Gilles Duceppe – mackaycartoons

Saturday August 8, 2015

August 7, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 8, 2015

Thomas Mulcair’s Clarity problem

At about the midpoint of last night’s debate, during an otherwise necessary chat about the state of democratic institutions, things veered into a constitutional abstraction of the sort that has obsessed this country’s political class for a half century. It lasted about five minutes and was prompted by Justin Trudeau, who looks younger than his 43 years but, at that moment at least, could have passed for pater Pierre Elliott circa 1968, shaking his fists at the evil Quebec separatists in our midst.

“One of the things that really frustrates a lot of people is when they see politicians pander, when they say one thing in one part of the country and a different thing in another part of the country. One of the things that unfortunately Mr. Mulcair has been doing quite regularly is talking in French about his desire to repeal the Clarity Act, to make it easier for those who want to break up this country to actually do so. And in doing so, he is actually disagreeing with the Supreme Court judgment that said one vote is not enough to break up the country.”

The Clarity Act was wrought by Jean Chrétien’s government in 2000 to try and address the question born in 1995’s Quebec referendum, which the No side won by all of 54,288 votes: would it have been enough to separate the country had the Yes side won by as many (or fewer) votes? The Supreme Court’s answer was no: a province would need a “clear majority.” Except no one defined what, exactly, constituted this clear majority. The resulting lack of clarity has obsessed Canada’s political class and legions of its journalists ever since.

Three things usually happen whenever this issue is brought up in a federal campaign. First, chest puffed, each leader will say what good Canadians they are. Then the others will say how irrelevant it is to talk about separatism, because Quebec’s sovereignty movement is stuck somewhere between cryogenic sleep and outright death. Finally, they do exactly that—talk about an apparently irrelevant issue. For over 50 years, it’s been our political quicksand: impossible to avoid, and even harder to escape. (Continued: MacLean’s)

Friday July 31, 2015

July 30, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 31, 2015

Stephen Harper to launch campaign as early as Sunday

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will call an election as early as this Sunday, kicking off what would be the longest federal election campaign in modern history, CBC News has confirmed.

The election is generally considered to be set for Oct. 19, 2015, under the Conservatives’ fixed election law, although there is wiggle room. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Bloomberg News Wednesday that he considers that date to be set in stone.

Harper is expected to go to Rideau Hall Sunday or Monday to ask Gov. Gen. David Johnston to dissolve Parliament.

The Conservatives have sent out invitations to supporters for a rally in Montreal Sunday night. Harper is likely to head to Toronto after that.

Rumours about possible dates have swirled around Ottawa in recent weeks, partly because of a change in electoral law thought to benefit the Conservative Party.

Until last year, the spending limits were set no matter the length of a campaign, the minimum amount of time for which is 37 days (with voting day falling on the 37th day). But the Conservatives’ Fair Elections Act provided for the parties’ $25-million limits to be increased if the campaign is longer than 37 days: for each additional day the limit is increased by 1/37th, or an extra $675,000.

Candidates get an additional $2,700 a day to add to their usual limit of approximately $100,000. (Source: CBC News)

Saturday June 20, 2015

June 19, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 20, 2015

England celebrates 800th anniversary of Magna Carta

This year marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta and England has invited the world to take part in a series of birthday celebrations.

You can see history come to life and immerse yourself in medieval times by walking one of six self-guided Magna Carta trails, where various revisions and original copies are housed.

By James William Edmund Doyle (1822-1892)

The fabled document — first sealed by King John on June 15, 1215 — laid down the foundations of justice and guaranteed liberty for all, becoming the basis for the British Constitution, influential to this day.

Considered the foundation of democracy, the Magna Carta may be England’s best known export. It is also a curious thing to behold: 4,000 words of medieval Latin written on a single sheet of parchment paper with an ink made of dust, water and powdered oak-apple.

The Magna Carta was revolutionary for its times as it made everyone, including royalty, subject to the law.

The bulk of the 63 clauses dealt with the series of grievances about ownership of land and taxation raised by irate barons and the English church against King John.

