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Tuesday March 7, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 7, 2017

Trump turns to Congress on wiretap claim, Obama camp denies it, FBI disputes it

President Donald Trump turned to Congress on Sunday for help finding evidence to support his unsubstantiated claim that former president Barack Obama had Trump’s telephones tapped during the election. Obama’s intelligence chief said no such action was ever carried out, and a U.S. official said the FBI has asked the Justice Department to dispute the allegation.

Republican leaders of Congress appeared willing to honour the president’s request, but the move has potential risks for the president, particularly if the House and Senate intelligence committees unearth damaging information about Trump, his aides or his associates.

Trump claimed in a series of tweets without evidence Saturday that his predecessor had tried to undermine him by tapping the telephones at Trump Tower, the New York skyscraper where Trump based his campaign and transition operations, and maintains a home.

Obama’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said nothing matching Trump’s claims had taken place.

“Absolutely, I can deny it,” said Clapper, who left government when Trump took office in January. Other representatives for the former president also denied Trump’s allegation. (Source: CBC News) 

 

Tuesday October 18, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Tuesday October 18, 2016 A lifetime of misogyny catches up with Trump Back in the spring, Jill Harth didnÕt want to talk. Neither did a number of the other women who had crossed paths with Donald Trump. But few of them had documented their encounters so thoroughly as Harth, whose 1997 lawsuit alleging Òattempted rapeÓ against Trump is a matter of public record. Donald Trump attempts to pitch himself as champion for women It wasnÕt surprising that having kept quiet on the matter for almost 20 years, she wasnÕt jumping at the chance to respond to a reporterÕs phone call. But a few months later, her lawyer got in touch. The impetus, as Harth put it in an emotional hour-long interview at the GuardianÕs New York office, was TrumpÕs repeated insistence that any woman alleging misbehaviour on his part was lying. His eldest daughter IvankaÕs widely aired insistence that Òmy dad is not a groperÓ pushed her over the edge. ÒWhat did she know?Ó Harth asked. ÒShe was 10 years old.Ó A former Trump business associate from his early beauty pageant industry days, Harth said that the tycoon behaved inappropriately with her from the day she met him. The first presentation she gave with her boyfriend and business partner George Houraney back in December 1992 marked not just the beginning of their partnership with Trump, which Harth described as the professional ÒhighlightÓ of their career, but also, the beginning of a steady stream of unwanted sexual advances, culminating in the alleged assault in one of the childrenÕs bedrooms at Mar-a-Lago, his ostentatious Florida mansion. Woman who sued Trump over alleged sexual assault speaks outÊpushed me up against the wall, and had his hands all over me and tried to get up my dress again,Ó Harth recalled, Òand I had to physically say: ÔWhat are you doing? Stop it.Õ It was a shocking thing to have him do this because he knew I was with George.Ó If she had known Trump a bit better

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 18, 2016

A lifetime of misogyny catches up with Trump

Back in the spring, Jill Harth didn’t want to talk. Neither did a number of the other women who had crossed paths with Donald Trump. But few of them had documented their encounters so thoroughly as Harth, whose 1997 lawsuit alleging “attempted rape” against Trump is a matter of public record.

It wasn’t surprising that having kept quiet on the matter for almost 20 years, she wasn’t jumping at the chance to respond to a reporter’s phone call.

 

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But a few months later, her lawyer got in touch. The impetus, as Harth put it in an emotional hour-long interview at the Guardian’s New York office, was Trump’s repeated insistence that any woman alleging misbehaviour on his part was lying. His eldest daughter Ivanka’s widely aired insistence that “my dad is not a groper” pushed her over the edge. “What did she know?” Harth asked. “She was 10 years old.”

