Hercules

Thursday November 12, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Thursday November 12, 2015 Refugees as a long-term investment in the country Immigration Minister John McCallum and the new Liberal government have drawn global attention and praise with a frantic Beat the Clock pledge to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of the year. The deadline is probably unnecessarily tight and, to do it right, Canadians would probably give the new Trudeau government the breathing room needed to push the Jan. 1 deadline. But the government has the support of the UN Refugee Agency, provinces, cities, the military, airlines, labour organizations, churches and Canadians. It evokes memories of the last time this country opened its arms in such a compassionate embrace and one Toronto man knows better than any the work involved in pulling off such a herculean task. Scott Mullin was 22 and barely out of Carleton University when the Star headlined a March 5, 1979, piece about him Ñ ÒViet refugees view Canadian as a god.ÕÕ A few months later, the CBC called him ÒThe One-Man Board of Immigration,ÕÕ in a July 1979 piece from reporter Peter Mansbridge. Mullin, now the vice-president of community relations for the TD Bank, determined which of the so-called Vietnamese Òboat peopleÓ came to Canada and which were denied passage, relying largely on gut impressions which resulted in far more ÒyaysÓ than Ònays.Ó ÒWe have to look upon this for ourselves as an investment in the future,ÕÕ the young Mullin told Mansbridge 36 years ago. ÒThe first six months we might have a lot of problems, but whatÕs this guyÕs son going to be like and howÕs he going to do? I think thatÕs the important thing you have to look at.ÕÕ (Source: Toronto Star) http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/11/11/refugees-as-a-long-term-investment-in-the-country-tim-harper.html Canada, Syria, Syrian, migrants, Hercules, emperor, Justin Trudeau, John McCallum, immigration, refugees, war

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 12, 2015

Refugees as a long-term investment in the country

Immigration Minister John McCallum and the new Liberal government have drawn global attention and praise with a frantic Beat the Clock pledge to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of the year.

The deadline is probably unnecessarily tight and, to do it right, Canadians would probably give the new Trudeau government the breathing room needed to push the Jan. 1 deadline. But the government has the support of the UN Refugee Agency, provinces, cities, the military, airlines, labour organizations, churches and Canadians.

It evokes memories of the last time this country opened its arms in such a compassionate embrace and one Toronto man knows better than any the work involved in pulling off such a herculean task.

Scott Mullin was 22 and barely out of Carleton University when the Star headlined a March 5, 1979, piece about him — “Viet refugees view Canadian as a god.’’

A few months later, the CBC called him “The One-Man Board of Immigration,’’ in a July 1979 piece from reporter Peter Mansbridge.

Mullin, now the vice-president of community relations for the TD Bank, determined which of the so-called Vietnamese “boat people” came to Canada and which were denied passage, relying largely on gut impressions which resulted in far more “yays” than “nays.”

“We have to look upon this for ourselves as an investment in the future,’’ the young Mullin told Mansbridge 36 years ago. “The first six months we might have a lot of problems, but what’s this guy’s son going to be like and how’s he going to do? I think that’s the important thing you have to look at.’’ (Source: Toronto Star)

 

Friday November 4, 2011

Friday November 4, 2011By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 4, 2011

Greek Debt Crisis at a Critical Point

In the European currency war, Germany has the biggest arsenal and the strongest interest in forestalling the collapse of the euro. So why is it playing Hamlet: “To lead or not to lead?”

September 2011

To ponder and waver is not the old German way. Today, Germany is about as aggressive as a pussy cat, but pundits and politicos from the U.S. to Greece have blamed its dithering for rising market volatility and the mounting costs of the debt crisis. The 50% haircut on Greek bonds decreed at last week’s EU summit should have been imposed a year ago. Athens was insolvent even then. So it is always too little, too late. Whenever the Berlin-backed European Union rescue brigades and the European Central Bank close one breach, the markets attack on another flank. They will do so again, and the euro will remain in peril. Greece simply cannot grow enough to service its debt.

As the euro burns, Mrs. Merkel fiddles mixed messages. In Berlin the chancellor preaches generosity, dispatching German taxpayers’ funds to Athens. But in Brussels she stalls, demanding ever-more austerity and market reforms before relenting at the last minute. The euro rises, then drops again.

Mrs. Merkel’s latest volley—that any Greek referendum on the terms of a rescue package by the EU and the International Monetary Fund would decide whether Greece keeps the euro at all—sent markets roiling this week.

Ontario’s Greek Crisis

Yet the unraveling of Euroland would hit Germany the hardest. The neue deutschemark would shoot up, while the nouveau franc and the nuova lira would nosedive. And so would Germany’s exports, now an astounding 47% of its gross domestic product, two-thirds of which stay within the EU.

So why isn’t Mrs. Merkel rushing forward to grab Europe’s crown? The answer, of course, is history. (Source: Wall Street Journal)