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Tuesday June 27, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 27, 2017

Canada’s Self-Loathing150

Partypooper150

July 1 is Canada’s 150th anniversary, but nobody seems particularly eager to join the party. The muted attempts at celebration have so far produced either awkwardness or embarrassment. A giant rubber duck, six stories tall, is supposed to arrive in Toronto Harbor on Canada Day, but its imminent appearance has been greeted by outrage over costs and suspicions of plagiarism. In March, the CBC, Canada’s national broadcaster, began televising a documentary series called “The Story of Us” to the almost instantaneous howling of Quebec and Nova Scotia politicians at what they regarded as significant omissions in our supposedly collective narrative. Resistance 150, an indigenous political movement, is planning to disrupt the anniversary itself.

June 22, 2017

The principal excitement of our sesquicentennial so far has been the fury of national self-critique it has inspired.

The irony is that Canada, at the moment, has a lot to celebrate. Our prime minister is glamorous and internationally recognized as a celebrity of progressive politics. We are among the last societies in the West not totally consumed by loathing of others. Canada leads the Group of 7 countries in economic growth. Our cultural power is real: Drake recently had 24 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time — for one shining moment he was nearly a quarter of popular music. Frankly, it’s not going to get much better than this for little old Canada.

So why is Canada so bad at celebrating itself? The nationalism that defined the country during the last major anniversary, the centenary in 1967, has evaporated. The election of Justin Trudeau has brought a new generation to power, a generation raised on a vision of history more critical than laudatory. We dream of reconciliation with the victims of our ancestors’ crimes rather than memorialization of their triumphs. (Continued: New York Times) 

Letter to the Editor, Hamilton Spectator, July 3, 2017
 
Cartoon didn’t do justice to Canada 150

RE: Celebrating Canada then and now, (editorial cartoon June 27)

During this year of celebrating Canada, it was very disappointing to see such a negative and incorrect editorial cartoon about how Canadians feel during this, our 150th birthday celebratory year.

I am not saying that there are some Canadians who have negative or frustrated feelings with various situations in our country, but those feeling were also present in 1967.

But if you are supposed to represent the majority of Canadians, then you are so far off the mark. Canadians are thrilled to be celebrating our country from sea to sea whether on the Via Rail 150 pass or the Parks Canada 150 pass.

Small communities are having street parties and large communities are having festivals. Big or small, loud or quiet, we are all proud to be Canadian. So fly that flag right side up and with dignity. True North Strong and Free!

Sheila Drury, Mount Hope

 

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Thursday June 22, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 22, 2017

LCBO extends hours in lead up to Canada Day as possible strike looms

The LCBO is extending hours amid fears of a last call due to a possible work stoppage next week.

March 4, 2015

With 8,000 unionized workers set to hit the bricks on Monday, the provincial alcohol monopoly some Liquor Control Board of Ontario stores will be open from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m. starting Thursday.

“Extended store hours across Ontario will help accommodate customer shopping leading up to Canada Day and possible labour disruption,” the LCBO said in a statement Wednesday.

“We continue to bargain with the union’s bargaining committee, with the union in a legal strike position as of 12:01 a.m. Monday,” the Crown agency continued.

“To ensure access to the best product selection and to avoid disappointment, customers should shop in advance of Sunday . . . if possible,” it said.

June 23, 2009

“We remain focused on reaching a fair, sustainable and responsible collective agreement. However, in the event of a labour disruption, we have plans to provide some level of service.”

Details on those strike provisions are not yet known.

In the event that workers are not on strike over the Canada Day long weekend July 1, the LCBO is hoping to keep as many as 450 of its 650 stores open with the longer hours that Sunday.

June 26, 2009

However, all outlets will be closed on the Saturday. They will be open Monday even though that is a statutory holiday.

Employees, 84 per cent of whom are part-time, are seeking greater certainty from the LCBO over scheduling and guarantees about eventually gaining full-time jobs.

Premier Kathleen Wynne, who is reforming labour laws this fall to protect workers in precarious employment circumstances better, has warned that “it’s a good idea for government to set an example in terms of good labour practice.” (Toronto Star) 

 

Wednesday April 5, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 5, 2017

Don’t Let Politicians Rewrite National Anthems

Some members of the Senate are determined to stop Parliament from changing the words of the national anthem, with one senator deriding the late Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger’s proposed amendments to O Canada as “clunky, leaden and pedestrian.”