A former Trump business associate from his early beauty pageant industry days, Harth said that the tycoon behaved inappropriately with her from the day she met him. The first presentation she gave with her boyfriend and business partner George Houraney back in December 1992 marked not just the beginning of their partnership with Trump, which Harth described as the professional “highlight” of their career, but also, the beginning of a steady stream of unwanted sexual advances, culminating in the alleged assault in one of the children’s bedrooms at Mar-a-Lago, his ostentatious Florida mansion.

Woman who sued Trump over alleged sexual assault speaks out pushed me up against the wall, and had his hands all over me and tried to get up my dress again,” Harth recalled, “and I had to physically say: ‘What are you doing? Stop it.’ It was a shocking thing to have him do this because he knew I was with George.” If she had known Trump a bit better at the time, she might not have been so shocked.

Today, the examples of Trump’s misogyny, casual and calculated alike, are as well-rehearsed as they are reprehensible. But something has changed again. Last week, the tape of his conversation with Billy Bush brought them front and centre in the American conversation; this week, further testimony from two women who spoke to the New York Times, alleging that his claims back then were more than mere words, have ensured that the spotlight will not shift. His unguarded phrase, “grab them by the pussy”, has stuck because it chimed with the testimony of Jill Harth, and so many other women who have spoken out about their experience with Trump. As a former Miss Utah, Temple Taggart, put it to the New York Times when remembering how he had introduced himself by kissing her on the lips: “It was like, ‘Thank you.’ Now no one can say I made this up,” she said. In this context, the stories of the women who spoke up about Trump have taken on fresh weight: now undeniable as a map to his values and treatment of women for more than 40 years. (Continued: The Guardian)

Saturday April 2, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Saturday April 2, 2016 Mulcair campaigning ahead of convention Tom Mulcair is no stranger to political campaigns and there is one thing that is clear ahead of the NDP convention next week: he is actively working to keep his job in wake of the party's devastating election results. The level of blame placed on Mulcair's shoulders and whether he will be turfed by his own party, will be tested as rank-and-file members congregate in Edmonton and decide if he should stay or go. NDP President Rebecca Blaikie has suggested 70 per cent is likely the threshold of support needed for Mulcair to stay on, though the party constitution only stipulates a leadership race must be held within one year if asked for by a convention vote of at least 50 per cent plus one. It is a critical moment for New Democrats, who are still very much reeling from the pain of crushing results that reduced the caucus to 44 seats and third place in the Commons. Progressives gathered Friday in Ottawa for the Progress Summit Ñ an annual event sponsored by the institute that is the brainchild of former NDP leader Ed Broadbent. Mulcair, who has spent months meeting party supporters to hear post-election feedback, said some key lessons have emerged in his discussions. "For me, as a party leader, that's been fantastic," Mulcair said Friday. "It is rare for a party leader to be able to sit down with a candidate from a single riding and a small core team. You learn so much about the strength and depth of our team on the organizational, communications, policy side." The NDP now needs to bring more people into the fold, he said. "I want to make sure we throw the doors and the windows of the party wide open ... let in a lot of fresh air and a lot of sunlight, let in a lot more people," he said. "We have to take a much more open-door approach from now on." On the sidelines of the summit, some party members are not convinced Mulcair is the appro

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 2, 2016

Mulcair campaigning ahead of convention

Tom Mulcair is no stranger to political campaigns and there is one thing that is clear ahead of the NDP convention next week: he is actively working to keep his job in wake of the party’s devastating election results.

