Wednesday, March 26, 2014

March 26, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Marois tries to change the channel from alleged student vote fraud

After a weekend spent spreading the spectre of widespread voter fraud by out-of province students that was debunked by Quebec’s chief electoral officer, Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois tried to change the theme to integrity Monday, suggesting the Liberals are lacking in that category.

But the false voter allegation issue refused to die at PQ news conferences, while in Sherbrooke Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard suggested it was a sign Marois’s campaign was in panic mode.

After a brief presentation by Marois in Drummondville explaining why the PQ was the party of integrity as compared to the Liberals, the first question put to her was whether she still had faith in Quebec’s chief electoral officer.

On Sunday, PQ Justice Minister Bertrand St-Arnaud said the Quebec election could be “stolen by people from Ontario and the rest of Canada,” accusations Marois said Sunday made her “sick to her stomach.” The PQ demanded daily reports of new voter registrations.

Marois, accompanied by St-Arnaud, backtracked Monday, but denied suggestions the allegations were exaggerated for electoral gain.

“We do not put in question the integrity of the chief electoral officer,” Marois said. The requests for an investigation were justified, she said, because an Elections Quebec employee reported unusual numbers of non-francophone voters, especially university students, trying to register to vote in the downtown Montreal PQ stronghold riding of Sainte-Marie-Saint-Jacques. Four other ridings were said to have similar issues, she said, confirmed by a spokesperson for Elections Quebec and reported by Le Devoir. Several media outlets later reported the issue as well, she said. (Source: Montreal Gazette)

Thursday, March 13, 2014

March 13, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

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

Is the Rest of Canada still willing to fight to keep Quebec?

“Until next time!” pledges René Lévesque, after his bid for separation was soundly beaten on Referendum Night in 1980. With Quebec now beginning another election campaign — and the Parti Quebecois looking good in early polls — is Canada heading for the next time? Some are asking if it has the will to fight for Quebec one more time.

The Parti Quebecois has come a long way in the 18 months since Madame Marois came to power with a minority government. And the first poll of the campaign – conducted yesterday morning by Leger Marketing — shows the PQ with a strong lead among francophone voters. Most indications at the outset of the campaign are that she will emerge this time with a majority.

And while the PQ hasn’t committed to holding another referendum on Quebec sovereignty, Madame Marois said in February that she is a separatist and if elected she has the right to hold one if the support is there.

Popular support for that within Quebec is one thing. But nearly 20 years since since the last referendum, how energetic is the rest of Canada for another fight for Quebec?

Michael Den Tandt says the appetite to fight to keep Quebec in Canada is waning. He is a columnist with Post Media and joins us from our Ottawa studio. (Continued: CBC News)

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Saturday, September 14, 2013

September 15, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, September 14, 2013

Charter of Quebec Values: Daycares risk losing Muslim educators, group warns

During the one year that Karima Al-Ouatiq has worked at a daycare in the St-Laurent borough, not one parent has complained about the fact that she wears a hijab.

But if the Quebec government has its way, Al-Ouatiq and three of her fellow daycare workers may have to choose between removing their hijabs or quitting their jobs.

“The fact that I wear a hijab is irrelevant,” Al-Ouatiq said on Tuesday. “No one should be able to tell me not to wear one, the same way we don’t tell people not to wear pants or T-shirts.”

The Quebec government released details of its controversial charter of values on Tuesday. If the charter is adopted by the National Assembly, it will ban government employees from wearing religious symbols in daycares, secondary schools and other educational institutions.

Al-Ouatiq said the daycare where she works is multicultural, and many Muslim parents are happy that some of the educators wear hijabs.

“You can’t tell a Muslim woman wearing a hijab that she can’t work with children,” she insisted.

She said she expects the Muslim community to protest against the government’s plan.

“The Muslim community and the Arab community will do something,” she said. “They won’t just sit on their hands.”

Al-Ouatiq said she believes Quebec’s proposed restrictions on religious symbols are part of a “wave that is coming from Europe.” (Source: The Montreal Gazette)

FEEDBACK

This cartoon was featured in a gallery of Editorial Cartoons in the Yahoo! Canada News for September 2013, and here. It received lots of likes, shares, and colourful commentary on the Yahoo! Canada News Facebook Page. It caught the attention of people on the Graeme MacKay – Editorial Cartoonist Facebook Page.

Wednesday September 5, 2012

September 5, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday September 5, 2012

Harper must walk political tightrope in PQ’s Quebec

Blamed by some in his own party for adopting policies that helped reawaken the Quebec independence movement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper now finds himself walking a political tightrope as he prepares to face the demands of a fresh Parti Quebecois government.

“He’s in charge and he’s got to figure it out. So we’re in for great fun and games,” said veteran Quebec Conservative organizer Peter White. “But it isn’t the end of Canada.”

For months, White has argued that Harper and his small team of Quebec MPs were angering a large majority in the province by adopting unpopular policies and decisions in areas such as language, law and order, and the environment.

But despite the fact there are only five Quebec Tory MPs in Ottawa, White has also said Harper could tackle the problem by raising his public profile in Quebec and explaining his policies more.

“Quebecers came very close to saying ‘Yes’ last time (in the 1995 referendum on sovereignty) and things were not nearly as bad then as they are today in terms of the emotion of the thing,” White said Tuesday. (Source: Postmedia)

Friday August 24, 2012

August 24, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Friday August 24, 2012

Corporate Quebec braces for the worst

The hangover from the 1995 sovereignty referendum was not pretty for Montreal. Half a year after a vote that brought Canada to within a sliver of possible breakup, Quebec’s biggest city was left badly shredded.

Its 11% unemployment rate was the highest in urban North America. Residential real estate prices were falling. The vacancy rate for downtown office towers topped 20%. Companies like Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. continued their slow head-office exodus. One Toronto property broker trying to drum up business ran ads in Montreal newspapers that read: “When the road leads you away from Montreal to Toronto, we’ll be at the other end to make you feel right at home.”

There were larger pan-Canadian consequences too, of course. Amid the constitutional crisis, lenders demanded higher interest rates to hold Canada’s debt. That November the dollar fell a cent and a half as post-referendum optimism vanished amid a realization that Canada’s unity problem remained unsolved.

Today, nine years of Liberal Party rule have restored a certain level of stability to the city and to the province as the federalist party wooed private enterprise and buried unity disagreements with Ottawa. But as Quebecers get set to vote again Sept. 4, the corporate world is bracing for change.

“It’s the first time in my life that I sense from the business community a concern this large about the result of an election and the aftermath,” said Yves-Thomas Dorval, head of the Conseil du Patronat, Quebec’s largest business lobby. “There is a lot of worry that the climate for reinvestment won’t be the same.” (Source: Financial Post)