retro

Wednesday April 3, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 3, 2019

Doug Ford defends plan to change Ontario licence plate slogan

Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservatives are defending their plan to change the slogan on Ontario’s licence plates as a signal that a new government is running the province.

June 27, 2018

Ford faced questions in the Legislature on Tuesday about his admission that he intends to replace the “Yours To Discover” slogan on licence plates.

“I can tell you that people across this province want change. They voted for change, and they’re getting change,” Ford responded.

Ford claimed changing the licence plates won’t cost taxpayers anything.

The PCs are considering putting “Open For Business” on commercial plates and a different slogan for the plates on passenger vehicles, government officials have confirmed. Ford said this week that the new slogans will be revealed in the budget on April 11.

Licence plate design falls under the portfolio of Government Services Minister Bill Walker and he too is indicating there’s a political reason behind changing the slogan.

“What we want to do is turn the channel; we want to turn the page on a dire economic situation that the Liberal government after 15 years of mismanagement left us in,” Walker said Tuesday in response to reporters’ questions about the licence plate slogan.

“Yours to Discover” has been on Ontario plates for 37 years. The PC government of Bill Davis brought in the slogan in 1982, replacing “Keep It Beautiful.”

The Ford government wants to “ensure that Ontario says to the world, ‘We are back on stage,'” Walker said. “We’re looking at all kinds of different options to brand our province as open for business, open for jobs.”

The opposition parties are hammering Ford and his PCs for the plan. (Source: CBC News) 

 

Wednesday June 27, 2018

 

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 27, 2018

Doug Ford wants consultations on cannabis sales in Ontario

With the legalization of recreational cannabis now months away, Ontario’s incoming premier said he wants to consult further with municipalities, stakeholders and his caucus before deciding whether to change the plan laid out by his predecessors for the sale of marijuana.

January 23, 2018

The outgoing Liberals had planned to roll out 150 standalone pot stores run by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario by the end of 2020, with the first 40 scheduled to open this year.

Doug Ford, who was elected this month, had previously suggested he would be open to greater privatization of marijuana sales.

But when asked about his plan for pot sales on Thursday, Ford said he’s focusing on the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which he said already has infrastructure in place that would allow it to sell marijuana once it becomes legal this fall.

“What I said is I’d be focusing on the LCBO. I’m private sector, I don’t believe government should stick their nose into everything, but again, this is a path we have never went down,” he said. “We’re going to tread carefully on this and we’re going to consult with the local municipalities and we’re going to make a decision after we talk to caucus.”

January 23, 2014

The Progressive Conservatives say when the premier-designate talks about focusing on the LCBO, he’s referring to Ontario Cannabis Stores run by the LCBO, as the outgoing Liberal government planned.

Ford also suggested Thursday that Ottawa had left the provinces with little support to prepare for legalization.

“This is a path that the federal government has dumped on all the provinces,” he said.

The federal government announced this week that Canadians will be able to legally purchase recreational marijuana starting Oct. 17. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said legalization was pushed back at the request of several provinces who sought more time to make the transition. (Source: CTV) 

SaveSave

SaveSave

Saturday August 15, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Saturday August 15, 2015 The Hamilton Spectator recenly put out an appeal for people to send in memories of their favourite local restaurants. (Source: http://thespec-stories.com/2015/08/14/flashback-restaurant-memories/) After the results came in and the eateries were tallied I was called on to draw some kind of map. Maybe it's my own experience with greasy spoons that an immediate visual lit off in my head at the mere mention of the words "map" and "diner", was the simple often under-appreciated image of a paper placemat. While at age 46 I'm too young to remember many of the locations on the map, the experience is quite familliar eating in similar retro establishments common all over North America. As a kid, I loved poring over the neat little drawings on paper placemats, particularly on road trips to the beach. I'd be totally in my element with my family, in a restaurant booth somewhere in northern Florida waiting for my order of chicken & fries in a basket while anticipating in the excitement that laid ahead gazing upon a welcome to state paper placemat map. It was a complete delight to use those memories as inspiration to come up with this map. illustration, hamilton, retro, vintage, cafe, restaurants, placemat, 1950s, 1960s

Click here for a larger image

By Graeme MacKay – Saturday August 15, 2015

Homage to the Paper Placemat

Source: Newseum.org

Source: Newseum.org

The Hamilton Spectator recenly put out an appeal for people to send in memories of their favourite local restaurants. After the results came in and the eateries were tallied, Spec reporter Saira Peesker was tasked to write the story, Librarian Tammie Danciu researched and dug up old archival photos, and I was called on to draw some kind of map. Afterall, I am a self confessed map-maniac. Maybe it’s my own experience with greasy spoons that an immediate visual lit off in my head at the mere mention of the words “map” and “diner”, was the simple often under-appreciated image of a paper placemat. While at age 46 I’m too young to remember many of the locations on the map, the experience is quite familliar eating in similar retro establishments common all over North America. As a kid, I loved poring over the neat little drawings on paper placemats, particularly on road trips to the beach. I’d be totally in my element with my family, in a restaurant booth somewhere in northern Florida waiting for my order of chicken & fries in a basket while anticipating in the excitement that laid ahead gazing upon a welcome to state paper placemat map. It was a complete delight to use those memories as inspiration to come up with this map.RB-HamMap-promo2

For sale at the mackaycartoons boutique: Redbubble has been authorized a non-exclusive royalty free license to use this illustration for display on a one time basis. Unauthourized duplication of this image is strictly prohibited. Please refer to contact information through http://www.mackaycartoons.net for re-use rights. By Graeme MacKay Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Illustrated between 1994-2015

 

Ontario Election Throw-Back: Monday September 10, 2007

Monday September 10, 2007By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday September 10, 2007

Ontario’s election campaign now underway

They’ve been running all summer. Now comes the 30-day sprint to the finish.

The campaign for the Oct. 10 Ontario election gets underway Monday when Premier Dalton McGuinty visits the lieutenant-governor to formally drop the writ and dissolve the Ontario legislature.

The vote is expected to be a referendum of sorts on McGuinty and the Liberals, with their healthy majority – won in 2003 atop cresting public dissatisfaction with Conservative spending cuts – hanging in the balance.

Chipping away at an apparent Liberal lead are the reborn Progressive Conservatives, who are embracing the “progressive” part of their moniker in an effort to distance themselves from the slash-and-burn days of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.

The issues and tone expected to shape the campaign were in full evidence Sunday, as Conservative Leader John Tory trashed what he called McGuinty’s record of broken promises and the Liberal leader took aim at a Tory proposal to fund faith-based schools.

The Conservative and Liberal platforms are similar in many ways, with both promising more money for health care and education.

The New Democrats have yet to unveil their platform, but Leader Howard Hampton has made several campaign pledges of his own in recent weeks.

More: Two decades of Ontario Elections