The level of blame placed on Mulcair’s shoulders and whether he will be turfed by his own party, will be tested as rank-and-file members congregate in Edmonton and decide if he should stay or go.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Saturday March 19, 2016 Mulcair at risk of ouster by crush of new critics Tom Mulcair doesnÕt come across as the kind of person whoÕd spend much time looking over his shoulder, even if he had to. But these days you have to wonder whether the NDP leader, who celebrates his fourth anniversary as head of the party next week, is taking the time to look both ways before he crosses any political streets between now and his partyÕs convention next month. It would be wrong to say rumblings over MulcairÕs future with the party began only last week. Those rumblings have been a staple of the NDPÕs background noise since its dismal showing in the Oct. 19 election. But with the exception of a well publicized sortie by Ontario NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo in January, and complaints last month from a newly minted Montreal-area riding association president, any I-told-you-sos had been uttered off the record, if only in apparent deference to the panel the party convened to autopsy why things went horribly wrong during the last campaign. Given that the panelÕs findings compelled Mulcair to write a letter of apology to the partyÕs rank and file and take full responsibility for the NDPÕs return to third party status, it wasnÕt entirely surprising to hear the volume turned up last week on the complaints over MulcairÕs leadership. It started when Sid Ryan, former head of the Ontario Federation of Labour, told the Globe and Mail last week that MulcairÕs Òoverbearing personalityÓ made it necessary for the NDP to seek out new leadership. That was followed by letters published in Le Devoir and the Toronto Star this week that didnÕt mention Mulcair by name but may as well have spray painted it in day-glo orange across its text as three defeated MPs and nearly three dozen party activists complained the NDP had come adrift from its ideals and purpose. That missive was quickly followed by a far more specific slam against Mulcair by NDP s

March 19, 2016

NDP President Rebecca Blaikie has suggested 70 per cent is likely the threshold of support needed for Mulcair to stay on, though the party constitution only stipulates a leadership race must be held within one year if asked for by a convention vote of at least 50 per cent plus one.

It is a critical moment for New Democrats, who are still very much reeling from the pain of crushing results that reduced the caucus to 44 seats and third place in the Commons.

Progressives gathered Friday in Ottawa for the Progress Summit — an annual event sponsored by the institute that is the brainchild of former NDP leader Ed Broadbent.

Mulcair, who has spent months meeting party supporters to hear post-election feedback, said some key lessons have emerged in his discussions.

“For me, as a party leader, that’s been fantastic,” Mulcair said Friday.

“It is rare for a party leader to be able to sit down with a candidate from a single riding and a small core team. You learn so much about the strength and depth of our team on the organizational, communications, policy side.”

The NDP now needs to bring more people into the fold, he said.

“I want to make sure we throw the doors and the windows of the party wide open … let in a lot of fresh air and a lot of sunlight, let in a lot more people,” he said. “We have to take a much more open-door approach from now on.”

On the sidelines of the summit, some party members are not convinced Mulcair is the appropriate frontman for their movement, pointing to his inability to sell the NDP’s values during the course of the campaign. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

2001-04-02_saskpapers

Published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix and the Regina Leader Post on the morning after the Saskatchewan provincial election which returned Brad Wall and his government to a third term.  Very telling from the province of Tommy Douglas to print this federal NDP cartoon a few days before its convention and leadership review of Thomas Mulcair.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Friday, July 24, 2015 Feds canÕt avoid $1-billion deficit, budget officer says The federal Conservatives will fail to accomplish their key promise of balancing OttawaÕs books this year, instead running a $1-billion budget deficit in 2015, the parliamentary budget officer says. Budget watchdog Jean-Denis FrŽchette said Wednesday that the economic picture had changed since the ConservativesÕ budget in April, which predicted surpluses in 2015-16 and over the next several years. ÒEconomic data has since indicated declines in real GDP (gross domestic product) that were not reflected in the governmentÕs assumptions,Ó FrŽchette said. He noted that the Bank of Canada, in its quarterly forecast last week, had chopped its prediction for economic growth this year from 2 per cent to about 1 per cent. The worse than expected economic conditions will reduce federal tax revenues, trimming $3.9 billion from OttawaÕs fiscal accounts in 2015, the budget watchdog said. But taking into account the $1 billion set aside as a rainy-day fund by Finance Minister Joe Oliver and factoring in other impacts, FrŽchette said the Conservatives will run a $1-billion deficit this year. With an eye on the Oct. 19 election, opposition parties seized on the report to slam the ConservativesÕ handling of the economy. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised for years that 2015 would be the year his government puts an end to a seven-year string of budget deficits. ÒThat was supposed to be the ConservativesÕ hallmark branding, wasnÕt it, balanced budget?Ó NDP leader Thomas Mulcair asked during a campaign-style swing through southern Ontario. ÒWe now know thatÕs not going to be the case.Ó Mulcair said Harper put the economy at risk by relying too much on the oil and gas industry as an engine of growth. ÒThe Conservatives put all of our economic eggs in the resource extraction basket, and now that that sector is having considerable diffi

