Santa Claus

Thursday December 22, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 22, 2022

Putin Finally Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

September 22, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a significant statement this week as he called the conflict in Ukraine a “war” for the first time since he ordered a full-scale invasion into the neighboring country.

On Thursday, Putin advocated for an end to the “war,” a word he has avoided using to describe what he and the Kremlin have otherwise insisted to be a “special military operation” for the last 10 months.

“Our aim is not to fan the flames of this military conflict, on the contrary, it is to end this war,” Putin told reporters.

Up until now, the Russian president has repeatedly asserted that the ongoing escalation in Ukraine is not a “war” but a “special military operation” that Russia had “no choice” but to conduct to protect Russians living in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Just earlier this month, Putin said the “special military operation” was taking longer than expected as he acknowledged that the battle was taking a toll on his army. Speaking with members of his Human Rights Council, Putin vowed to “consistently fight for our interests” despite it being a “lengthy process.”

September 1, 2022

But Thursday’s comment marks a departure from the narrative Putin has sought to maintain throughout Russia’s invasion, and revealed how fraught the conflict remains just days before Christmas. Calculations from Newsweek estimate that Russia’s death toll is expected to pass 100,000 troop losses on Thursday.

On Thursday, Russia reiterated that it is open to negotiations—a claim that has been met with much skepticism from Ukraine and the West.

“I have said many times: The intensification of hostilities leads to unjustified losses,” Putin said. “All armed conflicts end one way or another with some kind of negotiations on the diplomatic track.”

“Sooner or later, any parties in a state of conflict sit down and make an agreement. The sooner this realization comes to those who oppose us, the better. We have never given up on this,” the Russian president added.

December 24, 2018

His comments come a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an in-person address to Congress during his first trip outside of Ukraine since the conflict began on February 24.

“Russia could stop its aggression…but you can speed up our victory,” Zelensky told American lawmakers on Wednesday night.

Asking for continued assistance from the U.S., the Ukrainian president said, “Your money is not charity, it’s an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.”

During the visit, President Joe Biden announced an additional $1.8 billion in military aid for Ukraine, saying, “I think it’s important for [Zelensky] to know we are going to do everything in our power to see that he succeeds.” (Newsweek) 

 

Thursday December 15, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 15, 2022

Household debt levels could cripple economy, economist warns

November 3, 2022

Canadian household debt levels have increased enough to spark a recession when combined with interest rate hikes, says one economist, after Statistics Canada released its latest report Monday.

Jim Stanford, the director of the Centre for Future Work, said the debt levels are high enough that, as interest rates rise, disposable income ordinarily spent on consumer goods is being used to pay debt.

“Chances are you’re going to see an increased interest bite from household budgets equal to about two or three per cent of GDP,” he said. “That alone is enough to put the economy into a recession, let alone the other impacts on business investment, for example.”

The standard definition of a recession is when the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracts for at least two quarters.

Household consumption accounts for more than 50 per cent of Canada’s GDP, Stanford said, making it the biggest single contributor to economic growth.

Stanford said $16 billion in additional interest payments made over three months is worth more than half of a percentage point of Canada’s GDP.

Statistics Canada’s new figures show for every dollar of disposable income in the third quarter of 2022 there was $1.83 in credit market debt. The figure is a slight increase from the previous quarter and up from $1.77 last year.

Thursday September 8, 2022

The figures come as the Bank of Canada has continued to raise its key policy rate. Last week it hiked the key policy rate another 50 basis points to 4.25 per cent in an effort to fight inflation.

Mortgage payments also hit Canadians hard with interest payments expanding by more than 16 per cent, which is the largest increase on record, according to the StatsCan report.

“It’s certainly hard evidence that the rising interest rates are wreaking havoc with household finances,” Stanford said. “We’ve never seen an interest shock like that to Canadian households before.”

He said he expects the situation to worsen in the coming months.

On Monday, Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem defended the interest rate hikes in Vancouver in front of the Business Council of British Columbia. He said they are working and the country needs to stay the course.

“If we under-tighten, inflation is going to stay too high. Canadians are going to have to continue to endure the hardship of higher inflation,” Macklem said.

He said the bank was surprised at how international events, like the Russian invasion of Ukraine and supply chain issues powered inflation.

He said such trends will make it more difficult to bring inflation down than it has been in the past. (The Toronto Star) From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro … These sped up clips are posted to encourage others to be creative, to take advantage of the technology many of us already have and to use it to produce satire. Comfort the afflicted. Afflict the comforted.

 

Saturday December 10, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday December 10, 2022

Bill 23: Doug Ford’s gift to Hamilton

November 30, 2022

This holiday season, let’s consider the gift that just keeps on giving — Bill 23. Not giving to everyone, mind you. But to those who do benefit, the Ford government’s law to build more and faster is a real gem.

Like the development industry overall, and specifically developers with plans and money to build more sprawl development on lands that used to be protected by being in the Greenbelt. They’re thrilled. Especially those who, coincidentally, purchased some of that land in the not-too-distant past, who will see the value of that land go sky-high as soon as the first developments are approved.

Isn’t that a stroke of good luck? They bought Greenbelt land, and it happened to be soon before the government announced it would make it available for development.

