Science

Saturday March 18, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday March 18, 2023

Ontario experienced its darkest winter in more than 80 years

October 15, 2021

If you felt Ontario had an abnormally dark and dreary winter this year, the science backs you up.

In fact, parts of the province saw the least amount of direct sunlight in more than eight decades.

Data by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) shows that between December 2022 and February 2023, some regions of Ontario recorded the lowest levels of solar energy since 1940.

Brian Brettschneider, an Alaska-based climatologist with the U.S. National Weather Service, analyzed the data published by the ECMWF and presented the findings in several maps.

“There’s kind of this bullseye over southern Ontario, where the solar energy was quite a bit lower than, comparatively speaking, anywhere else,” he said, in an interview with the Star.

Though Ontario had “unremarkable” levels of sunlight in December, it was in January when the province experienced “exceptionally low” amounts of solar energy, said Brettschneider. It was followed by a February season which also had lower-than-normal levels of sunlight.

Looking back at the weather in Toronto this season, the city experienced 14 consecutive days in late January without the sun appearing, according to David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada. Earlier in the season, between Dec. 30 and Jan. 13, there was only one day that was described as mainly clear.

August 25, 2021

“It’s hard to imagine a year that was so cloudy and overcast,” said Phillips. “We also had fog, drizzle, snow, freezing rain, blowing snow and snow showers — a whole litany of precipitation types.”

The wet and overcast conditions were due to persistent flows of moisture arriving from the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, said Brettschneider.

“You just get a lot of efficient cloud production when that happens,” he added.

Phillips also noted that southern Ontario had an unseasonably warm winter season, except for this March. But the low-pressure systems that bring these balmy conditions usually bring clouds and moisture as well, he said. (The Toronto Star) 

 

Saturday October 29, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 29, 2022

It’s not a trick: Your Halloween treats are getting smaller

September 29, 2022

Standing in the centre aisle of the drugstore, with its seasonal display of spooky bat decorations, vampire teeth and fun-sized bags of chocolate, don’t be surprised if something seems off.

It isn’t a nightmare. Your Halloween candy just got smaller.

A bag of dark chocolate Hershey’s Kisses is now a couple of ounces smaller than before. A two-pack of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups is a tenth of an ounce lighter. And Cadbury milk chocolate bars are about 10 percent skimpier.

Consumers can partly blame “shrinkflation” — the phenomenon of manufacturers reducing the size of their products rather than increasing the price. Over the past two years, companies have downsized paper products, salty snacks and many other consumer packaged goods as their ingredient, labor and transportation costs have skyrocketed.

December 10, 2021

But it’s also part of a years-long plan to make Americans’ treats less caloric. In 2017, Mars Wrigley, Ferrero (owner of Nestlé’s American candy business), Ferrara Candy and Lindt (which owns Ghirardelli Chocolate and Russell Stover Chocolates) joined forces to decrease calorie counts, offer a broader range of portion sizes and provide labeling that lists calories on the front of their packaging.

The National Confectioners Association last month announced that 85 percent of chocolate and candy sold today comes in packaging that contains 200 calories or fewer per pack. And nearly 100 percent of candies sold now have front-of-pack calorie labels, up from just over half in 2016.

“Five years ago, we were behind the ball on front-of-pack labeling,” said Christopher Gindlesperger, spokesman for the association. “Those four companies, that make up about half of the market, drove a remarkable change and rallied the rest of the industry.”

December 1, 2007

Other moves are intended to provide lighter options for candy consumers. Hershey, for instance, introduced “thins” versions of classic candies like Reese’s cups, York patties and Kit Kats. The company has launched an increasingly long list of zero-sugar options, from Jolly Ranchers to Twizzlers.

In short, many candy sizes and packages are shrinking but prices aren’t.

“All of these companies are having to make these decisions based on cost,” Wyatt said. “But I can say with certainty candy companies committed to these [calorie reductions and front-of-label calorie counts] before that inflation started. The products that have transparent labeling outperform others.”

