Joe Oliver • mackaycartoons

Friday October 16, 2015

October 15, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 16, 2015

Blue Jays win throws curve at election

The federal election is dealing with a late curveball hurled by the red-hot Toronto Blue Jays.

Blue Jays fans in the vote-rich 905 and 416 regions — studded with ridings that could help determine who becomes Canada’s next prime minister — are certain to tune into the Jays game on Monday night while possibly tuning out the election.

2011-2015

The first pitch in the third game of the Jays’ American League showdown against the Kansas City Royals is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Monday, 90 minutes before the polls close to end an election campaign that’s been almost as enthralling to Canada’s political junkies as the Jays post-season run has been to the country’s sports fans.

The team’s post-season games have earned huge ratings, with overnight numbers for the first three outings against the since-defeated Texas Rangers suggesting an average audience of 2.8 million for the Rogers-owned Sportsnet.

Scott Moore, president of Sportsnet and NHL Properties for Rogers, tweeted that more than nine million Canadians watched Wednesday night’s thrilling nail-biter that ended with a 6-3 Jays victory and elimination for the Rangers.

“Seriously. Elections Canada should consider setting up polling stations in sports bars on Monday night,” Conway Fraser, a self-described communications strategist, tweeted shortly after Major League Baseball announced the timing of the game.

Added another: “So the jays first ALCS home game is election night? . . . so much for voter turnout.”

Yet another Twitter user chided any voters pondering skipping voting in favour of cheering on the Jays: “I can’t stress enough that ALCS game 3 is at 8 p.m. on Monday. Voting goes ALL DAY people. Worst excuse to not vote,” tweeted Drew Garner.

Nonetheless broadcaster CTV is conducting a web poll asking people: “Which result will interest you more? The federal election or the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS Game 3?”

In response, one apparent Jays retorted: “Anything will be more interesting than the election results. Whatever they are, we have the next 4 yrs to discuss & argue.” (Source: Toronto Star)

Friday, July 24, 2015

July 23, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, July 24, 2015

Feds can’t avoid $1-billion deficit, budget officer says

The federal Conservatives will fail to accomplish their key promise of balancing Ottawa’s books this year, instead running a $1-billion budget deficit in 2015, the parliamentary budget officer says.

Budget watchdog Jean-Denis Fréchette said Wednesday that the economic picture had changed since the Conservatives’ budget in April, which predicted surpluses in 2015-16 and over the next several years.

“Economic data has since indicated declines in real GDP (gross domestic product) that were not reflected in the government’s assumptions,” Fréchette said.

He noted that the Bank of Canada, in its quarterly forecast last week, had chopped its prediction for economic growth this year from 2 per cent to about 1 per cent.

The worse than expected economic conditions will reduce federal tax revenues, trimming $3.9 billion from Ottawa’s fiscal accounts in 2015, the budget watchdog said. But taking into account the $1 billion set aside as a rainy-day fund by Finance Minister Joe Oliver and factoring in other impacts, Fréchette said the Conservatives will run a $1-billion deficit this year.

With an eye on the Oct. 19 election, opposition parties seized on the report to slam the Conservatives’ handling of the economy. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised for years that 2015 would be the year his government puts an end to a seven-year string of budget deficits.

“That was supposed to be the Conservatives’ hallmark branding, wasn’t it, balanced budget?” NDP leader Thomas Mulcair asked during a campaign-style swing through southern Ontario. “We now know that’s not going to be the case.”

Mulcair said Harper put the economy at risk by relying too much on the oil and gas industry as an engine of growth. “The Conservatives put all of our economic eggs in the resource extraction basket, and now that that sector is having considerable difficulty, it’s affecting everything else in the Canadian economy.” (Source: Toronto Star)

SOCIAL MEDIA

Posted by Project Democracy on Friday, July 24, 2015

Saturday June 20, 2015

June 19, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 20, 2015

England celebrates 800th anniversary of Magna Carta

This year marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta and England has invited the world to take part in a series of birthday celebrations.

You can see history come to life and immerse yourself in medieval times by walking one of six self-guided Magna Carta trails, where various revisions and original copies are housed.

By James William Edmund Doyle (1822-1892)

The fabled document — first sealed by King John on June 15, 1215 — laid down the foundations of justice and guaranteed liberty for all, becoming the basis for the British Constitution, influential to this day.

Considered the foundation of democracy, the Magna Carta may be England’s best known export. It is also a curious thing to behold: 4,000 words of medieval Latin written on a single sheet of parchment paper with an ink made of dust, water and powdered oak-apple.

The Magna Carta was revolutionary for its times as it made everyone, including royalty, subject to the law.

