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Thursday October 21, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 21, 2021

Vaccine mandate coming to House of Commons, MPs rule

Anyone entering the House of Commons precinct — including MPs — will need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Nov. 22, the Board of Internal Economy has ordered.

Thursday August 19, 2021

The new rule starts on the day the 44th Parliament kicks off.

“This requirement will apply to any person who wishes to enter the House of Commons precinct, including members and their staff, political research office employees, administration employees, members of the parliamentary press gallery, parliamentary business visitors, contractors and consultants,” said Speaker Anthony Rota in a statement.

The cross-party committee of MPs that oversees the workings of the House of Commons made this decision following a two-hour closed-door meeting on Tuesday.

August 17, 2021

“Details with respect to the implementation of the Board’s decision are being developed and will be communicated in due course,” reads the Speaker’s statement. “These decisions were made to meet ongoing recommendations from public health authorities to help limit the spread of COVID-19 within the work environment.”

The House is considering people to be fully vaccinated 14 days after they have received the recommended doses of one or a combination of Health Canada-approved vaccines.

September 17, 2021

The decision to include MPs as part of the vaccination mandate comes amid discussions over parliamentary privilege and whether there would be a different set of rules for elected officials than there would be for those around them.

The Liberals, New Democrats, and Bloc Quebecois have said that all their MPs are fully vaccinated, though the Conservatives have continued to refuse to say how many of their MPs are vaccinated. Given the timing of this order coming into effect, it’s possible unvaccinated Conservatives would not be able to enter the House of Commons next month unless they have a medical exemption.

According to the new policy, in cases of individuals who have a “medical contraindication,” they will have to provide proof of a recent negative COVID-19 rapid antigen test to be able to enter the buildings that are part of the House precinct. These requirements to get on the Hill will not apply to anyone under the age of 12.

This news follows the federal government announcing on Oct. 6 that “core” federal public servants will have to attest to being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 29 or face being put on leave without pay by Nov. 15.

While the House of Commons and Senate were not part of that mandate, they were among the federal employers asked to mirror the government’s vaccine policy in developing their own approaches. (CTV) 

 

Saturday April 27, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 27, 2019

Ontario budget cuts could pull millions of dollars out of Hamilton public health, child care programs

Ontario budget cuts will end an addiction counselling program for Hamilton welfare recipients and likely yank millions of provincial dollars from local child care and public health services, city officials say.

April 6, 2019

The Progressive Conservative government is shifting more of shared costs for public health and child care budgets to municipal taxpayers — the kind of move local politicians have long condemned as “downloading.”

The changes will be retroactive to April — meaning city council will likely have to choose between cutting services or forcing local taxpayers to cover extra costs, said Paul Johnson, general manager of healthy and safe communities.

Johnson said Wednesday he does not yet have enough information to predict exact budget shortfalls this year or possible changes to critical services like subsidized child care, for example.

March 19, 2019

“I have a level of frustration because I am unable to tell our councillors, our community, our residents what the next steps are or how their services may be affected,” he said. “We have many questions and we are seeking answers.”

The city will now be on the hook for a portion of $10-million in child care program costs previously fully covered by the province. Hamilton will also pay 30 per cent, rather than 25 per cent of public health program costs.

This year, local taxpayers put up $12.4 million for public health. If that number rises, council could look at program cuts, put off planned hires or dip into reserves to temporarily cover extra costs.

December 18, 2018

But Johnson said it’s too soon to “do the math” on extra costs because the city is not even sure which services will remain in the public health budget — and it is always possible the province will provide transition funding. (Ontario is also working on a plan to review responsibilities and merge municipal boards of health.)

The city is also bracing for news on budgets for Ontario Works, land ambulance and long-term care.