The 39th clause guaranteed all “free men” the right to fair treatment and justice (at the time only about one tenth of England’s population was considered free under the feudal system).

The famous decree didn’t last long at first because King John persuaded Pope Innocent II to declare it null and void. However, the King’s son and successor, Henry III, approved a series of revisions over the next decade until the Charter was accepted onto parliament’s roll of statues in 1297. Clauses relating to the forest law were removed to create a separate Forest Charter. This gave rights to the common man and the forests were a key source of firewood and food for commoners. (Source: Toronto Star)

More on the illustrator, James William Edmund Doyle, who inspired the creation of this cartoon.

Published in The Nanaimo Daily News, Gull Lake Advance, and the Woodstock Sentinel Review

May 4, 2011

May 4, 2011 by Graeme MacKay

Your vile editorial cartoon, characterizing Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe as a rat and as vermin, serves to illustrate exactly why there is a thriving separatist movement in Quebec.

Who can blame them?

P. Spoelstra, Ancaster

* * * * *

Your editorial cartoon, showing Jack Layton strangling and caging Gilles Duceppe, was distasteful and irresponsible.

I am an Anglo-Ontarian and do not support the Bloc. But it is a Canadian value to respect a leader who served his people and his cause with integrity. We should also not forget that the Bloc in the last governments supported the interests of all Canadians to protect social programs, civil rights, and peace.

Editorial cartoons are a place for clever mocking of the powerful. This cartoon, and a string of others during the campaign, celebrated power at the expense of the weak or the vanquished. Editorial cartooning is about more than mean-spirited pictures and piling on.

G. Van Harten, Burlington

* * * * *

I am a young, educated, voting adult who is rather insulted by the claims these cartoons make that the new MPs are somehow worse for our government because they are younger.

I am also surprised The Spectator would attempt to make light of the situation by trying to stereotype these accomplished, newly elected MPs as uneducated unprofessional idiots, with no broad interests (in either food or sports), who are incapable of communicating in a formal and professional manner. The young adults of Canada are perfectly able to communicate properly, have much broader food tastes than “chicken strips and chocolate milk” and have no need for a “joint committee on half-pipe.” Obviously all voters (not just young Canadians) elected these new MPs because they felt the older, more experienced MPs were not doing the job right. The Spectator should have more respect for this new generation, or at least wait until several of them have done something worth mocking.

J. Harrison, Hamilton

May 4, 2011

May 4, 2011 by Graeme MacKay

Your vile editorial cartoon, characterizing Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe as a rat and as vermin, serves to illustrate exactly why there is a thriving separatist movement in Quebec.

Who can blame them?

P. Spoelstra, Ancaster

* * * * *Your editorial cartoon, showing Jack Layton strangling and caging Gilles Duceppe, was distasteful and irresponsible.

I am an Anglo-Ontarian and do not support the Bloc. But it is a Canadian value to respect a leader who served his people and his cause with integrity. We should also not forget that the Bloc in the last governments supported the interests of all Canadians to protect social programs, civil rights, and peace.

Editorial cartoons are a place for clever mocking of the powerful. This cartoon, and a string of others during the campaign, celebrated power at the expense of the weak or the vanquished. Editorial cartooning is about more than mean-spirited pictures and piling on.

G. Van Harten, Burlington

* * * * *

I am a young, educated, voting adult who is rather insulted by the claims these cartoons make that the new MPs are somehow worse for our government because they are younger.

I am also surprised The Spectator would attempt to make light of the situation by trying to stereotype these accomplished, newly elected MPs as uneducated unprofessional idiots, with no broad interests (in either food or sports), who are incapable of communicating in a formal and professional manner. The young adults of Canada are perfectly able to communicate properly, have much broader food tastes than “chicken strips and chocolate milk” and have no need for a “joint committee on half-pipe.” Obviously all voters (not just young Canadians) elected these new MPs because they felt the older, more experienced MPs were not doing the job right. The Spectator should have more respect for this new generation, or at least wait until several of them have done something worth mocking.

J. Harrison, Hamilton