majority

Wednesday October 5, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 5, 2022

Legault’s tense relationship with Ottawa likely to now continue

Francois Legault’s re-election in Quebec Monday night means an already frosty relationship between his government and Ottawa will likely continue, experts say.

August 5, 2022

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulated Legault after the Quebec premier’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) was projected to form a second majority government, vowing to work together moving forward. But court challenges and a looming fight over immigration are bound to test that promise.

“I don’t think that these tensions will ease as long as the Liberals remain in power in Ottawa and Legault and the CAQ remain in power in Quebec City,” said Daniel Beland, a political science professor at McGill University.

“There are simply fundamental differences between them in the way they see the federation.”

Legault’s first term saw his nationalist agenda clash with Trudeau’s Liberal government a number of times — most notably when the prime minister and members of his cabinet openly criticized Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21, and Bill 96, which bolsters protections for the French language.

July 12, 2019

Both bills are currently before the courts in Quebec, and Ottawa has promised to join a legal challenge to Bill 21 if it reaches the Supreme Court of Canada.

Legault has also been one of the most vocal premiers calling on Trudeau to increase federal funding for health care, which has been met with resistance by the Liberals. Legault has gone further by insisting that any health transfer top-up must also respect Quebec’s ability to govern its own health-care system without federal interference.

Now that Legault is set to be premier through the rest of Trudeau’s current mandate, more fights are expected in the years ahead.

September 14, 2013

Most crucially, Legault has caught attention with his push for further immigration powers over family reunification — a responsibility currently shared between the provincial and federal governments — in order to limit non-French-speaking migration into Quebec.

Last spring, when Legault promised to make the dispute a campaign issue, Trudeau said he had no intention of relinquishing any of those powers.

“It’s clear that a country must have a say in its immigration,” he told reporters then, assuring the protection of French and francophone immigration was “very important” to his government.

According to Daniel Beland, a political science professor at McGill University, Legault could also cause headaches for the federal Liberals by continuing to align with other right-leaning premiers across the country like Ontario Premier Doug Ford on not just immigration, but also health-care funding and economic issues.

March 23, 2022

Ford was quick to congratulate “my friend” Legault on his election win Monday night on Twitter. Fellow right-leaning premiers Scott Moe of Saskatchewan and Heather Stefanson of Manitoba also celebrated Legault’s victory.

Although Trudeau and his government have pushed back on some of Legault’s more nationalistic moves, Beland adds the Liberals have to be careful about not starting an intergovernmental war with the strongly-supported premier of a vote-rich province.

“So long as Legault remains popular, there will be a strong incentive for Trudeau and the Liberals to … meet in the middle and remain diplomatic on some issues,” he said. (Global News) 

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro …

 

Tuesday September 19, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday September 19, 2017

Liberals may use time allocation to push priorities through Parliament

The Liberal government is heading into the second half of its mandate with a number of big legislative priorities they are eager to move through Parliament.

And they are ready to curtail debate if they think the opposition parties are dragging their feet — especially since the will of the increasingly independent Senate is becoming harder to predict.

“We know that there’s going to be vigorous debate and there is going to be partisanship and politics on many ideas,” said Cameron Ahmad, a spokesman for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“It’s how our system works, but at the same time I don’t think it’s necessary for every single issue to be framed around partisanship.”

This spring, the Liberal government backed down on part of its plan to alter the ins and outs of parliamentary procedure, abandoning some of the more controversial reforms that the Conservatives and New Democrats had been battling for weeks.

Still, House leader Bardish Chagger warned at the time this would come with a cost, telling her political rivals that since they could not agree on other ways to speed things along, the Liberals would be ready to impose time allocation — a heavy-handed tactic that limits debate.

That remains the case as MPs return to Ottawa this week, especially since the Liberals want to act quickly on priorities such as the legalization of marijuana, a tougher law on impaired driving and the new National Security Act.

Other big goals for the fall include political financing reforms and an air passengers bill of rights.

“We’re looking forward to debating everybody, but if it comes to a point where we’re seeing obstructionism as we saw on certain occasions in the last session, time allocation is a tool that could be used,” said Ahmad, who stressed they have not made up their minds to use it.

“It’s a case-by-case analysis.” (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Wednesday June 22, 2011

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday June 22, 2011 Back-to-work Legislation in the making Canada Post workers are gathering in the heart of Toronto's downtown to rally against the federal government's attempt to force them to go back to work if a contract agreement can't be struck. John Cartwright, the president of Toronto and York region labour council, said he expects hundreds to gather at the rally Wednesday morning at the intersection of Yonge and Dundas streets. In addition to postal workers, workers from every sector of the economy are expected to attend the rush-hour rally at one of the busiest corners in the city. Those people, Cartwright said, are standing up for the next generation of Canadian workers who deserve the same wages and benefits his generation received. As of about 8:30 a.m., more than 100 workers had assembled at Yonge and Dundas, surrounded by loudspeakers and carrying placards emblazoned with slogans like "negotiate not legislate." The rally comes two days after the Conservative government in Ottawa tabled back-to-work legislation. Parliament spent much of the day Tuesday debating the legislation, which would force workers to go back to work should the union, CUPW, and management fail to reach a deal on a new contract. The government hopes to vote on the legislation Thursday. Canada Post locked out workers on June 14, after 12 days of rotating strikes launched by the union. The two sides met for talks on Tuesday (Source: CBC News) http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/no-new-talks-set-for-canada-post-and-union-1.978939 Canada, Stephen Harper, Public service, back-to-work, legislation, majority, Ottawa, Postal, strike, fighter, jet

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 22, 2011

Back-to-work Legislation in the making

Canada Post workers are gathering in the heart of Toronto’s downtown to rally against the federal government’s attempt to force them to go back to work if a contract agreement can’t be struck.

John Cartwright, the president of Toronto and York region labour council, said he expects hundreds to gather at the rally Wednesday morning at the intersection of Yonge and Dundas streets.

In addition to postal workers, workers from every sector of the economy are expected to attend the rush-hour rally at one of the busiest corners in the city.

Those people, Cartwright said, are standing up for the next generation of Canadian workers who deserve the same wages and benefits his generation received. As of about 8:30 a.m., more than 100 workers had assembled at Yonge and Dundas, surrounded by loudspeakers and carrying placards emblazoned with slogans like “negotiate not legislate.”

The rally comes two days after the Conservative government in Ottawa tabled back-to-work legislation. Parliament spent much of the day Tuesday debating the legislation, which would force workers to go back to work should the union, CUPW, and management fail to reach a deal on a new contract.

The government hopes to vote on the legislation Thursday.

Canada Post locked out workers on June 14, after 12 days of rotating strikes launched by the union. The two sides met for talks on Tuesday (Source: CBC News)