party

Tuesday November 17, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 17, 2020

America’s divisions run deeper than you think

As the dust finally settles two weeks after the American-election earthquake, two undeniable facts are now clear.

November 6, 2020

First, whatever Donald Trump says, Joe Biden was elected president. Second, before Biden can put his progressive agenda fully to work, he must achieve the political equivalent of scaling a sheer, vertical mountain face. 

To comprehend Biden’s predicament, look beyond the bitterly divided country he will lead. He’s also the head of a seriously splintered Democratic Party that agreed to a truce long enough to defeat the common enemy of President Donald Trump but then immediately returned to fighting itself. 

This internecine conflict, along with ongoing confusion over what the party truly stands for, partly explains why the Democratic landslide so many pollsters predicted never materialized. Remember how, just before the election, the Democrats had high hopes of winning America’s political trifecta; the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate?

Poll after poll buoyed these expectations. And with the always outrageous Trump bungling his way through a pandemic, economic crisis and the most serious racial unrest in a half century, the planets seemed aligned for a historic Democratic victory.

October 31, 2020

Pretty much any Democratic body with a healthy pulse should have been able to trounce Trump, or so it seemed. Why this didn’t happen should result in some profound Democratic soul-searching. Yes, Biden won the presidency, but in many of the states he carried, he did so by razor-thin margins. 

Somehow, the Democrats managed to lose seats in the House of Representatives. Nor does it seem likely they’ll wrest control of the Senate from Republican hands. As a result, Biden’s dreams of massive infrastructure spending, a concerted nationwide campaign against climate change as well as overdue health-care reforms could remain just that — dreams.

The Democrats are at loggerheads over why they didn’t do better — a dispute that should itself point to the answer they need. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a self-proclaimed democratic “socialist” who sits in the House of Representatives, blamed incompetent party strategists and their failure to tack farther to the left.

March 6, 2020

To which Democratic Virginia Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger replied, the party should never again use the words “socialist” or “socialism,” and stop talking about defunding the police.

To be sure, this is a fight the Democrats must settle themselves. But it’s worth noting the Democrats made Biden president by persuading more Democrats to come out and vote, not by convincing Republicans to abandon Trump. Millions of more people voted for Trump in 2020 than did in 2016. To really make a difference moving forward, the Democrats need to win over some of those Americans. 

February 11, 2020

As hard it will be for his opponents to admit, Trump expanded his base, including with Black and Hispanic voters. Despite this, the post-election Republicans are also divided, uncertain whether they should stick with Trumpist populism or whether their future lies in more moderate, centrist politics.

What happens next matters greatly, not just to the U.S. but other countries, including Canada, which have experienced sharp, political polarization within, as well as between, political parties. For instance Erin O’Toole, who billed himself as a “true blue” Tory before becoming leader of Canada’s federal Conservatives, is suddenly flirting with populism.

It is fitting that Biden has pledged to be a great unifier and healer. We hope he brings his country together. But first he must unite his own party. Politics has been called the art of the possible. In a democracy, politics can also be categorized as the fine art of compromise. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Friday September 18, 2020

September 18, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 18, 2020

Ontario rolls back gathering limits in some areas as 293 new COVID-19 cases reported

June 9, 2020

Ontario is rolling back gathering limits in some areas of the province and also implementing new fines for people who host and attend large gatherings during the pandemic, Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday.

This comes as the province reported 293 new cases of COVID-19. Infections in Ontario have been on an upswing since mid-August.

Ford said that starting Friday in Toronto, Ottawa and Peel region, gatherings are now limited to 25 people outdoors and 10 indoors. Those new caps don’t extend to places such as restaurants, movie theatres, banquet halls, gyms and convention centres.

May 29, 2020

Ford said that the new gathering limits don’t apply to those areas or to schools, because those places have “really strict protocols in place.”

“We’re comparing apples and oranges here,” Ford said. Instead, the new measures are meant to discourage things like parties.

The premier said the province is also instituting a minimum fine of $10,000 for the organizers of illegal social gatherings, as well as a $750 fine for people who show up to them.

“We will throw the book at you if you break the rules,” Ford said. 

“They must be a few fries short of a happy meal, these people.” (CBC) 

Meanwhile, In response to “ridiculous”  lineups of people waiting to be assessed for COVID-19, Premier Doug Ford said on Tuesday that Ontario residents may soon be able to get tested at local pharmacies. This also prompted Mayor John Tory to call for hours at assessment centres to be extended. (Blog TO) 

 

Tuesday August 25, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday August 25, 2020

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole’s job jar filled to the brim

Canadians may not know much about Erin O’Toole, but they should know this much: Don’t underestimate the Ontario MP who has emerged as the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

June 23, 2020

O’Toole was seen by political insiders and media pundits as a dark horse in the leadership race, which many considered to be a coronation for the more high-profile candidate, Peter MacKay.

However, O’Toole’s team ran a solid, nearly error-free campaign. That and the surprising strength of social conservative candidate Leslyn Lewis, who ultimately threw her support behind O’Toole, sealed the victory. Without that support, he probably would not have easily defeated MacKay.

Now, O’Toole faces a raft of challenges. To start with, who is he, and what sort of party is he leading?

August 17, 2018

When he ran for the leadership last time against Andrew Scheer, O’Toole portrayed himself as a centrist, moderate candidate. That didn’t go particularly well given he finished behind Scheer and the libertarian Max Bernier.

