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Saturday February 25, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 25, 2023

Ottawa should get serious about Chinese meddling in elections

November 16, 2022

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presumably meant to be reassuring when he commented on the latest revelations about Chinese interference in Canada’s last two federal elections. He failed in at least a couple of ways.

After it was reported last week that the Chinese government orchestrated an extensive campaign of disinformation, undeclared cash donations and string-pulling in an attempt to influence public opinion and limit the Liberals to another minority 

government, the prime minister had this to say:

“All Canadians can have confidence that the outcomes of the 2019 and 2021 elections were determined by Canadians, and Canadians alone, at the voting booth.”

The first problem with that statement is that no one is claiming that non-Canadians, and certainly not Chinese agents, actually showed up at the polls to vote. Nor is anyone claiming that Chinese-orchestrated interference was extensive or effective enough to affect the overall result of the elections.

That’s a classic straw man — an argument no one is making and that can be brushed aside with ease. The concern is quite different but still worrisome: that China has been meddling in a host of indirect ways designed to swing public opinion in its favour and affect the outcome in some specific places. Oh, and that are often illegal to boot.

February 20, 2021

To that the government has offered no convincing reply. On the contrary, it seems remarkably complacent about the latest information, contained in internal documents prepared by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and reported by the Globe and Mail.

The government’s response to these revelations, and other ones last fall concerning the 2019 election, can be summed up as: we know all about this, nothing new here, it’s under control, please move on. That wasn’t working very well before (a Commons committee has been looking into the 2019 vote) and it certainly isn’t going to work now after the latest dump of CSIS documents.

Even if the overall result of the elections wasn’t at stake, it’s impossible to tell what effect the Chinese operation might have had in the 11 ridings it reportedly targeted in 2019, involving nine Liberal and two Conservative MPs. One former Conservative MP, Kenny Chiu, claims he lost his Vancouver-area seat in 2021 because Beijing used Chinese social media to paint him as “anti-Chinese” in a riding with many Chinese-heritage voters. Isn’t that serious all by itself?

We don’t need to accept everything in the CSIS information at face value to be concerned. For example, a former Chinese consul-general in Vancouver, Tong Xiaoling, reportedly boasted about defeating two Conservative MPs. She may well have been just puffing herself up in front of her bosses — people do that sort of thing — but who knows?

November 20, 2020

What’s missing from the government’s response isn’t just stronger words, though those would be welcome. What’s missing is any sign of concrete action to stop and indeed punish this kind of meddlesome behaviour by a foreign power that has shown it doesn’t respect our country or our government.

One of the actions reportedly orchestrated through China’s “diplomats” in Canada involved persuading sympathetic or intimidated people to donate to a candidate that Beijing wanted to see elected. The donor got a partial tax refund, and the embassy or consulate then kicked back the rest.

If that’s really been going on, it would be entirely illegal under Canada’s election laws. But there’s no sign that the RCMP or any other body has been unleashed to investigate and punish such activity. If it was really organized by Chinese representatives, they should be ordered out of the country pronto.

Canada has toughened its stance toward China in some other areas — notably in cracking down on university research funded by Chinese military or security entities. That makes the government’s continuing complacency on election interference even harder to explain. (Toronto Star editorial)

Friday February 24, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 24, 2023

Total number of civilian casualties in Putin’s invasion

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is precisely one year old, Vladimir Putin having announced his “special military operation” on 24 February 2022.

January 26, 2023

Western nations have ramped up military suport for Kyiv since the near year, with Germany and the US both announcing in January that they would send battle tanks to Ukraine.

Berlin will provide 14 Leopard 2 tanks from military stocks as a first step. The training of Ukrainian troops in their use will begin in Germany soon, with logistics support and ammunition part of the package.

The US will meanwhile send 31 M1 Abram tanks in the coming months.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz came under huge international pressure to approve the use of the Leopard 2 models, with nations requiring permission from Germany to re-export those in their own armies. The eventual decision to go ahead paves the way for other countries such as Poland, Spain and Norway to supply their stocks of Leopard 2 tanks too.

December 22, 2022

Between the war’s commencement on 24 February 2022 and 21 February 2023, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has recorded 21,293 civilian casualties in the country: 8,006 killed and 13,287 injured.

According to the UN OHCHR, of the adult civilian casualties whose sex is known, men accounted for 61.1 per cent of civilian casualties and women for 39.9 per cent.

At least 487 children were killed and 954 injured.

