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Wednesday December 20, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 20, 2017

Payday lenders squeezed by new regulations

After more than two decades in the payday-loan industry, Anthony Piet faces his most difficult year in the business.

February 16, 2017

Mr. Piet operates eight Money Mart franchises sprinkled across Canada, located in small towns such as Banff, Alta., and Timmins, Ont. Legislative changes in numerous provinces – including Ontario, to take effect on Jan. 1 – have squeezed payday lenders, in particular smaller players such as Hamilton-based Mr. Piet. New rules reduce how much they can charge and put restrictions on lending.

“Tough,” says Mr. Piet of his 2018 outlook. “Really tough.”

December 11, 2015

The much-maligned payday-loan industry sells short-term loans at a high cost, mostly to lower-income Canadians. If a person doesn’t have access to credit, but is short on money in between paycheques and needs to cover something essential, such as the hydro bill, a lender such as Money Mart is an easy and fast place to get cash. The loans are generally repaid quickly, but the fees, which long stood at more than $20 for every $100 borrowed, added up to an annual interest rate of 500 per cent and more.

December 6, 2014

Provinces across Canada have tightened the rules that govern the industry. Payday lenders insist they provide an essential service, but they have been widely criticized for exploiting vulnerable customers and charging too much. Now they say their margins are being squeezed so badly that they’re fighting for survival.

September 11, 2015

The number of payday lenders operating in Canada has been on a downward trend for several years, in part because of the new legislation. In 2017, there are an estimated 1,360, down 5 per cent from 1,434 in 2015.

For Mr. Piet, with one Money Mart in Alberta, he has taken pragmatic measures. He has reduced hours of operation, cut advertising and pulled back on community contributions. He called his Banff store’s future “tenuous.”

In Ontario, where his Money Marts are in Timmins and Simcoe, Mr. Piet doesn’t feel the new rules in the province foretell looming closures but feels like he is in a vise as he draws up budgets for the coming year. “Everything is under the microscope,” he said. (Source: Globe & Mail) 

 

Tuesday December 19, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday December 19, 2017

Trump considers rolling back rules protecting coal miners from black lung disease

President Donald Trump’s mining regulators are reconsidering rules meant to protect underground miners from breathing coal and rock dust — the cause of black lung — and diesel exhaust, which can cause cancer. An advocate for coal miners said Friday that this sends a “very bad signal.”

The Mine Safety and Health Administration has asked for public comments on whether standards “could be improved or made more effective or less burdensome by accommodating advances in technology, innovative techniques, or less costly methods.”

Some “requirements that could be streamlined or replaced in frequency” involve coal and rock dust. Others address diesel exhaust, which can have health impacts ranging from headaches and nausea to respiratory disease and cancer.

“Because of the carcinogenic health risk to miners from exposure to diesel exhaust, MSHA is requesting information on approaches that would improve control of diesel particulate matter and diesel exhaust,” the agency said.

The Trump administration has said many federal regulations, including pollution restrictions, have depressed the coal industry and other sectors of the economy.

“President Trump made clear the progress his Administration is making in bringing common sense to regulations that hold back job creation and prosperity,” Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said Thursday in releasing his agency’s regulatory and deregulatory agenda. “The Department of Labor will continue to protect American workers’ interests while limiting the burdens of over-regulation.”

The notices on coal dust and underground diesel exhaust had few details. Both were described as “pre-rule stage.” (Source: Associated Press) 

 

