hidden agenda – mackaycartoons

Tuesday September 22, 2015

September 21, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday September 22, 2015

Stephen Harper ‘playing a very divisive game’ with niqabs, Tom Mulcair says

Stephen Harper is “playing a very divisive game” with his government’s effort to impose a ban on niqabs during the citizenship oath, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said Monday, just days before a French-language debate in Quebec — a province in which identity politics continues to drive a wedge between voters.

“I’m not about the politics of fear and division. Mr. Harper is going to always go after that. If he senses that there’s something there that can divide Canadians one against the other, he’ll do it,” said Mulcair during a morning campaign stop in Nova Scotia.

The Bloc Québécois has also taken up the issue, saying it would go even further than the Tories and impose a ban on face coverings during citizenship ceremonies and in the voting booth.

For his part, Mulcair has had to negotiate a tricky path on the issue. His party needs to retain the hard-won votes it secured in Quebec in 2011, but cannot risk losing support in the diverse suburbs of Toronto and Vancouver, where voters appear to be opposed to the government’s effort to impose a ban.

Part of his approach has been to accuse Harper of dog-whistle politics.

“He talks about ‘old stock Canadians,'” Mulcair said this morning, alluding to a comment Harper made during last week’s leaders’ debate in Calgary.

“That’s a code word. He knows what he’s doing when he does that.”

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said earlier this week that the Grits have “always been crystal clear” about their opposition to a ban on niqabs and other veils. (Source: CBC News)

Saskatoo Star Phoenix, September 23, 2015

October 23, 2009

October 23, 2009 by Graeme MacKay

The story of Stephen Harper stating that he chooses to watch news from the United States as opposed to Canada has caught my eye not for how it read but how its been twisted way out of proportion. There seems to be a trend, and it isn’t much different to other recent stories designed to gaffe trap Harper and the Conservative all for the benefit of opposition parties. A previous example was wafergate, a story which went on in the news for way too long in the summer doldrums. There was also the earth shattering revelation in September that Stephen Harper actually wants a majority (here’s a link to the explosive video) designed, I suppose, to whip up old fears that the PM has a devious hidden agenda, in this case to push through evil legislation like some dictator, or in the Canadian sense, rule like majority tyrants Chretien, or Mulroney, or Trudeau, etc.

Here’s a case of a simple story blown way out of proportion. I’ve definitely had some fun at Harper’s expense suggesting he’s a lover of the low grade journalism dished out on American cable, but now the piling on Harper is in full force after having him admit to only watching it.

The reality is, according to Allan Gregg, an “At Issue” panelist on the CBC, the PM made the spur of the moment comment in jest at Gregg’s expense. It was a wise crack, in other words. So what follows is a slew of interpretations not just from people blowing it out of proportion, ie: Bob Rae, but goofballs like Jason Kenny who defend Harper by saying he’s too busy to be so “vainglorious” watching himself on tv. This in essence is what we get on every story churned of Ottawa. Reality obscured by conjecture, and it gives lots of fodder to editorial cartoonists.