An estimated 90.3 per cent of civilian casualties were caused by explosive weapons with wide area effects, including artillery shells, cruise and ballistic missiles, and air strikes. Most occurred in populated areas.

The OHCHR has also recorded 632 civilian casualties – 219 killed and 413 injured – caused by mines and explosive remnants of war.

September 14, 2022

The UN understands the actual number of civilian deaths are considerably higher than reported, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.

According to Ukraine’s leading war crimes prosecutor, more than 100,000 Ukrainian civilians are believed to have been killed over the course of the last year, more than 10 times the current official death toll.

The horrific tally illustrates the scale of devastation in the country, which has fought a relentless onslaught from Vladimir Putin’s forces since their invasion on 24 February last year.

Speaking to The Independent, prosecutor Yuriy Belousov revealed his fears about the human cost on the civilian population.

“There could be 100,000 civilians killed across Ukraine, whose bodies will have to be found and identified once occupied territory is liberated,” Mr Belousov said. The current official death toll published by the UN this week puts the official death toll at 8,000.

March 1, 2022

Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has branded Mr Putin a “nobody” and suggested it is too late for face-to-face peace talks with the Russian leader to make any difference.

In an interview, Mr Zelensky described the Russian president as a “man who said one thing and then did another” as he said he was not interested in meeting him.

Speaking in English, he said: “It is not interesting for me. Not interesting to meet, not interesting to speak. Why? Because we had meeting with him in Normandy Format, it was before full-scale invasion.

“I saw the man who said one thing and then did another. So for me, I can’t understand – is it his decisions or somebody else? So to meet what – to shake hands? Not interesting. To speak? I really don’t understand who makes decisions in Russia.”

He also accused Russia’s president of having a disregard for his troops and throwing them “into the meat grinder”, ahead of an anticipated new offensive. (The Independent)

Thursday February 16, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 16, 2023

Ford won’t say who sent invites to daughter’s $150 stag-and-doe event

January 28, 2023

Ontario Premier Doug Ford did not divulge details of who sent invitations – including to developers – for his daughter’s $150-a-ticket stag-and-doe party last summer, saying only “the boys” took care of the money that was raised.

His office later said “the boys” was a reference to the premier’s son-in-law and the man’s friends.

The integrity commissioner has cleared Ford over the stag and doe, which is typically a fundraiser for a couple before they get married.

Ford bristled at journalists’ questions Wednesday about the pre-wedding event that had an unknown number of developers in attendance.

January 17, 2023

“In my opinion, it’s absolutely ridiculous about a $150 stag, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Ford said Friday at a funding announcement for auto parts maker Magna in Brampton, Ont.

Based on information provided by Ford, the integrity commissioner said the premier had no knowledge of gifts given to his daughter and son-in-law. The commissioner said there was no discussion of government business at the event, but confirmed developers who are longtime friends of the Ford family were there.

When asked how much money was raised at the stag and doe from developers and who the money went to, Ford said “the boys took care of that.”

The premier said he and his family know “tens of thousands of people.”

December 10, 2022

“No one can influence the Fords,” the premier said.

Several months after the stag and doe, the province announced it was opening up the protected Greenbelt to build 50,000 homes as part of its plan to build 1.5 million homes in 10 years.

Ontario’s integrity commissioner and auditor general are conducting separate investigations into the government’s decision to open the Greenbelt to development – both Ford and Housing Minister Steve Clark have denied any wrongdoing. (CBC)

 

Saturday January 28, 2023

January 28, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 28, 2023

Developers who bought Ontario Greenbelt land linked to Ford government

YDF Merch

Since Ontario Premier Doug Ford was first elected four years ago, developers have paid tens of millions of dollars for a number of properties that include protected lands the province is now proposing to carve out of the Greenbelt.

Among those properties is a substantial piece of land lying largely in the Greenbelt that sold for $80-million in September, just weeks before the government revealed its new plan.

During the 2018 election campaign, Mr. Ford promised not to touch the Greenbelt – a vast arc of farmland, forests and wetlands across Southern Ontario. The pledge followed public uproar over a video that showed him saying he would allow housing development on a “big chunk” of the protected area. Again, in late 2020, he made a similar promise.

May 3, 2018

The Ford government reversed itself in November, announcing plans to remove 7,400 acres from the Greenbelt for the construction of at least 50,000 new homes. At the same time, land elsewhere would be added to the Greenbelt that, the government says, would result in a net increase of 2,000 acres.