Thursday December 22, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Thursday December 22, 2016 Conscientious objection to vaccines has doubled in 20 years The number of parents opting out of measles vaccines for their kids because of conscientious or religious beliefs has doubled in 20 years, leaving Ontario's public health system struggling to stop a trend of "increasing concern." "It's a massive challenge because the numbers are going up," said Paul Bramadat, an editor and writer of a book coming out in 2017 on vaccine hesitancy in Canada. "There has always been this kind of faith that if I just give you the right study or if I just give you the right pamphlet, you'llÊsee the jury is in and the case is closed and vaccines are actually safe and effective and the best way for us to prevent really terrible pandemics É It turns out all those anxieties can be addressed by science, but even when they are addressed that is not sufficient.ÓÊ Facts and evidence are battling a formidable foe, a "hip and cool" campaign that uses social media to spread its message, taps into a desire to live more naturally and takes advantage of a growing distrust of science and public institutions. "The anti-vaccine movement is very sophisticated," said Ellen Amster, chair in the history of medicine at McMaster University who studies vaccine hesitancy. "It's definitely a movement. There are people who are co-ordinated, who raise money, who buy billboards and publish children'sÊbooks. They are very smart. They have celebrities. They have all these strategies to make it approachable, understandable and to make you feel you're being empowered with this information." Public health has had to turn its messaging on its head to combat hesitancy.Ê "Immunization is now a topic we all discuss," said Dr. Julie Emili, a Hamilton associate medical officer of health. "I'd say 10 years ago we didn't do many interviews about immunizations. It was assumed people just get their shots. There wasn't this whole

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 22, 2016

Conscientious objection to vaccines has doubled in 20 years

The number of parents opting out of measles vaccines for their kids because of conscientious or religious beliefs has doubled in 20 years, leaving Ontario’s public health system struggling to stop a trend of “increasing concern.”

February 6, 2015

February 6, 2015

“It’s a massive challenge because the numbers are going up,” said Paul Bramadat, an editor and writer of a book coming out in 2017 on vaccine hesitancy in Canada. “There has always been this kind of faith that if I just give you the right study or if I just give you the right pamphlet, you’ll see the jury is in and the case is closed and vaccines are actually safe and effective and the best way for us to prevent really terrible pandemics … It turns out all those anxieties can be addressed by science, but even when they are addressed that is not sufficient.”

Friday, December 6, 2013

December 6, 2013

Facts and evidence are battling a formidable foe, a “hip and cool” campaign that uses social media to spread its message, taps into a desire to live more naturally and takes advantage of a growing distrust of science and public institutions.

“The anti-vaccine movement is very sophisticated,” said Ellen Amster, chair in the history of medicine at McMaster University who studies vaccine hesitancy. “It’s definitely a movement. There are people who are co-ordinated, who raise money, who buy billboards and publish children’s books. They are very smart. They have celebrities. They have all these strategies to make it approachable, understandable and to make you feel you’re being empowered with this information.”

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Friday April 29, 2016 Naturopath who treated boy who died of meningitis should be held accountable, physicians say The naturopath who treated Ezekiel Stephan, an Alberta boy who died of bacterial meningitis in 2012, Òdid not meet the standard of careÓ and should be held accountable for her actions, according to a critical letter sent to the College of Naturopathic Doctors of Alberta by nearly four dozen physicians across Canada. The situation raises broader questions about the growing trend toward the regulation of naturopaths in Canada and whether the colleges are doing proper oversight, said Michelle Cohen, a family physician in Brighton, Ont., who wrote the letter. The college has opened an investigation based on the letter and did not respond to an interview request. David and Collet Stephan were found guilty in a Lethbridge court on Tuesday of failing to provide the necessaries of life for their son Ezekiel, who was 19 months old. The Stephans went to a naturopath, Tracey Tannis, because they suspected that the boy had meningitis. The naturopath testified that she did not physically examine Ezekiel and that she had advised the Stephans to take him to a hospital. But she gave Ms. Stephan an echinacea treatment for the child. Others testified that Dr. Tannis discussed EzekielÕs case with his mother. Naturopaths are governed by a self-regulatory college in Alberta, in a manner similar to doctors and nurses. Dr. Tannis is still listed as a member in good standing of the College of Naturopathic Doctors of Alberta and there are no notes attached to her registration to suggest that there have been any concerns about her actions. The physiciansÕ letter criticizes the naturopath for recommending a treatment for a sick child without having examined him and for failing to provide vital information about the grave risks of meningitis and the urgent need for a lumbar puncture and treatment to prevent death

April 29, 2016

Public health has had to turn its messaging on its head to combat hesitancy.