May 10, 2013

Bélanger, who passed away last summer after a battle with ALS, sought to make the anthem gender-neutral by removing the phrase “all thy sons command” and replacing it with “all of us command.”

The bill passed in the House of Commons largely along party lines, with all Liberal and NDP MPs voting in favour of the changes, while most Conservatives opposed. Some notable female Tory MPs, including Michelle Rempel and Lisa Raitt, backed Bélanger’s bill.

Nearly a year later, the bill is now in its last legislative phase — third reading in the Senate — awaiting a final vote.  As per the Senate’s procedural policy, debate on the bill can be continually adjourned by critics, punting a vote on the matter to a later date. (Source: CBC News) 

Meanwhile, after nearly three years of talks, the NHL announced Monday it will not participate in the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, a decision that is turning out to be incredibly unpopular with many players.

June 7, 2008

“It’s crap. I don’t understand the decision,” said a clearly disgruntled Erik Karlsson to CBC Windsor.

The Swedish player and captain of the Ottawa Senators is among many high-profile players voicing discontent in the wake of the announcement. 

One of the most outspoken against the decision has been another Swede — Henrik Lundqvist. The New York Rangers goaltender tweeted that “a huge opportunity to market the game at the biggest stage is wasted.”

Carey Price, who helped lead Team Canada to a gold medal at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, said it’s a particularly tough blow to the younger players.

“I feel like we’re short-changing some of the younger players that haven’t had that opportunity,” he said. “It’s tough to swallow for some of those kids, I’m sure. At a human level, this is a big worldwide event that the world takes part in and you know, we want to shine our light too.”

Marc Savard, a Canadian who is under contract with the New Jersey Devils, joked that tryouts for the team will be posted at local rinks.

Canada has long dominated the game, winning nine gold medals for men’s hockey since 1920 — including consecutive wins in 2010 and 2014.

This will mark the first time NHLers won’t participate in nearly 20 years. (Source: CBC) 

 

Friday April 8, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Friday April 8, 2016 Gore developers back with plan to save some historical features Developers of a site with historic buildings facing Gore Park are back with an amended proposal to save some and incorporate some heritage features before demolishing the current structures and rebuilding. The redevelopment project screeched to a halt in 2013 when city council slapped a last-minute heritage designation on a small strip of buildings addressed 18 to 28 King St. E. just before they were to be torn down. They are on the southside of the park. Proponents for redeveloping the site made an unscheduled appearance before city council's general issues committee Wednesday with a new plan to save the faade of 18 to 22 King and demolish the rest. A new five-storey, 20,000-square-foot building is planned that will also encompass a small adjacent vacant property where a building was demolished in 2011. The building will have retail stores on the first floor and 14 apartments above, all with balconies overlooking Gore Park, said Tim Bullock, a lawyer representing the consortium that owns the properties. The preserved faade will form half of the new building's front. "This is a compromise," Bullock told councillors. He said the faade to be preserved has Escarpment stone in its design and has the most heritage features worthy of preservation. The other faade or building front, on addresses 24 to 28, has fewer heritage features, different stonework, and has deteriorated beyond reasonable repair, he said. "Restoring all the facades would make it economically unfeasible É The engineering report says 28 (King St. E.) is very unsafe and 24 King has had its heritage features stripped." The two addresses also have small retail fronts not suitable to today's retail industry, he added. The new plan is "very respectful of the Gore," he suggested. "It's a win-win for the city." Architect David Premi, who worked on th

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 8, 2016

Gore developers back with plan to save some historical features

Developers of a site with historic buildings facing Gore Park are back with an amended proposal to save some and incorporate some heritage features before demolishing the current structures and rebuilding.

The redevelopment project screeched to a halt in 2013 when city council slapped a last-minute heritage designation on a small strip of buildings addressed 18 to 28 King St. E. just before they were to be torn down. They are on the southside of the park.

Proponents for redeveloping the site made an unscheduled appearance before city council’s general issues committee Wednesday with a new plan to save the façade of 18 to 22 King and demolish the rest.

A new five-storey, 20,000-square-foot building is planned that will also encompass a small adjacent vacant property where a building was demolished in 2011.

The building will have retail stores on the first floor and 14 apartments above, all with balconies overlooking Gore Park, said Tim Bullock, a lawyer representing the consortium that owns the properties.



The preserved façade will form half of the new building’s front.

“This is a compromise,” Bullock told councillors.