So O’Toole borrowed a page from Bernier’s book, and this time portrayed himself much further to the right, which allowed him to hammer away at MacKay as being too soft, too moderate, too “Liberal lite.” He campaigned much more aggressively and wasn’t above gutter fighting — referring to MacKay as a “liar” during the French language debate.

May 30, 2017

But which O’Toole is leading the party — the more moderate version or the hard-right conservative version? And how will he explain himself to the party and to Canadians, since he cannot be both things?

Then there is his party. From a membership and fundraising perspective, it is in good shape. From a shared vision perspective, things are not so clear. There was general recognition during and after the last election that the party needed to broaden its base of support, particularly in Ontario and Quebec. The CPC may be No. 1 with a bullet in Alberta and Saskatchewan, but that doesn’t mean it will be able to defeat the Liberals and form a government.

October 8, 2016

Growing its support in Ontario and Quebec means the party’s personality and platform must better reflect the views of citizens. But we know there is broad support for strong environmental policies among those citizens, and O’Toole, as well as other candidates, has said he will kill any carbon tax. 

We also know that Ontarians and Quebecers tend to hold more socially progressive views — they don’t want to spend time debating matters of gender and reproductive rights. But O’Toole owes his victory to not one but two social conservative candidates — the aforementioned Lewis and Derek Sloan — who would place restrictions on a woman’s right to choose abortion if she wants one. How will that translate in the minds of central Canadian citizens?

April 28, 2020

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is another leader who owes his party leadership to social conservatives. His way of dealing with this paradox was decidedly Ford-like: He wooed social conservatives when he needed them and then avoided them like the plague once elected leader. The same approach could work for O’Toole, but the national stage is not the same as the Ontario stage. If the new leader doesn’t offer some payback, it will not play well in Western Canada where social conservatism is stronger.

Literally the same day as his victory, so-cons were knocking on O’Toole’s door. The pro-life lobby group We Need a Law issued a statement congratulating him and reminding him to “include the pro-life agenda” in his platform. 

Party personality. His own leadership style. Building a platform that appeals in Ontario and Quebec. O’Toole’s to-do list is daunting. And with a Throne speech coming next month, time is of the essence. (Hamilton Spectator editorial) 

 

Tuesday June 23, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 23, 2020

Tory Leadership Debates Spotlights Bad French, Social Conservative Issues

The contenders for the federal Conservative leadership traded fewer pointed barbs during the English-language debate in Toronto on Thursday, appealing for more party unity to defeat Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.

April 28, 2020

After the presumed front-runners, Peter MacKay and Erin O’Toole, had several heated exchanges during a bumpy debate in French the night earlier, neither showed the same chippiness on stage Thursday, making only the odd jab.

The two-hour debate also gave the social conservatives in the race, Ontario MP Derek Sloan and Toronto lawyer Leslyn Lewis, plenty of runway to share their perspectives. (I(n the French debate, Ontario MP Derek Sloan and Toronto lawyer Leslyn Lewis were left to watch on the sidelines, especially during the open debate format. Both were hampered by their inability to speak French. MacKay and O’Toole’s abilities are passable but would likely be deemed inadmissible if they were debating in English.)

The candidates criticized the Trudeau government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis and its unsuccessful bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council — something both MacKay and O’Toole called a “vanity project” for the prime minister.

June 3, 2020

But they were also asked to weigh in on another issue that is top of mind for many Canadians: systemic racism.

Here are some of the highlights from the last official debate of the race, which will wrap up in August.

Although MacKay repeatedly challenged O’Toole during Wednesday’s French debate to state whether he is pro-choice or anti-abortion — a throwback to the pressure outgoing Tory Leader Andrew Scheer faced during the fall election campaign — there were no such fireworks Thursday. 

Likewise, the two men did not debate each other’s record on LGBTQ issues, including support for same-sex marriage and transgender rights.

May 25, 2019

At one point, Sloan said MacKay and O’Toole would agree with him that it’s “not right Canada doesn’t have any laws when it comes to abortion.” Sloan asserted that Canada’s position is “out of whack with most of the developed world.” Neither man responded to that charge.

Although MacKay and O’Toole have said they oppose conversion therapy, neither objected when Sloan said the Liberals are “radically far to the left” for seeking to ban the practice.

Sloan, who has accused the Liberal government of “effectively putting into law child abuse” with its proposed legislation to ban conversion therapy, said he would repeal such a law as prime minister. Both he and Lewis have also pledged to repeal the transgender rights law enacted by the Liberals in 2016. That law added new rights protections to prevent discrimination based on a person’s gender identity or expression.

October 25, 2016

MacKay and O’Toole may have had strategic imperatives for not challenging Sloan or Lewis on social issues. The next leader of the Conservatives will be chosen according to a ranked ballot, where members list candidates by order of preference. The support of the last place candidate in each round will be redistributed to the second choices of their supporters.

In the 2017 Tory leadership race, support from social conservatives was seen as crucial in helping Scheer best front-runner Maxime Bernier.

Derek Sloan predicted Donald Trump will be re-elected for a second term: “Under this next government, which will be a Conservative government, I know our relationship with the United States will be restored. And I’ll go so far as to say, I am confident that Donald Trump will defy the odds again and be the next administration and when I am leader of the Conservative party, I will give him a call and congratulate him.” (Huffington Post)

 

The monolingual, monotone cast of wannabe Prime Ministers of Canada offer nothing of enlightenment & vision for the difficult times ahead. from r/canadapoliticshumour