Candy may in fact be the category that first experienced shrinkflation, Dworsky said. In the 1950s, he said, candy companies told vending machine operators they would have to raise prices, going from 5 cents per candy bar to 6 cents. The vending machine folks balked and asked the candy companies just to make the products smaller.

Dworsky’s message: The only way for consumers to protect themselves from shrinkflation is by memorizing product weights.

“It will go too far when you open that carton of eggs and there are only 11 inside,” he joked. (The Washington Post) 

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 …

Tuesday September 13, 2022

September 13, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday September 13, 2022

Firebrand Poilievre now starts the hard search for wider support as a no-pivot party leader

It’s a daring experiment by the Conservatives – overwhelmingly elect a hard-right fire-breathing leader and expect enough voters to gravitate in his direction to win a federal election.

September 14, 2021

That wasn’t the case with post-Harper leaders Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole, who shifted right-wing positions toward the mainstream in what became a futile effort to find broader voter support.

But there’ll be no waffling in the political winds by steamrolled-to-victory Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre; no pivoting to a kinder, gentler, mushy middle to win over voters. That’s just not in Poilievre’s DNA.

This makes Saturday’s commanding leadership win (with 68 per cent of the ballots) the easy part of Poilievre’s ultimate goal to become prime minister.

The baby-faced 43-year-old partisan pit-bull faces an even tougher test now to reposition himself as leading a viable government-in-waiting.

His next quest has bedevilled Conservatives and indeed majority-seeking Liberals for the last two decades: Where to find the crucial five per cent bump in voting support that it takes to win a federal election?

It’s not a simple search. His oratorical assault on elites, gatekeepers and the ArriveCAN app easily fires up those fed-up and frustrated with Justin Trudeau’s preachiness and his open-the-vault response to every politically correct cause.

But to corral votes further left politically and further east geographically would seem a mission impossible, particularly given that the issues he’s attacking are now losing some of their traction.

May 13, 2022

Poilievre’s preoccupied with “Justinflation” that’s easing slightly courtesy of a Bank of Governor he wants to fire. Meanwhile, the cryptocurrencies Poilievre advocated as a safe monetary alternative are in the dumpster and the illegal “Freedom Convoy” he supported for protesting vaccine mandates he opposed are a repressed memory and unlikely to be revived.

And then there’s his party unity problem.

While he delivered a classy outreach to rival camps on Saturday night, lasting damage has been done to the progressive wing of the party after his campaign trash-talked rivals as unworthy Conservatives from the opening bell of this seven-month leadership brawl. You can bet distant-second-place-finisher Jean Charest and his pathetic 16 per cent of voting party members will not lift a finger to help a Poilievre-led party. Ever.

That suggests we’ll see an Official Opposition that’s a Reform reincarnation – and that will be a tough sell in urban Ontario and B.C., a seat expansion challenge in Quebec and register at best modest support growth in Atlantic Canada.

All is not lost, of course.

August 5, 2022

The Liberal government is failing to deliver basic services on multiple fronts, has unleashed inflation-fuelling budgets and is led by a Prime Minister whose popularity is at a personal low. This government seems hell-bent to defeat itself.

Poilievre, for his part, is going to be a masterful Opposition leader, slicing and dicing the Trudeau Liberal cabinet with devastating quips and clips on the government’s economic failures and working-class letdowns, many of which were nicely previewed in his feisty victory speech.

Anyone watching Question Period starting next week will see his exquisitely entertaining eviscerations of Justin Trudeau, which will stand in favorable contrast to a Prime Minister who pretends not to hear his questions while reading staff-scripted responses.

And with two-thirds of the Conservative caucus behind him and that massive convention victory, Pierre Poilievre will undoubtedly get something Scheer and O’Toole didn’t – two election campaigns before the party does its usual dump-the-loser-leader routine.