The only specific program casualty of the provincial cuts so far is the Addiction Services Initiative, a long-running pilot program that gives addiction counselling to welfare recipients aiming to rejoin the workforce. The province has confirmed it will no longer fund the program as of July. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Monday November 16, 2015

 

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Monday November 16, 2015 Paris attacks: World must avoid revenge and cosmetic measures While we are in shock and grief about the carnage in Paris, Islamic State terrorists and their sympathisers are celebrating the death of innocent people. It is a terrorist act not only on France but on humanity, and those who are behind it have no right to exist in the civilised world. The horrific attacks on different locations in Paris must have been meticulously planned for some time to cause maximum death and terror among innocent civilians. It was a highly sophisticated operation and needed lots of coordination and intelligence inputs by a strong organisation that could get its sleeper cells active whenever it ordered. It is a condemnable terrorist act carried out by terrorists who have no respect for human life. It came after the US announced the targeting of ÒJihadi JohnÓ in Raqqa, the IS headquarters in Syria. It also comes after suicide bomb attacks in Beirut that left more than 300 people of different faith and nationalities dead and injured. It also brought back memories of the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai when terrorists came to kill and die. It is chillingly similar to the Beslan school siege of 2004 in Russia and the London underground and Madrid train murders to name a few. It is a replica of the attack and counter-attack pattern which leads to more provocative measures while these terrorists and perpetrators get off scot-free. We are aware terrorists know no boundary, religion or nationality. They are merely criminals driven by their own ideology, which was taught to them in the caves of Tora Bora and other terrorist safe havens. The Syrian refugees in Europe draw attention to the magnitude of the humanitarian catastrophe faced by Syrians for the past four-and-a-half years. Homes uprooted, people decapitated, kids taken into training camps, girls enslaved and raped. They did not even spare our heritage. When Europe open

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday November 16, 2015

Paris attacks: World must avoid revenge and cosmetic measures

While we are in shock and grief about the carnage in Paris, Islamic State terrorists and their sympathisers are celebrating the death of innocent people. It is a terrorist act not only on France but on humanity, and those who are behind it have no right to exist in the civilised world.

The horrific attacks on different locations in Paris must have been meticulously planned for some time to cause maximum death and terror among innocent civilians. It was a highly sophisticated operation and needed lots of coordination and intelligence inputs by a strong organisation that could get its sleeper cells active whenever it ordered.

It is a condemnable terrorist act carried out by terrorists who have no respect for human life. It came after the US announced the targeting of “Jihadi John” in Raqqa, the IS headquarters in Syria. It also comes after suicide bomb attacks in Beirut that left more than 300 people of different faith and nationalities dead and injured.
It also brought back memories of the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai when terrorists came to kill and die.

It is chillingly similar to the Beslan school siege of 2004 in Russia and the London underground and Madrid train murders to name a few. It is a replica of the attack and counter-attack pattern which leads to more provocative measures while these terrorists and perpetrators get off scot-free.

We are aware terrorists know no boundary, religion or nationality. They are merely criminals driven by their own ideology, which was taught to them in the caves of Tora Bora and other terrorist safe havens.

The Syrian refugees in Europe draw attention to the magnitude of the humanitarian catastrophe faced by Syrians for the past four-and-a-half years. Homes uprooted, people decapitated, kids taken into training camps, girls enslaved and raped. They did not even spare our heritage.

When Europe opened its doors to other nationalities, the terrorists took advantage and sneaked into Europe along with the refugees to create havoc and terror across national capitals. Many mercenaries from Europe too returned, well trained and ready to kill and act independently in a new trend of mobile terrorism.

IS or Daesh has threatened to attack many Western capitals and it has proved again that it is capable of striking anytime, anywhere.

Mercenaries were allowed to travel freely into Turkey and then into Syria, to join terrorist groups, and they are now using the same route to return home, fleeing the conflict in Syria and Iraq.

According to reports, 500 French terrorists returned from Syria and Iraq. Many other European nationalities also went home. The authorities are trying to rehabilitate some, while others are waiting to act once their “masters” issue orders.

How long will we wait before we address this crisis seriously? How many innocent people must be sacrificed before we jointly act to defeat these evil forces and eliminate the infrastructure of terrorism?

But we must avoid provocation, revenge and cosmetic measures. We need surgical operations.

There is no good and bad terrorism. No country can defeat it alone and hence we need to act together now. (Source: Hindustan Times)