The proposal to open up the Greenbelt to development has sparked protest from environmentalists, agriculture advocates and land-use experts, who argue that swapping one piece for another may be ineffective, because land has different environmental values, and that this also paves the way for other developers to push for their properties to be removed from the Greenbelt.

The proposed carve-outs of 15 areas of land include at least nine properties that were bought by developers for $10-million or more – transactions that topped $300-million in total – since the Progressive Conservatives took office in 2018, property records show.

November 23, 2022

At least four developers who bought the properties the government is now proposing to remove from the Greenbelt have either donated to the PC Party, hired conservative lobbyists, or both.

The government defended the decision to open up parcels of Greenbelt land to development but did not address questions related to the developers.

Among the sales in the Greenbelt parcels up for potential development, the most recent occurred in mid-September, about six weeks before the government’s announcement.

On Sept. 15, a company controlled by developer Michael Rice bought the 280-hectare property in the Township of King for $80-million. The real estate agent who sold the property promoted it as a “prime land-banking opportunity,” referring to the practice of holding undeveloped land for future opportunities.

The property had previously traded hands in 2000 – before the Greenbelt protections were put in place – for about $9.3-million.

October 27, 2011

Mr. Rice’s development company, Rice Group, hired Frank Klees, a former Ontario PC cabinet minister, between 2019-20 to lobby the government “on the economic development opportunities represented by a number of the client’s emerging projects,” the lobbyist registry says. The contract predated Mr. Rice’s purchase of the land in King Township. Mr. Klees did not return an e-mail seeking comment.

In addition, provincial records also show that a person with the name Michael Rice has donated more than $10,500 to the PC Party since 2018. This individual also donated money to the Liberals in 2018. As well, three donors with the same names as Rice Group executives have given the PC Party thousands of dollars since 2018.

Mr. Rice did not respond to e-mails requesting comment. (The Globe and Mail)

Friday January 27, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday January 27, 2023

COVID-19 misinformation cost at least 2,800 lives and $300M, new report says

August 7, 2020

The spread of COVID-19 misinformation in Canada cost at least 2,800 lives and $300 million in hospital expenses over nine months of the pandemic, according to estimates in a new report out Thursday.

The report — released by the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), an independent research organization that receives federal funding — examined how misinformation affected COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths between March and November of 2021.

The authors suggest that misinformation contributed to vaccine hesitancy for 2.3 million Canadians. Had more people been willing to roll up their sleeves when a vaccine was first available to them, Canada could have seen roughly 200,000 fewer COVID cases and 13,000 fewer hospitalizations, the report says.

July 15, 2022

Alex Himelfarb, chair of the expert panel that wrote the report, said that its estimates are very conservative because it only examined a nine-month period of the pandemic.

“It’s pretty clear that tens of thousands of hospitalizations did occur because of misinformation,” Himelfarb told reporters. “We are confident that those are conservative estimates.”

Himelfarb also said the $300 million estimate covers only hospital costs — the study didn’t include indirect costs associated with factors such as delayed elective surgeries and lost wages.

A number of studies have found that getting vaccinated can reduce the risk of COVID infection and hospitalization. But only 80 per cent of Canadians have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest data from Health Canada.

June 26, 2019

The CCA report defines two groups of vaccine-hesitant individuals: those who were reluctant to get a shot and those who refused. It says that reluctant individuals expressed concerns about vaccines in general and questioned the speed with which COVID vaccines were developed.

Vaccine refusers, on the other hand, were more likely to believe that the pandemic is a hoax or greatly exaggerated, the report says.

Beyond the health impacts, misinformation is depriving people of their right to be informed, said Stephan Lewandowsky, a professor at the University of Bristol’s School of Psychological Science in the U.K. and one of the report’s authors.

September 24, 2021

“In a democracy, the public should be able to understand the risks we’re facing … and act on that basis,” he said. “But if you’re drenched in misinformation … then you’re distorting the public’s ability — and you’re denying people the right — to be informed about the risks they’re facing.”

The report says misinformation relies on simple messages meant to evoke emotional reactions. It says misinformation is often presented as coming from a credible source, such as a scientific publication. (CBC)

Letter to the Editor – The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday January 31, 2023

MacKay unfair to anti-vaxxers

Again the tolerant and inclusive left shows their magnanimous humanity. Has MacKay explored the arguments of the side pushing back against the mandates, lockdowns, and other infringements on Charter rights, or is he content to show them as loudmouths dying for their freedom?

DeWitt Shainline, Hamilton