magic – mackaycartoons

Saturday October 26, 2017

October 27, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 26, 2017

Bill Morneau vows to donate share profits

On Thursday the embattled finance minister said he will donate the profits earned on his Morneau Shepell shares since he was elected to charity.

The finance minister met with the conflict of interest commissioner earlier in the afternoon.

“I told her it was the intent of my family to donate any difference in value from my family shares from the time I was elected on Oct. 19, 2015, until now,” he told the House of Commons.

Morneau said he doesn’t know what the value of the proceeds is yet.

Morneau said he will unload the million shares, worth about $20 million, he has in Morneau Shepell, the human resources and pension management company his father founded.

“If he hadn’t owned those stocks over the last two years while ministers are banned from owning stocks then he wouldn’t have those profits in the first place,” said Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre.

“Can he confirm now if he will donate the resulting tax savings that he will enjoy from the charitable tax credit to help pay off his deficit?” (Source: CBC News)

Letter to the Editor, Hamilton Spectator (Saturday Nov 4, 2017)

One-sided cartoon unfair to Morneau

RE: Oct. editorial cartoon

This amusing cartoon, portraying our finance minister doing hoops for his salvation from not putting his family business in trust, is surely very one sided.

He originally sought the advice of our ethics commissioner, who told him that it was not a necessity for him to do so. Now that he is trying to rectify his “mistake” he is subjected to much scorn by the opposition parties.

A cheering Justin Trudeau reminds me that it is hard to recall one MacKay cartoon with something positive about our PM.

A bigger concern is the lack of media support for left-wing Canada. It is easy to list six families/corporations who own the majority of our major print and broadcast media and are all supporters of the Conservatives. Even the CBC, with its president and eight Harper-appointed directors, too often follows suit.

The Star and Spectator used to provide regular support but these days, I find that to be hit and miss. All issues should be subject to scrutiny but it would be refreshing to have more balance.

Richard Ring, Grimsby

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Tuesday April 11, 2017

April 10, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 11, 2017

Spicer: Trump’s foreign policy is still ‘America first’

President Donald Trump’s foreign policy doctrine is still “America first,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer declared Monday.

Trump ordered airstrikes on Syria on Thursday in response to Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s regime using chemical weapons on civilians early last week. Trump’s move was a decisive but perplexing action for a president who campaigned on putting America first and as a private citizen advised President Barack Obama to seek congressional approval before potentially bombing Syria, which he suggested in 2013 would result in “more debt and a possible long term conflict.”

“I think the Trump doctrine is something that he articulated throughout the campaign, which is that America’s first,” Spicer told reporters, cautioning that the U.S. won’t “become the world policeman” but will make sure the nation’s economic and security interests are protected.

Asked how to square Trump’s America-first policy with his military action targeting the airbase where U.S. intelligence believes the Syrian regime’s chemical attack originated, Spicer cast the potential proliferation of chemical weapons as a national security threat.

“I think if you recognize the threat that our country and our people face if there is a growth of use or spread of chemical weapons of mass destruction, those, the proliferation of those, the spread to other groups, is a clear danger to our country and to our people,” he said. (Source: Politico)

Thursday August 4, 2016

August 3, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 4, 2016

Inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women

‘I don’t know if I am ready to embrace this inquiry,’ says violence survivor

Many First Nations leaders and advocates in B.C. distrust the framework for an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada — and demand the body been given enough scope to look at how policing has played into deaths.

The long-awaited Canada-wide look at issues that led to so many tragedies was questioned, especially by family members who lost loved ones.

Lorelei Williams held a feather as she talked about her aunts and cousins. Two were lost to serial killers. One family member was raped and survived. Another was pushed out a Downtown Eastside window.

There is a litany of pain and trauma that makes Williams suspicious of the inquiry, despite promises that it will offer change.

“I have more questions than answers. I don’t know if I am ready to embrace this inquiry,” said Williams.

She wants the inquiry to look at policing and police accountability because she believes racism and indifference to Indigenous women by some officers has made it difficult to get anybody to take the search for missing family members seriously. She says she too was left to walk alone along a highway when she was 17 years old, stranded after being dismissed by 911 when she called for help.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said the framework for the inquiry is flawed, and needs more funding or protections in writing that ensure recommendations will be acted on, instead of ignored.

He wants the inquiry’s scope to include a hard look at the issues of racism and sexism in the RCMP, saying racist attitudes on police forces have contributed to Indigenous deaths for decades.

“This is about accountability. Full stop. We need to ensure we do not blow this opportunity,” said Phillip.

“The issue …is an indelible black mark on the human rights record of Canada. We are not sitting here cheerleading.” (Source: CBC News)

Thursday March 3, 2016

March 2, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 3, 2016

US election 2016: US Republicans express Donald Trump fears

Mr Trump has declared himself a “unifier”, but he’s strongly opposed by most of the Republican establishment.

Senator Lindsey Graham warned on Wednesday that Mr Trump would lose in November’s election.

And former nominee Mitt Romney is to make a speech on Thursday in which he is expected to challenge Mr Trump.

He has been fiercely critical of the businessman, whose hardline stance on issues like immigration put him at odds with Republican orthodoxy.

His victories on so-called Super Tuesday consolidated his position as the most likely Republican candidate to vie for the White House against the Democratic nomination.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz walked away with three states, bringing his total to four, while Florida Senator Marco Rubio won his first state (Minnesota) in the primary race to date.

Mr Trump will be joined by Mr Cruz, Mr Rubio and Ohio governor John Kasich at a Fox News Republican debate on Thursday, but retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has failed to win any states, said he would not be attending.

In a statement on Wednesday, he said he saw “no path forward” for his presidential campaign, though he has stopped short of ending his race completely.

Several party leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, have spoken out against Donald Trump’s controversial policies and positions in recent days.

His latest controversy centres on his failure to disavow David Duke, a leader of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, who endorsed him. He later said he had on several occasions in the past disavowed Mr Duke.

Mr Ryan forcefully denounced the real estate mogul on Tuesday, saying: “They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people’s prejudices.”

“Let me make it perfectly clear, Senate Republicans condemn David Duke and the KKK, and his racism,” Senator and majority leader Mitch McConnell commented.

Influential congressman Peter King joked he would leave politics if Mr Trump became the nominee.

And Marco Rubio indicated in his speech on Tuesday that the Republican establishment was unlikely to back the former reality TV star.

“If this was anybody else as a front-runner, there’d be people right now saying ‘Let’s all rally around the front-runner,'” he said, adding, “that will never happen with Donald Trump”.

According to the New York Times, some party donors are already trying to raise funds for an anti-Trump effort.

Meanwhile, The Center for Public Integrity reports that Republican super PACs ran as many as 8,500 adverts in the run up to Super Tuesday to try to discredit Donald Trump’s election campaign.

Mr Graham warned that Republicans would “lose to Hillary Clinton” with Mr Trump as their party nomination.

Mrs Clinton also won seven states on Tuesday, consolidating her lead in the Democratic race over rival Bernie Sanders. (Source: BBC News)