shadow

Tuesday October 31, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 31, 2017

Morneau not the only cabinet minister using conflict-of-interest loophole

 
Finance Minister Bill Morneau isn’t the only cabinet minister who used a conflict-of-interest technicality to maintain control of their assets while in power, the ethics watchdog confirms.
 

September 22, 2017

The office of Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson wouldn’t identify who else at the cabinet table holds controlled assets indirectly. It would only confirm “fewer than five cabinet ministers” do so, and they are not required to sell those assets off or put them in a blind trust.

 
The story was first reported by the Globe and Mail on Monday morning.
 
The Conflict of Interest Act covers assets that are directly held, a loophole Dawson has complained about.
 
The act defines controlled assets as “assets whose value could be directly or indirectly affected by government decisions or policy,” and includes things like publicly traded securities of corporations, registered retirement and education plans and stock options.
 

September 15, 2017

After being dogged by controversy over the shares and his use of private corporations to hold his assets, Morneau announced earlier this month that he would place his assets in a blind trust and divest shares worth about $20 million in his family-built company.

 
He later said he would donate to charity the difference in the value of his shares in Morneau Shepell between when he was elected in October 2015 and the day they’re sold.
 
Dawson is now considering whether to launch a formal investigation into whether Morneau had a conflict of interest in sponsoring a pension bill known as Bill C-27 while still owning shares in his family’s pension company. (Source: CBC News)

SaveSave

SaveSave

Friday September 1, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 1, 2017

Andrew Scheer unveils full shadow cabinet leaving Kellie Leitch off front bench

May 30, 2017

Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer unveiled his full shadow cabinet Wednesday notably leaving fellow leadership candidate Kellie Leitch off his party’s front bench while promoting others to key critic posts in the House of Commons.  

May 19, 2017

Pierre Poilievre, an MP from the Ottawa area, was given the Finance critic role ahead of Quebec MP Maxime Bernier, who finished second in the Conservative race. Bernier, who announced publicly months ago that he wanted the finance role, has been given a senior critic role on the Innovation, Science and Economic Development file as CBC reported Tuesday. 

Leitch’s leadership campaign, which saw her finish sixth in the race, drew criticism and accusations of intolerance for vowing to strengthen the vetting process for new immigrants. The former cabinet minister also pledged to screen all new immigrants for “Canadian values,” drawing widespread criticism, including from some of her fellow leadership candidates.

February 7, 2017

Brad Trost, the Saskatchewan MP who finished fourth in the leadership campaign, was also left off the shadow cabinet list. Trost did not serve as a minister under prime minister Stephen Harper and campaigned on social conservative values that opposed the “gay lifestyle” and abortion.

Another leadership candidate, Deepak Obhrai, was also left out of Scheer’s shadow cabinet. Obhrai served as the parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs in the Harper government. (Source: CBC News) 

 

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

Friday August 18 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday August 18 2017

Donald Trump is burning every bridge he can, 1 tweet at a time

November 9, 2016

Before 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, the President of the United States had already:

  • Attacked not one but two sitting senators of his own party.
  • Savaged the “fake” news media.
  • Tripled down on his comments regarding the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia.
  •  Echoed the rhetoric of the far right by insisting that our “culture” was being destroyed by the cult of political correctness.

Donald Trump did all of these things via Twitter — starting at 6:19 a.m. ET with a tweet alleging that “publicity seeking” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) had purposely contorted his comments after the violent white supremacist protests over the weekend and ending at 9:21 a.m. ET with a slippery slope argument that liberals were responsible for the “beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks” by calling for the removal of statues honoring Confederates.

July 28, 2017

So, for three hours — at least — the most powerful person in the world was glued to social media, gleefully settling scores.

This is not a new reality for Trump. Since he became a candidate, he has used Twitter as a combination of a focus group and a blowtorch.

During the 2016 campaign, Trump would regularly try out new attack lines — “Lyin’ Ted,” “Little Marco” — on Twitter to see if his fans responded to them. If they did, those attacks were quickly inserted into his stump speech or his debate answers.

He would also use Twitter to fight back against his critics, to lambast the media and to, generally speaking, provoke. (Never forget: Trump is, at root, a provocateur more than he is a politician.)

November 9, 2016

Despite his promises to be “so presidential you will be so bored” if elected, Trump hasn’t changed one iota. That’s most obvious in his Twitter habits. While he went through patches — a few days, maybe a week — early in his presidency when he would lay off Twitter entirely or only tweet his speeches or other more generic political pap, Trump has always returned to his Twitter addiction with a vengeance.

His tweets have produced many of the defining moments of his presidency — none of which are good. His March tweet that President Barack Obama had wire-tapped Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign sparked weeks of questions — zero of which he could answer. His repeated attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell helped to turn Republicans in the Senate against him. His personal attack on MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski was roundly denounced by politicians — and humans — of all stripes. (Source: CNN) 

November 10, 2016

Meanwhile, for about two hours on Monday August 21, weather permitting, the entire US should see the moon slide in front of the sun. The last solar eclipse to slice across the entire continent happened 99 years ago; unlike that event, this eclipse will occur in an era of record internet usage — one in which 95% of American adults own a mobile phone. (Source: Business Insider) 

Letter to the Editor (Hamilton Spectator – August 24)

Most now can’t even stand Trump’s voice

RE: MacKay editorial cartoon Aug. 18

I loved Graeme MacKay’s succinct and very timely cartoon Friday of Trump as a dark cloud, the eclipse, over the U.S., dividing the country in two with his overly-long trademark red tie. Unfortunately it also lumped more progressive “blue states”, e.g. California, in with the south, but the point was well made. It should also be made clear that many people, perhaps now even a majority of southerners who once liked and believed in him, can no longer can support or even stand listening to the voice of their insecure, paranoid and narcissistic, therefore very dangerous, “leader”.

