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Wednesday August 7, 2019

August 14, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 7, 2019

Toronto’s weekend of gun violence ‘frustrating, angering and sad,’ says Tory

The gun violence in Toronto during the Civic Holiday long weekend that saw 17 people shot during 14 separate incidents is “heartbreaking,” Mayor John Tory said Tuesday.

July 25, 2018

“It’s frustrating because we are doing a lot to try and get at it,” Tory told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning.

He said police resources have been beefed up in response to the violence, echoing remarks by police Chief Mark Saunders on Monday, but didn’t give specifics. Tory also called for stricter gun control and tougher sentences for gun-related crime.

“I’ve come to realize that there is no magic answer to this,” he said.

“So when this kind of thing happens in a concentrated way, it’s very frustrating, angering and sad. And bottom line, unacceptable.”

July 18, 2012

The most significant shootings were at the District 45 nightclub in suburban North York, where at least five people were injured, and at an Airbnb in the swanky Bridle Path neighbourhood where a man was left with life-threatening injuries.

Tory has pushed for a handgun ban, saying it would help address some of the city’s gun violence. City council debated a handgun ban in June, but it would require action by both the federal and provincial governments.

“If we have a choice of doing absolutely everything we can to stem this type of violence, then I do believe a handgun ban would make some difference, if it would stop a handful of the shootings and certainly any of the deaths that we see,” the mayor said.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told CBC News that Canadians will soon see a “strong and effective” package of proposals from Ottawa, but wouldn’t say whether a proposed ban would be included.

Stronger background checks, licence verification, better record-keeping, and a significant investment in a strategy to fight guns and gangs are some of the measures the federal government has already taken to curb gun violence, he said at a news conference Tuesday in Ottawa. (CBC)

Friday February 9, 2018

February 8, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 9, 2018

What is OAR and why are Russia not in PyeongChang 2018?

RUSSIA will be represented at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang but their flag will not fly and their athletes will have OAR – not RUS – after their names.

The Russian doping scandal first emerged from the McLaren Report, an independent report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren that identified more than 1,000 Russian competitors who had befitted from a state-sponsored cover-up of athletes who were using performance enhancing drugs.

The first part of the report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was released in July 2016 but many sports still allowed Russians to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

However, the second part of the report which was published later in 2016 triggered a massive number of International Olympic Committee (IOC) investigations into Russian athletes and the Russian Olympic Committee was immediately suspended from PyeongChang 2018, with major suspicion also raised over doping at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

The IOC ruled that Russian athletes with a consistent history of drug testing and no history of doping would still be allowed to compete, albeit without the Russian flag or under the auspices of the Russian nation.

Instead those athletes will be represented by the “Olympic Athlete from Russia” logo on their uniforms and the Olympic anthem will be used if they are to win any medals.

Initially, 500 Russian athletes were presented to the IOC for consideration, 111 of whom were immediately dismissed.

However, 169 athletes were eventually invited to compete under the OAR banner – but that number could still rise.

A specific investigation into the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games and allegations of doping during the olympiad handed lifetime bans to 43 Russian athletes.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned 28 of those and partially upheld 11 more appeals.

But 13 of those 28 athletes have now applied to compete at PyeongChang 2018 – requests that have been turned down. (Source: Express.co.uk)

February 7, 1998

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February 23, 2006

February 9, 2018

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February 20, 2014

Saturday May 27, 2017

May 26, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 27, 2017

Conservatives return to the scene of Stephen Harper’s last stand to pick a new leader

As noted by at least one scribe with a long memory, when Conservatives last gathered at the Toronto Congress Centre — a convention hall in north Etobicoke, down the road from Pearson airport — it was for a notable rally on the second-last day of the party’s ill-fated 2015 campaign.

May 13, 2011

What that evening seemed to present was a portrait of a party down to its last resorts. Stephen Harper, a man otherwise determined to be seen as a serious person, was campaigning in the company of Rob and Doug Ford and delivering a stump speech that relied on cash-register sound effects.

And two days after that rally with the Ford brothers, the Conservatives were reduced to 99 seats. Nearly all the ridings in the vicinity of the congress centre went to the Liberals, with Conservative incumbents falling across the crucial Ontario suburbs of Etobicoke, Brampton, Mississauga and Oakville.

The 2015 campaign precipitated Harper’s resignation. But the year-long campaign to replace him has not quite amounted to a repudiation of his time in office. And the return of Conservatives to Etobicoke this weekend, this time to crown Harper’s successor, offers an opportunity to measure what has changed, and what hasn’t.

What will assuredly change is the face of the party. By sometime Saturday night, the Conservative Party that was reconstituted after the schism of the 1990s will have its second leader.

Each of the 13 candidates also offers some kind of change from the Harper era. Maxime Bernier, for instance, wears nicer suits. Erin O’Toole is a military man. Andrew Scheer promises to be friendlier.

But as Michael Chong has learned in suggesting that the Conservatives might get on side with pricing carbon emissions, there are limits to how much change they are interested in entertaining right now. Or at least what kind of change. (Continued: CBC)

The Telegram, May 30, 2017 (St. John’s Nfld) *With slight alteration.

Tuesday November 1, 2016

October 31, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 1, 2016

FBI gets warrant to search new Clinton emails

The FBI has obtained a warrant to begin reviewing newly discovered emails that may be relevant to the Hillary Clinton email server investigation, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

October 15, 2016

FBI investigators want to review emails of longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin that were found on a device seized during an unrelated sexting investigation of Anthony Weiner, a former New York congressman and Abedin’s estranged husband.

The official, who has knowledge of the examination, would not say when investigators might complete the review of Abedin’s emails but said Sunday they would move expeditiously.

The Clinton email inquiry, which closed without charges in July, resurfaced on Friday when FBI Director James Comey alerted members of Congress to the existence of emails that he said could be pertinent to that investigation.

The FBI wants to review the emails to see if they contain classified information and were handled properly, the focus of the earlier Clinton inquiry.

June 4, 2016

Separately Sunday, another law enforcement official said FBI investigators in the Weiner sexting probe knew for weeks about the existence of the emails potentially related to the probe of Clinton’s server. A third law enforcement official also said the FBI was aware for a period of time about the emails before Comey was briefed, but wasn’t more specific.

In his letter that roiled the White House race, Comey said he’d been briefed on Thursday about the Abedin emails and had agreed that investigators should take steps to review them.

It was not immediately clear Sunday what steps investigators took once the emails were first found to fully advise FBI leaders that additional and potentially relevant messages had been discovered.

The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.(Source: Toronto Star)

Friday December 11, 2015

December 11, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 11, 2015

CHCH TV cancels tonight’s newscast; station future uncertain

CHCH news staff is waiting to find out the fate of their station after being told there will be no 6 o’clock newscast tonight.

An announcement to staff is expected at 4 p.m., by email, sources inside the CH newsroom say. The fear is the station is shutting down or being dramatically reduced.

Employees began asking questions this morning after money was unexpectedly deposited in some employees’ bank accounts. One staffer — who does not want to be identified — says the amount was equal to about two paycheques.

The station is owned by Channel Zero in Toronto.

One staffer, who didn’t want her name used because she was clinging to the hope she might still have a job on Monday, said the mood is “awful.”

As of 2:45 p.m. people were still optimistically working to file stories, she said. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)