He said the façade to be preserved has Escarpment stone in its design and has the most heritage features worthy of preservation.

The other façade or building front, on addresses 24 to 28, has fewer heritage features, different stonework, and has deteriorated beyond reasonable repair, he said.

“Restoring all the facades would make it economically unfeasible … The engineering report says 28 (King St. E.) is very unsafe and 24 King has had its heritage features stripped.”

The two addresses also have small retail fronts not suitable to today’s retail industry, he added.

The new plan is “very respectful of the Gore,” he suggested. “It’s a win-win for the city.”

Architect David Premi, who worked on the downtown library and farmers’ market project, told councillors the building, with the original façade for half of its front and a complementing front for the other half is “an attempt to be respectful” to the original design. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Tuesday February 23, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Tuesday February 23, 2016 Dalton McGuinty portrait set to be unveiled at QueenÕs Park Three years after leaving in tense times, Dalton McGuinty is coming back to QueenÕs Park. Permanently. His official portrait will be unveiled Tuesday and hung outside Premier Kathleen WynneÕs office in a hallway thatÕs home to two other paintings by the same artist, Istvan Nyikos, who painted former Progressive Conservative premiers Bill Davis and Mike Harris. McGuinty is his first Liberal premier but Nyikos, who left Hungary as a refugee in 1967 and studied at what is now the Ontario College of Art and Design, says he wouldnÕt touch politics with a 10-foot paint brush. ÒItÕs none of my business. As a taxpayer, maybe, but not as an artist,Ó he quips from his Collingwood studio. In fact, Nyikos Ñ who has also painted four speakers of the legislature, six chief court justices and former governor general Ray Hnatyshyn, to name just a few Ñ prefers not to know his subjects too well. ÒI take the face value, literally, of what the people give me . . . a superficial knowledge is good enough.Ó Nyikos adds, tellingly: ÒI canÕt paint my wife or my family. IÕm too close to them. I love them. I know them too well.Ó He has several sittings with each subject, sketching or painting the face and taking photographs of hands and other details. He works from those over the course of six to eight weeks, often painting several portraits concurrently. Nyikos says his clients, who may well have ruffled feathers in their professional lives, are unfailingly polite as they make small talk. ÒI try to paint them at their best.Ó Coincidentally, the unveiling takes place the night before the second court date of McGuintyÕs two former top aides, chief of staff David Livingston and deputy chief Laura Miller. They face criminal charges of breach of trust, mischief in relation to data and misuse of a computer system following a lengthy Ontari

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 23, 2016

Dalton McGuinty portrait set to be unveiled at Queen’s Park

Three years after leaving in tense times, Dalton McGuinty is coming back to Queen’s Park. Permanently.

Mike Harris

His official portrait will be unveiled Tuesday and hung outside Premier Kathleen Wynne’s office in a hallway that’s home to two other paintings by the same artist, Istvan Nyikos, who painted former Progressive Conservative premiers Bill Davis and Mike Harris.

McGuinty is his first Liberal premier but Nyikos, who left Hungary as a refugee in 1967 and studied at what is now the Ontario College of Art and Design, says he wouldn’t touch politics with a 10-foot paint brush.

“It’s none of my business. As a taxpayer, maybe, but not as an artist,” he quips from his Collingwood studio.

Jean Chretien

In fact, Nyikos — who has also painted four speakers of the legislature, six chief court justices and former governor general Ray Hnatyshyn, to name just a few — prefers not to know his subjects too well.

“I take the face value, literally, of what the people give me . . . a superficial knowledge is good enough.”

Nyikos adds, tellingly: “I can’t paint my wife or my family. I’m too close to them. I love them. I know them too well.”

He has several sittings with each subject, sketching or painting the face and taking photographs of hands and other details. He works from those over the course of six to eight weeks, often painting several portraits concurrently.

Nyikos says his clients, who may well have ruffled feathers in their professional lives, are unfailingly polite as they make small talk.

“I try to paint them at their best.”

Coincidentally, the unveiling takes place the night before the second court date of McGuinty’s two former top aides, chief of staff David Livingston and deputy chief Laura Miller.

They face criminal charges of breach of trust, mischief in relation to data and misuse of a computer system following a lengthy Ontario Provincial Police investigation into deleted emails.

Livingston and Miller deny any wrongdoing. McGuinty co-operated with the police investigation and was not a suspect. (Source: Toronto Star)