In case you missed Anderson Cooper’s CNN interview with Tony Schwartz, ghostwriter of Trump’s “Art of the Deal”, he predicts Trump will resign before he is impeached, naturally blaming everyone else along the way for his dramatic failure. Hopefully this happens very soon and in time to relinquish his power to pardon his cronies and even family members for their crimes committed by association with this very sick man. SAD!

John Royds, Carlisle

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Wednesday February 8 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 8 2017

Why the electoral reform sham will breed cynicism

By killing electoral reform, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has damaged more than just Canada’s prospects for releasing itself from the clutches of moribund first-past-the-post elections. He has cut down the democratic aspirations of hundreds of thousands of young Canadians, tacitly teaching them to expect less from government and dream smaller political dreams.

The most revealing and dangerous aspect of the reform boondoggle was the timing of this announcement, shoehorned into the week of President Donald Trump’s executive orders and travel ban, when so many eyes were transfixed on the American political horror show. Shortly after Gould’s announcement, Trudeau dodged a scrum in the foyer of the House with a drive-by soundbite: “Canadians expect us to do the right thing for the country and focus on the things that matter.”

But the irony of the Prime Minister’s comment is that in the age of Trump, we should be learning that it is democratic integrity and public spirit that matter above just about anything else; that doing the right thing for the country means, at the bare minimum, not blaming citizens themselves when one’s promises can’t be kept.

Conservative commentator David Frum’s startling piece in The Atlantic claims that the primary cause of Donald Trump’s rise has been the “inculcation of cynicism.” He asks how one builds an autocracy and answers: “demoralize potential opponents by nurturing the idea that everybody lies and nothing matters. 

[…] Believers can be disillusioned; people who expect to hear only lies can hardly complain when a lie is exposed.”

We are not yet teetering on the precipice of a maple tea party or Northern Trump. Still, the creeping doubt and disengagement that the electoral reform saga is spawning even now should give the Liberal government reason to pause, get its bearings and rediscover true north on its moral and democratic compass. (Source: MacLean’s) 

 

Saturday December 10, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Saturday December 10, 2016 CanadaÕs Liberal Government, Most Provinces Set to Endorse Climate Pact CanadaÕs Liberal government and the bulk of provinces are set to endorse a pact late Friday to fight climate change, even as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tries to revive the energy sector with the recent approval of two pipeline projects. The climate pact is expected to endorse a federal carbon-pricing scheme unveiled in October and plans to phase out coal-power electricity, and comes as President-elect Donald Trump signals Washington is moving to lessen regulation in a bid to drum up more investment in U.S. resource development. Vice President Joe Biden, in Ottawa as part of a two-day visit the Canadian capital, urged Canadian leaders to carry on with their carbon-reduction efforts because corporate America and the rest of the world are on that very path, despite the policies of the incoming administration. ÒWhatever uncertainty exists around the near term policy choices of the next president, I am absolutely confident the United States will continue making progress in its path to a low-carbon future,Ó Mr. Biden told Mr. Trudeau and provincial premiers. ÒRegardless of whether the next administration is as aggressive as we have been ... there is no way to turn back this tide that has begun to roll.Ó At an official dinner Thursday, Mr. Biden said the world would be counting on Canada and Mr. Trudeau to show leadership on important global issues at this time of uncertainty in Europe and the U.S. Mr. Trudeau has positioned the fight against climate change as one of his governmentÕs signature issues, with the Liberal government aiming to reduce carbon output by 30% below 2005 levels before 2030. Agreement among Ottawa and the provincial capitals fulfills a promise from Mr. Trudeau to build a national consensus on tackling climate change, and marks a pivot from the previous Conservative administration whic

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday December 10, 2016

Canada’s Liberal Government, Most Provinces Set to Endorse Climate Pact

Canada’s Liberal government and the bulk of provinces are set to endorse a pact late Friday to fight climate change, even as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tries to revive the energy sector with the recent approval of two pipeline projects.

The climate pact is expected to endorse a federal carbon-pricing scheme unveiled in October and plans to phase out coal-power electricity, and comes as President-elect Donald Trump signals Washington is moving to lessen regulation in a bid to drum up more investment in U.S. resource development.

Vice President Joe Biden, in Ottawa as part of a two-day visit the Canadian capital, urged Canadian leaders to carry on with their carbon-reduction efforts because corporate America and the rest of the world are on that very path, despite the policies of the incoming administration.

“Whatever uncertainty exists around the near term policy choices of the next president, I am absolutely confident the United States will continue making progress in its path to a low-carbon future,” Mr. Biden told Mr. Trudeau and provincial premiers. “Regardless of whether the next administration is as aggressive as we have been … there is no way to turn back this tide that has begun to roll.”

At an official dinner Thursday, Mr. Biden said the world would be counting on Canada and Mr. Trudeau to show leadership on important global issues at this time of uncertainty in Europe and the U.S.

Mr. Trudeau has positioned the fight against climate change as one of his government’s signature issues, with the Liberal government aiming to reduce carbon output by 30% below 2005 levels before 2030. Agreement among Ottawa and the provincial capitals fulfills a promise from Mr. Trudeau to build a national consensus on tackling climate change, and marks a pivot from the previous Conservative administration which tended to focus on championing resource development.

Not all Canadian provinces, though, will be onboard. Brad Wall, the premier of Saskatchewan, said he won’t endorse any pan-Canadian climate-change plan that calls for a carbon tax. Under the federal plan, Canada would start pricing carbon pollution at 10 Canadian dollars ($7.58) a metric ton in 2018, and that would rise steadily to C$50 a ton in 2022. (Source: Wall Street Journal)