guillotine

Saturday July 28, 2018

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

Doug Ford defends unilateral moves to slash Toronto council, axe regional chair elections

There’s a new sheriff in town.

November 20, 2013

Brandishing his political clout, recently elected Premier Doug Ford is unilaterally slashing the number of councillors at Toronto city hall and cancelling democratic elections for regional chairs in Peel, York, Niagara and Muskoka.

Ford’s disruption of civic elections on Friday triggered an eruption in municipal politics across the GTHA. In one surprise development, Jennifer Keesmaat, Toronto’s outspoken former chief planner, entered the city’s mayoral race and will take on John Tory.

Tory, for his part, is calling for a referendum on the size of Toronto’s city council.

from 47 members to 25 and is dealing a body blow to a political enemy, Patrick Brown, his predecessor as Progressive Conservative leader, who was a front-runner for the Peel post.

Those hopes dashed, Brown immediately registered to run for mayor of Brampton against Linda Jeffrey.

But Ford, who never discussed his plans during the June 7 election campaign, signalled that he is more powerful than any municipal leader and suggested civic governments could effectively be run from Queen’s Park.

June 22, 2018

“We’re going to get things done. We’re going to run city hall a lot more efficiently than before,” the premier told reporters 12 hours after the Star revealed his sweeping changes.

“No one has ever said to me: ‘Doug, we need more politicians,’ ” said Ford.

“In fact, it’s the opposite. People tell me that we have too many politicians making it harder to get things done, making it harder to get things built, making it harder to deal with the real problems we face,” he said.

Ford, a one-term Toronto councillor while his late brother, Rob Ford, was mayor from 2010 to 2014, said he was fed up with the “hours and hours of endless debate . . . all of it taking place on the taxpayer’s dime.”

“It’s clear that the size of government is just too large.”

City wards will mirror provincial and federal riding boundaries if the legislation, which will be tabled Monday, is passed. (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

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Tuesday May 24, 2011

 

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Tuesday May 24, 2011 Clement won't rule out program cuts: reports Treasury Board head Tony Clement said he would consider shutting entire programs and shrinking the public service to help produce a balanced budget by 2014-2015, according to reports. Clement was named Treasury Board president on Wednesday, taking over from Stockwell Day, and is tasked with finding savings in other government departments to reduce the deficit, which is projected this year to be $29.6 billion. On Wednesday, Clement acknowledged that a preferred option for saving money would be through attrition, or cutting public service jobs when people leave or retire. But on Thursday, he elaborated, telling the Globe and Mail and Ottawa Citizen newspapers that cuts could mean entire programs are shuttered. Programs that might have been important 30 years ago may no longer be the best way to spend public money today, he said. Patty Ducharme, the national executive vice-president for the Public Sector Alliance of Canada, the largest public sector union, said she was not surprised by the news. Ever since the government first talked about reducing staff through attrition, public service unions have said such a plan was not possible or practical. "I'm dismayed though, given the fact that what this government has been saying leading up to the election was that there would be job reductions, but those reductions would come through attrition and nothing more than attrition," Ducharme said. "One day into the job and now he's telling the truth. Thanks Tony." Ducharme said she was at a loss as to which government programs might be targeted. (Source: CBC News)Êhttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/clement-won-t-rule-out-program-cuts-reports-1.1036385 Canada, Conservative,Tony Clement, Muskoka, G8, Summit, gazebo, spending, cuts, austerity, executioner, guillotine

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 24, 2011

Clement won’t rule out program cuts: reports

Treasury Board head Tony Clement said he would consider shutting entire programs and shrinking the public service to help produce a balanced budget by 2014-2015, according to reports.

Clement was named Treasury Board president on Wednesday, taking over from Stockwell Day, and is tasked with finding savings in other government departments to reduce the deficit, which is projected this year to be $29.6 billion.

On Wednesday, Clement acknowledged that a preferred option for saving money would be through attrition, or cutting public service jobs when people leave or retire.

But on Thursday, he elaborated, telling the Globe and Mail and Ottawa Citizen newspapers that cuts could mean entire programs are shuttered. Programs that might have been important 30 years ago may no longer be the best way to spend public money today, he said.

Patty Ducharme, the national executive vice-president for the Public Sector Alliance of Canada, the largest public sector union, said she was not surprised by the news. Ever since the government first talked about reducing staff through attrition, public service unions have said such a plan was not possible or practical.

“I’m dismayed though, given the fact that what this government has been saying leading up to the election was that there would be job reductions, but those reductions would come through attrition and nothing more than attrition,” Ducharme said.

“One day into the job and now he’s telling the truth. Thanks Tony.”

Ducharme said she was at a loss as to which government programs might be targeted. (Source: CBC News)

 

Friday February 6, 2004

February 6, 2004

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 6, 2004

Will French schtick choke Cherry?

Don Cherry’s voice is as loud as the garish suits he wears. No surprise there. He’s an outspoken fixture on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

He’s spent years perfecting the persona he puts out for public consumption. Sure, hockey’s the topic, but when it comes right down to it, Cherry is an entertainer. He’s a personality. He’s loud, he’s brash, he’s opinionated. He’s also a snappy dresser. That’s Cherry’s schtick.

So should he be assessed a penalty — maybe even a game misconduct — for his latest high-schticking incident?

He’s under investigation by the federal official languages commissioner, who’s looking into alleged anti-French remarks Cherry made on air.

Cherry’s choice of words is often inappropriate, sometimes offensive. He plays the buffoon and occasionally goes too far. Even so, we wouldn’t want to see him benched. But we’d have no problem with a firm warning. (CP)