“Immunization is now a topic we all discuss,” said Dr. Julie Emili, a Hamilton associate medical officer of health. “I’d say 10 years ago we didn’t do many interviews about immunizations. It was assumed people just get their shots. There wasn’t this whole discussion about, ‘Should I get my shots or shouldn’t I?’” (Continued: Hamilton Spectator)

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Wednesday, December 11, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, December 11, 2013

‘This is not a race’: Baird defends delay in making claim for North Pole

Canada has filed a claim that dramatically expands the country’s boundaries in the Atlantic Ocean, but it will be a few more years before Canadian scientists determine whether that claim can extend all the way to the North Pole.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird — along with Minister for the Arctic Council Leona Aglukkaq — announced Canada’s submission with the UN’s Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which covers 1.2 million square kilometres of the Atlantic Ocean floor.

During a news conference in Ottawa on Monday, Baird said Canada also filed preliminary information on what it believes to be the outer limits of its claim to the Arctic seafloor.

While the area is not yet fully mapped, Baird says Canada will try to extend its territorial claims to the North Pole.

Tuesday February 3, 2015“We are determined to ensure that all Canadians benefit from the tremendous resources that are to be found in Canada’s Far North,” he said.

The Arctic is believed to contain as much as one-quarter of the world’s undiscovered energy resources.

Aglukkaq said expanding Canada’s continental shelf is central to Canada’s future economic prosperity.

“We are defining Canada’s last frontier,” she said.

Canada, Denmark and Russia all say they believe the mineral- and oil-rich Lomonosov Ridge, which runs beneath the ocean and close to the geographic North Pole, is a natural extension of their continental shelves. The ridge is where scientists must focus their work, Baird said.

The UN submissions will not lead to a binding decision, but instead set up negotiations between countries staking a claim to the region. Talks could drag on for years.

“This is not a race,” Baird said. “This will be something that will benefit the people of Canada for centuries to come and we wanted to take the time to get it right.”

Baird did not explain at his news conference why, after 10 years of research, the mapping work remains incomplete. (Source: CTV News)

Friday, November 15, 2013

Friday, November 15, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, November 15, 2013

Rob Ford’s comments ‘disappointing’ to Toronto Argonauts

The ongoing saga involving Toronto Mayor Rob Ford spilled over its political banks into the sports world on Thursday.

After his contentious showdown with council on Wednesday, Ford chose to switch up his workday wardrobe Thursday and wore his Toronto Argonauts sweater, complete with “Mayor Ford” on the nameplate and the No. 12, the year the Argos hosted and won the Grey Cup.

But while wearing the sweater to promote this weekend’s CFL East final against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Ford made comments on media reports coming from the second round of revelations coming from Toronto Police’s Information To Obtain document. More portions of the document, which were filed as part of the case against Ford’s friend and driver Alexander Lisi, were released by the courts on Wednesday night. Ford’s comments included a profane response to allegations he made sexually explicit comments to a former female staffer, for which he later apologized.

With the Argos preparing on the field Thursday afternoon, preparing for the East Division final — a game against their historic rivals, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats — the team’s media relations officials were pacing the sidelines, tied to their mobile telephones. Questions flooded in from all manners of outlets, but not many relating to football.

The team released a statement expressing their displeasure at being dragged into the the Mayor’s theatre of the absurd.

At the end of Ford’s comments, in which he said he would take legal action against former staffers for their statements made to police, Ford dropped in an Argos game promotion before returning to his dismissal of the information in the ITO.

“And the next thing, I wanna call Mayor [Bob] Bratina in Hamilton and tell him we’re going to spank their little Tiger-Cats.” (Source: National Post)

Friday, November 15, 2013This is the local version of the same cartoon.

 SOCIAL MEDIA

Both versions of this cartoon attracted quite a few likes, shares and comments on Facebook here, and here. It was also mentioned in a piece written in The Toronto Star, Friday, November 15, 2013 by Tech Reporter Raju Mudhar