December 18, 2019

And even more coincidence — some of them donated a lot of money to the Progressive Conservative party of Doug Ford. What a crazy world.

You would almost think those developers knew something was coming. But that would mean that someone in the government told them, and Ford assures us that isn’t the case. So nothing to see here, the premier says everything’s just fine. Mind you, he’s the same premier who said not long ago that he wouldn’t authorize development on the Greenbelt, so perhaps his earnest assurances should be taken with a grain of salt.

December 18, 2018

And how about the people of the lovely town of Erin, not far from Guelph? To their surprise, they learned recently that 7,000 acres of their town and region are being added to the Greenbelt, part of the government’s pledge to replace more than what it is taking. Of course, most of the land in the area is agricultural and is being used for that purpose, and it’s unlikely it would ever give way to development in any event.

Erin folks now have Greenbelt protection they didn’t need in the first place.

In addition to the town of Erin, the province will also add into the Greenbelt 13 publicly owned lands in so-called Urban River Valleys across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Consider the words of Kevin Thomason of the Greenbelt West Coalition, who said to Torstar: “This is already protected land … this land is already owned by the government — the areas around creeks and rivers that face no development threat and had no possibility of ever being developed.”

December 10, 2020

Anyone see a trend here? Take prime agricultural land from areas like Niagara and the Duffins Rouge Agriculture Preserve, which have some of the best farming soil in the country, and replace them in the Greenbelt with lands that are not development candidates to begin with. Then call it an even swap. Clever, non?

New Hamilton city councillor Ted McMeekin, also a former provincial municipal affairs minister, today delivers a cogent and impactful summary of what is wrong with Bill 23. It’s recommended reading.

As is the story by Spec journalist Teviah Moro about the impact of the legislation on Hamilton’s tax base. Because Bill 23 removes or reduces development fees from much new construction, Hamilton will forego revenue of between $14 million and $25 million each year. That revenue would typically go to pay for infrastructure such as sewers, roads, bridges and services to support new housing.

November 23, 2022

Here again, developers certainly win by paying lower or no development charges. They get improved profitability, while Hamilton and its taxpayers get — well — Scrooged.

Fortunately, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark says municipalities hit hard by revenue losses could be “made whole,” assuming the province agrees with their business case. Mind you, he was talking about Toronto especially, and also about getting the federal government to use its Housing Accelerator Fund to compensate municipalities.

So, the province changes the rules causing municipalities to lose millions, then it says it’s up to Ottawa to fix the revenue shortfall created by provincial policy. See how they did that?

There you have it — Bill 23, the gift that keeps on giving. Thanks Santa Doug. (The Hamilton Spectator) 

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro … These sped up clips are posted to encourage others to be creative, to take advantage of the technology many of us already have and to use it to produce satire. Comfort the afflicted. Afflict the comforted.

 

 

Wednesday December 16, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 16, 2020

More Senate Republicans warily accept Trump’s loss after Electoral College vote.

Support for President Trump’s attempt to overturn his election loss began to collapse in the Senate on Monday after the Electoral College certified President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory, with many of the chamber’s top Republicans saying the time had come to recognize results that have been evident for weeks.

November 24, 2020

While they insisted that Mr. Trump could still challenge the results in court should he wish, the senators said the certification should be considered the effective conclusion of an election that has fiercely divided the country. And after weeks of silence as Mr. Trump and others in their party sought to overturn the results in increasingly extreme ways, they urged their colleagues to move on.

“I understand there are people who feel strongly about the outcome of this election, but in the end, at some point, you have to face the music,” Senator John Thune of South Dakota, Republicans’ No. 2, told reporters in the Capitol. “And I think once the Electoral College settles the issue today, it’s time for everybody to move on.”

Even Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who initially fanned Mr. Trump’s claims of fraud in key battleground states, said he now saw only “a very, very narrow path for the president” and had spoken with Mr. Biden and some of his likely cabinet nominees.

November 10, 2020

“I don’t see how it gets there from here, given what the Supreme Court did,” he added, referring to the justices’ decision on Friday to reject a long-shot suit by Texas seeking to overturn the results in a handful of states Mr. Biden won.

The comments amounted to a notable and swift sea change in a body that for weeks has essentially refused to acknowledge the inevitable, although the shift was far from unanimous.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, stayed conspicuously silent on Monday, declining to acknowledge Mr. Biden’s victory. He dedicated his only public remarks to stimulus negotiations and ignored a question about the Electoral College proceeding shouted by a reporter in the Capitol.

October 23, 2020

It was unclear on Monday if those who relented were a harbinger of a larger shift by elected Republicans to accept Mr. Trump’s defeat, or a sign of a growing rift within the party between those willing to accept reality and those — a loyal core in the Senate and the vast majority in the House — who appear ready to follow him wherever he leads.

Mr. McConnell’s allies said that he would honor the election outcome come January, but did not want to pick a fight with Mr. Trump now, for fear of damaging Republicans’ chances in a pair of January Senate runoff elections in Georgia that will decide control of the chamber.

He is also concerned, they said, that doing so could jeopardize a string of year-end legislative priorities that will require the president’s signature, including a catchall spending measure and the stimulus package to address the continuing toll of the pandemic. (New York Times)