Horton Hears a Who

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Saturday, May 4, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, May 4, 2013

Ontario budget great politics. But does it make sense?

Ontario’s new budget may have squared enough political circles to keep Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government alive. But is it a credible economic blueprint for the province? That’s a different question.

The political question will eventually be solved by Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats. On Thursday, the NDP leader carefully hedged on whether her party would support Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s budget, saying she wanted to have “discussions” with Ontarians first.

But suppose for a moment that the NDP ultimately refuses to join Tim Hudak’s Conservatives in bringing down the Liberal minority government.

Suppose for a moment that Thursday’s budget is meant to be a serious document and not just something designed to let the Liberals live another day. What then?

First, note that this is ultimately a restraint budget. Wynne, like her predecessor Dalton McGuinty, has drunk the metaphorical Kool-Aid of the right, insisting that the only way out of the economic slump is to balance Ontario’s budget by 2018.

The Liberals have agreed to new spending demanded by the NDP. But they have also pledged to let overall spending grow on average by less than 1 per cent a year.

Translation: the new NDP spending increases are to be offset by unspecified cuts somewhere else. (Source: Toronto Star)

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, March 17, 2007

Tim Hortons contest a litterbug

Rolling up the rim of your morning cuppa might win you an SUV, but critics say it is the environment that loses.

Tim Hortons customers across Canada began peeling back the lips of their coffee cups yesterday as the fast-food giant rolled out its annual Roll Up the Rim to Win contest.

But some environmentalists say what has become a beloved Canadian ritual since its introduction in 1986 promotes waste and propagates littering.

“People buy more cups of coffee and if they don’t win, they’ll just toss it,” said Don Dick, Alberta director of Pitch In Canada, a national non-profit organization concerned about the proliferation of packaging and its effects on the landscape.

“If they want people to buy their product, there’s better ways to go about it. [The cup] doesn’t melt down or disappear into our environment when it’s tossed away. I just fills up our garbage more and it also eats up our paper to make it.”

Mr. Dick suggests the company should turn to small scratch cards instead of using treated paper cups for the promotion and launch more customer-awareness campaigns. (Source: GPI Atlantic) 

Another one of my occasional society lifestyle rants. This one’s on those discarded roll up the rim cups you see all over the place in any urban space. It seems as though it’s a national issue according to this CBC Nova Scotia news clip I found. I’m not alone in my disgust it seems.

Here’s a shocking display of a pile of cups collected in one day at the University of Western Ontario.

Here’s an article about someone who at least used the losing cups to create art. Be sure to check out the photos. Can’t you just imagine that dried horton’s coffee smell?

It seems as though Tim Horton’s is concerned. At least they were 2 years ago.

* * * UPDATE March 15, 2008 * * *

FEEDBACK

Re: Editorial cartoon (March 15)

Yes, it’s that time of year again, when melting snow discloses just how many Tim Hortons cups have been tossed on the ground over the winter.

What a shame that so many people treat their city this way.

Don’t they realize that, in Hamilton, the cups, serviettes, food remains and tea bags belong in the green cart and the No. 6 plastic lids belong in the blue box for containers?

– Mary Lou Dickson (March 18, 2008)

I am SO disappointed in this roll up rim bull, that I’ve boycotted Tim’s from my daily lunch at work. The only thing is I work night shift and Tims is the only place open! So now I’m anorexic. ROLL UP THE RIM MADE ME ANOREXIC!

I rolled over 12 cups and didn’t win anything, (1 in 9 chance my foot!) so I emailed Tim’s and they comforted me with “thanks for your letter, keep on rolling, good luck” ! >:( How Rude.

– A (April 19, 2008)