Grim reaper

Wednesday July 12, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 12, 2017

Bank of Canada may hike interest rate for 1st time in 7 years

After almost a decade of warnings that never came to pass, it appears as though the Bank of Canada is ramping up to hike its benchmark interest rate — possibly as soon as next week.

July 16, 2015

On July 12, Canada’s central bank will announce its latest decision on where to place its trend-setting interest rate, which has an impact on the rates that Canadian borrowers and savers get for their bank accounts, mortgages and other products.

Eight times a year, the bank’s board of governors meets to assess the latest economic indicators and decide whether Canada’s economy needs a shot in the arm from a rate cut, or a pump of the brakes by way of a hike.

And for the first time in 54 such meetings, it’s looking like the latter is in order.

It’s not like there haven’t been warning signs. By the time Stephen Poloz was named to replace Mark Carney atop the bank in 2013, the central bank had already been on the sidelines for more than two years, its benchmark interest rate set at one per cent.

May 13, 2010

But even as the bank kept loans cheap coming out of the financial crisis, the messaging from the top came early and often that Canadians should be forewarned — rates have to go up eventually.

As far back as 2014 Poloz warned Canadians that rates would rise “soon” — before oil’s plunge in 2015 caused the bank to lose its nerve. Instead, the central bank moved in the opposite direction, cutting rates twice that year to bring its rate to 0.5 per cent, where it currently sits.

At the time, those hikes were described as a temporary measure to help a Canadian economy that had been waylaid by an oil price that lost more than 70 per cent of its value in a matter of months. But in recent weeks the bank has started leaving clear signals that despite oil still being in the $40-per-barrel range, those temporary conditions are over and it’s time for a return to normalcy. (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Friday April 28, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 28, 2017

LRT to Eastgate Square reborn after council nod

Hamilton’s contentious $1-billion LRT project has survived a high-stakes council vote to push ahead after last-minute provincial agreement to extend the light rail line to Eastgate Square.

April 19, 2017

Wednesday night’s 10-5 vote means provincial transit agency Metrolinx should be able to seek private sector bids to design, build and operate the project — now a 14-kilometre LRT line — as early as this summer.

It also appeared to convince at least some council opponents to pledge reluctant support to the project going forward, despite one last voting opportunity next year to derail LRT when council is asked to sign a final operating agreement.

“I hope that after today we come together as a council and say, we’re moving forward,” said Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who acknowledged “frustration” among LRT supporters at apparent efforts to kill the project. “This has not been a short journey.”

January 14, 2017

Ward 5 Coun. Chad Collins, a vehement LRT critic, shocked observers by voting to submit the project study for provincial approval.

He made clear his preference would be to hold a referendum on LRT, but added by next year Metrolinx would have spent $80 million-plus on planning and property purchases. “There’s no turning back at that point,” he said.

Collins said he would continue to criticize the project as required, but also urged councillors to “make the best of a bad situation” and work together to ease challenges for affected residents. He warned the project will be a “gong show” if council and the community remain bitterly divided over LRT.

Ward 9 Coun. Doug Conley voted against submitting the study, but also served notice he would support council’s majority decision thereafter. “I really, really hope that it works out great … I have my doubts,” he said.

December 6, 2016

A late letter from Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca promising a three-kilometre line extension — but no new money — appeared to tip the scales for councillors like vocal LRT critic Terry Whitehead.

Whitehead was criticized by project fans for urging a vote delay earlier this month to investigate the feasibility of an Eastgate extension. He called inclusion of the commercial and transit “destination location” a critical way to strengthen the project for the whole city.

Del Duca said the province will “work with the city to explore ways to reduce costs to accommodate the extension” to Eastgate Square — the city’s original requested eastern end point — rather than stopping at the Queenston traffic circle.

He said project planners expect to reallocate savings from a recent decision to axe a spur line to the James Street North GO station, estimated at between $100 million and $125 million.

But Metrolinx has warned an Eastgate extension could cost anywhere from $150 million to $225 million. Del Duca’s letter doesn’t clearly spell out what would happen if the extension put the project over its $1-billion budget, but notes the change is contingent on “consideration of available funding to address any additional cost requirements, if necessary.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Tuesday February 25, 2015

Tuesday February 25, 2015Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 25, 2015

Liberals push for draft doctor-assisted death law

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals want the outlines of a new law governing doctor-assisted dying to be clear by mid-summer — before Canadians head to the polls in October.

They’ll try to get the ball rolling Tuesday, introducing a motion that calls for creation of a special parliamentary committee to consult experts and Canadians on the potentially explosive issue.

They want the committee up and running by March 11 and they want it to report back to the House of Commons by July 31 with a proposed legislative framework.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014The Liberal motion, to be put to a vote Tuesday or Wednesday, follows a landmark ruling earlier this month by the Supreme Court of Canada, which struck down the ban on physician-assisted suicide.

The top court gave Parliament 12 months to draft new legislation that recognizes the right of clearly consenting adults who are enduring intolerable physical or mental suffering to seek medical help to end their lives.

The Harper government appears to be in no rush; Justice Minister Peter MacKay has said the government will take its time to thoroughly study the details of the court ruling and look at how other jurisdictions, including Quebec, have dealt with the issue.

The government’s response has sparked speculation that the ruling Conservatives would rather not open debate on the issue, which could expose divisions among their ranks, before the election.

However, the Liberal motion notes there’s not actually much time left to deal with the matter before the court-imposed deadline, pointing to the summer parliamentary break and the fall election.

Parliament is scheduled to sit for just 12 more weeks before taking a 13-week break starting June 24. The campaign for the federal election, slated for Oct. 19, will start in mid-September, before the planned resumption of Parliament. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Posted to Yahoo News Canada.

 

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Tuesday, February 25, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Trudeau skips out as Liberal conventioneers vote to legalize assisted suicide

Federal Liberals have voted in favour of legalizing assisted suicide but whether Leader Justin Trudeau will run with the idea is a mystery.

Trudeau was not in the room Sunday when delegates to the party’s national convention passed a resolution urging that voluntary, medically assisted death be decriminalized — although moments earlier he had been just outside the convention hall, cheering as the Canadian men’s hockey team won Olympic gold.

He was in the room later when delegates gave him an overwhelming, after-the-fact endorsement of his decision to kick senators out of the Liberal caucus.

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Delegates also passed a raft of potentially costly resolutions that included supporting many big-ticket items:

— An $18-billion-a-year investment in infrastructure.
— Creation of a basic annual income.
— A national transportation strategy.
— Funding for aboriginal education on reserves equal to that spent on provincially operated schools.
— Increased funding for mental health services.
— Expansion and enhancement of the Canada Pension Plan.

[caption id=”” align=”alignleft” width=”298″] Layoffs hit everyone[/caption]

None of the resolutions are binding on the leader and, since he gave no closing remarks and did not hold the traditional wrap-up news conference at the convention’s end, it was unclear which resolutions Trudeau believes should make their way into a 2015 election platform or how a Liberal government would pay for them.

He did give a number of one-on-one television interviews — which were taped before the resolutions were voted upon.

In an interview with Global’s Tom Clark, Trudeau, who has promised not to hike corporate or income taxes or the GST, said the debate to come will be over where to spend the surplus the Harper government has forecast for next year. (Source: Yahoo News Canada)