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Saturday September 29, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 29, 2018

Doug Ford kills Drive Clean emissions testing

The brakes are being slammed on the controversial Drive Clean auto emissions plan.

Premier Doug Ford announced Friday that as of April 1 of next year, the “outdated” mandatory program for passenger cars and trucks will lend.

July 11, 2018

Instead, the Progressive Conservative government will clamp down on big commercial polluters by enhancing the smog checks on transport trucks and other industrial vehicles.

“By ending Drive Clean tests and repairs for passenger vehicles, this government is reducing the burden on residents and families who own a car,” Ford said at a service garage on Martin Grove Rd.

“They no longer need to take time out of their days to take their vehicles in for unnecessary tests,” the premier said, adding the government will save $40 million a year.

That’s because the previous Liberal government eliminated the $30 test fees last year, but Queen’s Park still had to foot the tab.

Created by former Tory premier Mike Harris in 1999, Drive Clean has long been a bone of contention for motorists because most vehicles passed the emissions tests.

Successive PC and Liberal governments resisted the temptation to halt the program because it kept 335 tonnes of pollutants out of the air annually.

Cars and trucks are responsible for one third of all emissions of greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change.

Green Leader Mike Schreiner said while “the Drive Clean program is no longer as relevant as it once was,” the new Tory government has done nothing to reduce pollution since taking office 12 weeks ago.

“When you look at the list of things this government has done on the environment file, all you see are cuts,” said Schreiner, pointing to the decision to exit the cap-and-trade climate accord with Quebec and California. (Source: Toronto Star) 

Thursday October 25, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 25, 2012

Dwight Duncan decides not to run

Dalton McGuinty shows Dwight Duncan what the Premier inherits

The race to succeed Premier Dalton McGuinty as Ontario Liberal leader is shaping up as a historic showdown between powerful women.

With Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s decision not to run for the Jan. 25-27 leadership, the leading contenders to replace McGuinty are now former minister Sandra Pupatello and Municipal Affairs Minister Kathleen Wynne.

Duncan, 53, endorsed Pupatello, his long-time friend and fellow Windsor native, when he announced Wednesday he would not seek re-election in Windsor—Tecumseh in a vote expected next spring.

His move — eight days after McGuinty’s surprise resignation — radically alters altered Ontario’s political landscape and the race for the Liberal crown.

“I’m obviously interested because I’m getting that fire in my belly all over again. I can’t deny that,” said Pupatello, 50, who left politics before the Oct. 6, 2011 provincial election.

“But I have some serious logistical issues that I have to work out,” said the former Windsor West MPP, now director of business development and global markets for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, referring to the fact her husband works in Newfoundland.

“It’s a much bigger leap for me to get back in than it is for those that are already at Queen’s Park,” she said, adding it could be talented field with candidates like Wynne, 59, and Health Minister Deb Matthews, 58.

Duncan admitted Pupatello won’t get a free pass on some of the Liberal government’s recent troubles, such as the controversial scrapping of gas-fired power plants in Oakville and Mississauga.(Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Wednesday October 10, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday October 10, 2012

Will Trudeaumania strike twice?

Hamilton and the federal Liberal party once had a healthy romance going. The Steel City could be counted on to send a few Liberal MPs to Ottawa come election time and counted among them powerhouses John Munro and Sheila Copps.

This was especially true during the heady days of Trudeaumania, in the late 1960s.

Today, Liberal leadership candidate Justin Trudeau hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps and see if he can make history’s magic repeat itself.

He’s visiting Hamilton Wednesday night as part of a mini-tour of the region.

Trudeau, 40, will be at the downtown Sheraton Hotel from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. His staff says he will be joined by Liberal supporters and local community members. Admission is free and members of the public are welcome.

“His old man galvanized Canadians and brought them together like never before,” said well-known local Liberal Bert Allen. “I think this guy can do what his old man did in 1968.”

Trudeau also wants to “meet with Hamilton residents” at the event and speak to them about his “vision for Canada and the Liberal party.”

Justin Trudeau paid a visit to the city on Nov. 19, 2007 to help out Hamilton Mountain Liberal candidate Tyler Banham (now part of Trudeau’s Ontario leadership team). The newly-minted Quebec MP was greeted by more than 100 diehard Liberals at two events. There was a palpable excitement in the air. People pulled him this way and that way to get their picture taken with him and two people proclaimed he would be prime minister one day. He said it was a challenge growing up in his father’s shadow. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)