The bulk of the 63 clauses dealt with the series of grievances about ownership of land and taxation raised by irate barons and the English church against King John.

The 39th clause guaranteed all “free men” the right to fair treatment and justice (at the time only about one tenth of England’s population was considered free under the feudal system).

The famous decree didn’t last long at first because King John persuaded Pope Innocent II to declare it null and void. However, the King’s son and successor, Henry III, approved a series of revisions over the next decade until the Charter was accepted onto parliament’s roll of statues in 1297. Clauses relating to the forest law were removed to create a separate Forest Charter. This gave rights to the common man and the forests were a key source of firewood and food for commoners. (Source: Toronto Star)

More on the illustrator, James William Edmund Doyle, who inspired the creation of this cartoon.

Published in The Nanaimo Daily News, Gull Lake Advance, and the Woodstock Sentinel Review

Thursday April 9, 2015

April 8, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 9, 2015

We may tire of the Duffy circus

If nothing else, we now know that the trial of Mike Duffy will be exhaustively chronicled, in real time, with no tawdry detail left un-tweeted. At times Tuesday it seemed every journalist in Canada was engaged in the play-by-play.

But will Canadians beyond Ottawa get mad at the Senate fat cats and power mongers all over again? Or will they gaze through the headlines with a fatalistic, heard-it-allbefore shrug? With Election 2015 looming, this is the critical question. And the best answer is neither clear-cut nor satisfactory: It depends. For each of the major parties, including the Conservatives themselves, there are potential opportunities in this, the closest political Canada has seen to the O.J. Simpson trial, as well as the obvious pitfalls.

The consensus view, much asserted in the past 48 hours amid a cascade of setup coverage (Five things you need to know about the Duffy Trial; Your Duffy Trial Primer; All About Duff, no Guff!), is that the trial of Mike Duffy on 31 criminal charges, including fraud, breach of trust and bribery, could be Stephen Harper’s Waterloo. It has been likened to the Gomery inquiry into the Liberal sponsorship scandal, accounts of which rocked the Liberal party in 2004-05 and contributed to Paul Martin Jr.’s being held to a brief two years as prime minister. This trial comes at a most awkward time for Harper, with his bid for re-election already hampered by an economy gone soft, and his party suffering from the sclerosis common to all decade-old Canadian administrations. (Source: National Post)

Posted to National Newswatch.com

Thursday November 13, 2014

November 12, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 13, 2014

Highlights from Canada’s fiscal and economic update

Finance Minister Joe Oliver delivered his annual fall update and five-year projection of the government’s fiscal situation on Wednesday.

Here are the highlights:

• A small deficit of $2.9 billion expected for the 2014-2015 fiscal year, the same as projected in the February budget.

• A small surplus of $1.9 billion expected for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, much smaller than the $6.4 billion projected last February mainly because of recent announcements for spending increases and tax cuts.

• Surpluses forecast to grow slowly every year after that: $4.3 billion in 2016-2017, $5.1 billion in 2017-2018, and $6.8 billion in 2018-2019.

• Government has set aside $3 billion in contingency funds every year, including the current fiscal year. If not needed, the money goes towards the debt.

• Lower oil prices this year translated into a $500-million hit to the bottom line in 2014-2015, and $2.5 billion per year over the 2015-2019 period.

• Federal debt will rise slightly to $615.8 billion in 2014-2015 before diminishing gradually over the next five years. As a percentage of the economy, the federal debt in 2014-15 is forecast to be 31.5 per cent of GDP, dropping slowly over the coming years to 24.3 per cent in 2019-2020.

• Overall federal tax burden drops to lowest level in 50 years for now, but personal income tax as a percentage of GDP expected to reach 7.1 per cent next year, up from 6.9 per cent this year, and 7.3 per cent in 2019-2020.

• The government has recommitted to introducing balanced budget legislation, a promise made initially more than a year ago in the 2013 throne speech.

• Economists told Ottawa to expect real growth of 2.4 per cent in 2014 and 2.6 per cent in 2015. Those projections were made in September before commodity prices tanked; the government has had to trim expectations for government revenue.

• The employment insurance account has a $3.8-billion surplus in 2014-2015, $3.9 billion in 2015-2016 and $4.5 billion in 2016-17 — allowing the government to stay in the black despite new spending and tax cuts. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5024559-10-highlights-from-canada-s-fiscal-and-economic-update/

Meanwhile, A European robot probe has made the first, historic landing on a comet, but its status remains uncertain after harpoons failed to anchor it to the surface.

Officials said the craft may have lifted off the comet after touchdown before returning to the surface.

Lander project manager Stephan Ulamec said: “Maybe we didn’t just land once, we landed twice.” (Source: BBC News)