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, July 24, 2015

Feds can’t avoid $1-billion deficit, budget officer says

The federal Conservatives will fail to accomplish their key promise of balancing Ottawa’s books this year, instead running a $1-billion budget deficit in 2015, the parliamentary budget officer says.

Tuesday July 14, 2015Budget watchdog Jean-Denis Fréchette said Wednesday that the economic picture had changed since the Conservatives’ budget in April, which predicted surpluses in 2015-16 and over the next several years.

“Economic data has since indicated declines in real GDP (gross domestic product) that were not reflected in the government’s assumptions,” Fréchette said.

Thursday November 13, 2014He noted that the Bank of Canada, in its quarterly forecast last week, had chopped its prediction for economic growth this year from 2 per cent to about 1 per cent.

The worse than expected economic conditions will reduce federal tax revenues, trimming $3.9 billion from Ottawa’s fiscal accounts in 2015, the budget watchdog said. But taking into account the $1 billion set aside as a rainy-day fund by Finance Minister Joe Oliver and factoring in other impacts, Fréchette said the Conservatives will run a $1-billion deficit this year.

With an eye on the Oct. 19 election, opposition parties seized on the report to slam the Conservatives’ handling of the economy. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised for years that 2015 would be the year his government puts an end to a seven-year string of budget deficits.

Wednesday January 21, 2015“That was supposed to be the Conservatives’ hallmark branding, wasn’t it, balanced budget?” NDP leader Thomas Mulcair asked during a campaign-style swing through southern Ontario. “We now know that’s not going to be the case.”

Mulcair said Harper put the economy at risk by relying too much on the oil and gas industry as an engine of growth. “The Conservatives put all of our economic eggs in the resource extraction basket, and now that that sector is having considerable difficulty, it’s affecting everything else in the Canadian economy.” (Source: Toronto Star)

SOCIAL MEDIA

Posted by Project Democracy on Friday, July 24, 2015

Wednesday February 22, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday February 22, 2012

McGuinty steers into troubled, unnavigated waters

When the legislature opens for business on Tuesday, Dalton McGuinty will confront one of the most troubled periods in provincial history.

With a $16-billion deficit, a debt of about $250 billion, a sputtering economy, a weak job market and the danger of a credit rating downgrade, the 40th Provincial Parliament couldn’t be sitting at a more important time.

The challenges facing Ontario would be daunting for a majority government. Throw a minority government into that volatile mix, with the Drummond report hanging over his head, and McGuinty’s task becomes herculean.

Analysts say McGuinty’s situation is unique. What voters conjured up last Oct. 6 last year, is not the minority of 1985 when Liberals and New Democrats signed an accord and took power from Conservative Frank Miller, giving government to David Peterson. Nor is it 1975 and 1977 when Bill Davis led two Conservative minorities with relative ease in the face of a divided opposition.

The political environment today is more fractured and more partisan, with the Opposition Progressive Conservatives and the NDP united in their determination to give the Liberals no breathing room.

Worse still, worries about the economy have left cranky Ontarians in no mood to cut the government any slack. McGuinty not only has to walk a political tightrope in the legislature, he has to make sure whatever tough medicine he prescribes to revive the economy doesn’t lead to social unrest.

With 53 seats to the PC’s 37 and 17 for the NDP, McGuinty may have a “strong minority,” but it is not enough to give him control of his own destiny. (Source: Ottawa Citizen)