seen none of that over the past two and a half weeks. Instead, we’ve seen dithering and buck-passing all round. Indeed, until a couple of days ago, the federal government’s position was that local authorities had “all the tools and resources they need” to deal with the occupation.

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2022-06, Canada, convoy, Doug Ford, emergency, father, freedom, Justin Trudeau, pandemic, Pierre Trudeau, protest, War measures

Saturday February 12, 2022

February 12, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 12, 2022

Flying the Maple Leaf

After the first full week of Winter Olympic competition in Beijing, Team Canada has won a total of 12 medals: one gold, four silver and seven bronze. (The Globe & Mail) 

July 22, 2021

Meanwhile, an expected protest at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie, Ont., has police, border services, public health and politicians watching closely, fearing it could endanger people or further business woes.

Social media posts show people opposed to continued pandemic mandates have plans to bring transport trucks and crowds of people to the border crossing that connects southern Ontario to Buffalo.

Currently, protests are ongoing in border cities like Coutts, Alta., Emerson, Man., and Windsor, Ont., as rallies that started in Ottawa two weeks ago continue. (CBC) 

Nobody is threatening gridlock or shutting down the U.S.-Canada border as groups are in Ottawa and at northern crossings over the past few days.

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2022-06, Border, bridge, Canada, commerce, convoy, flag, freedom, Maple Leaf, olympics, pandemic, patriotism, protest, trucker

Thursday February 10, 2022

February 10, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 10, 2022

A better response to illegal protest

May 8, 2021

Leave aside, for now, the ethical and moral questions around anti-vaccine mandate demonstrations and occupations taking place right now in places across the country.

That debate is far from over, but today we want to focus on the law and preparations for future occupations and demonstrations.

Whether you support or abhor the occupations and protests, you cannot logically deny that the organizers behind them have latched on to a winner. They figured out how to shut down the nation’s capital, to block at least two major border crossings and they’re not done yet. They are violating the rights, human, economic and social, of millions of Canadians, and they’re getting away with it.

A perfect example is that Wednesday afternoon several Ontario auto plants announced they were reducing production and sending workers home because the Ambassador Bridge blockade in Windsor is causing a parts shortage.

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2022-06, blockade, Canada, city, convoy, Doug Ford, federalism, freedom, jurisdiction, Justin Trudeau, local, Ontario, protest, truce
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This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

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