December 3, 2015

But his longer-term success depends on swaying the undefined, unpredictable and risk-adverse voters in Central Canada and B.C. who usually christen the election winner and do it while sticking to his controversial positions.

If those voters don’t pivot to firebrand Pierre Poilievre, well, congratulations Conservatives — you’ve just voted yourself four more years or longer in Official Opposition. (Don Martin – CTV) 

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 …

 

Thursday June 30, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 30, 2022

Ottawa braced for Canada Day protest by ‘freedom convoy’ supporters

Members of anti-vax convoy have vowed to maintain a presence over the summer initially mingling with the annual celebrations

April 30, 2022

Residents of downtown Ottawa are bracing for a Canada Day unlike any other, after “freedom convoy” protesters vowed to return to Parliament Hill on 1 July, and maintain a presence over the remainder of the summer.

Every Canada Day, people congregate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to watch musical performances and fireworks on the anniversary of Canadian confederation. This year, it will probably be difficult for police to distinguish between celebrators and convoy members – which is what protesters are banking on.

In late January, groups opposed to vaccine and mask mandates drove tractor-trailers and other large vehicles into Ottawa’s downtown core and set up camp. The ensuing three-week occupation of the capital city was a traumatic experience for many locals, who faced harassment, incessant noise and other unwelcome encounters, said Ariel Troster, a candidate for city council in Ottawa’s Somerset ward.

“Many people were driven from their homes, many were subjected to harassment, there were at least two cases where people defecated on people’s front steps. There were reports of apartment buildings where convoy people took over the laundry room and wouldn’t leave,” said Troster. “Not to mention the symbols of hatred, which were quite visible not just on the Hill but in the neighbourhoods.”

February 8, 2022

Group communications on Telegram, YouTube videos and other channels show convoy sympathisers believe in white replacement theory and other conspiracies. QAnon activists and propaganda were often seen at the wintertime occupation.

It ultimately cost the city $36m in policing costs and has resulted in a proposed class action lawsuit against protest organisers.

Now that Canada has dropped most mandates, the convoyers appear to be demanding Justin Trudeau’s resignation as prime minister. They have been gaining traction with Conservative politicians, recently having held a meeting with their “allies” in parliament.

The Ottawa police service (OPS) has pledged to foil any new attempt to occupy the city. The force is under immense pressure to get Canada Day right after its many failures to police the previous occupation.

June 30, 2021

At a police services board meeting on Monday, the interim OPS chief, Steve Bell, said a heightened police presence and road barricades limiting the number of vehicles permitted downtown may not be able to keep convoyers arriving on foot away, but it will prevent people from setting up camp.

“Canada Day’s a very important day to Canadians. It’s a day where we celebrate our country and all the good things in it. But people, when they come, they need to be lawful. And they need to be respectful of our community,” Bell said. (The Guardian) 

 

Wednesday February 16, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 16, 2022

Ford’s pandemic timing is off

October 28, 2021

No question, on the COVID-19 front, things are looking up. Most, if not all, the signs and indicators point toward things brightening as spring arrives.

That said, the Ontario government’s timing on easing pandemic restrictions is, to say the least, questionable. It is not wrong for Premier Ford to declare the decline of COVID — the numbers bear him out on that. But timing is everything, and announcing the early lifting of many restrictions this week, while Ottawa is still in the grips of an illegal occupation, leaves a bad smell.

January 26, 2022

Ford insists that the timing has nothing to do with ongoing trucker protests. Maybe not, but the optics are far from good. You can bet that his haste to lift restrictions will be seen by many in the protest movement as a victory, as in, look what we’ve been able to accomplish — we’ve got the premier on the run.

In other words, the perception in many quarters will be that holding Ottawa citizens, and the Windsor Ambassador Bridge, hostage paid off.

The thing is, had Ford held off just another week, there is a good chance the Ottawa occupation would be over or nearly over. The premier’s timing, as well as the optics here, are not a good look for Ontarians. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)