Speech from the Throne – mackaycartoons

Thursday, October 17, 2013

October 17, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, October 17, 2013

Government wants to force providers to unbundle TV packages

The government’s plan to force content providers and distributors to unbundle cable and satellite TV packages and offer viewers a more à la carte way of choosing the channels they subscribe to might seem like a consumer-friendly move, but some experts say it could end up hurting consumers and the TV industry.

“It’s a horrible idea,” said Laura Martin, a senior analyst in the entertainment, cable and media division of the U.S.-based investment and asset management firm Needham and Company
Martin and her colleague Dan Medina wrote about the potential impact of the unbundling of television services in the U.S. in a July 2013 report titled The Future of TV. They suggest in the report that unbundling would cost content owners and distributors about half their revenue and shrink the channel offerings available to U.S. consumers to “fewer than 20 channels.”

“Most entertainment cable channels generate about 50 per cent of their revenue from advertising and 50 per cent from subscription payments,” they write. “The reason there are subscriber payments at all is that there is zero ad revenue until a channel reaches at least 25 million homes. Any channel with less than a 25 per cent penetration of U.S. households (and recall that HBO — the best of the best — only has 30 per cent penetration) would probably not survive in an à la carte world.” (Source: CBC News)

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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

October 16, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Throne speech expected to make scant mention of scandal-plagued upper chamber

The disgraced Senate will serve as a backdrop for next week’s throne speech and is bound to dominate debate during the fall sitting of Parliament.

Yet there’ll be scant mention of the scandal-plagued Senate in the speech, which is to be read Wednesday by Governor General David Johnston from a regal throne in the ornate upper chamber.

Insiders say Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has concluded it can do little to clean up the unelected Senate until the Supreme Court rules on the constitutional requirements for reforming or abolishing the chamber, which could take a year or more.

Hence, any kind of reform to the upper house has been put on hold — including purely administrative measures, which would be entirely within the government’s purview to implement, such as requiring senators to publicly disclose details of their expenses.

The throne speech’s expected silence on the subject comes amid an ongoing Senate expenses scandal that has mushroomed over the past year and shows no sign of going away any time soon.

The RCMP is investigating allegedly fraudulent living and travel expenses claimed by four senators — former Conservative caucus members Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin and former Liberal Mac Harb.

Duffy is also under the Mounties’ microscope for accepting $90,000 from Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, in order to reimburse the Senate for his dubious expense claims. (Source: National Post)

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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

February 20, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wynne’s policies remain ambiguous after Throne Speech

For three weeks, it was easy to overlook that Kathleen Wynne became Ontario’s Premier with a minimal policy mandate, emerging triumphant from a truncated leadership race that mostly dodged the tough questions about Ontario’s fiscal and economic troubles.

On Tuesday, in a Speech from the Throne that resembled a group hug more than a vision statement, it showed signs of catching up with her.

To the extent that the text carved out a different path from that of her predecessor, it was mostly in style. Ms. Wynne aims to be more open and inclusive, to listen to others’ ideas rather than ram her own down Ontarians’ throats, and that theme was driven home again and again in commitments to work more co-operatively with everyone from opposition parties to public sector unions. A vow to consult communities “from the beginning if there is going to be a gas plant or a casino or a wind plant or a quarry in their hometown” was something of a dig at Dalton McGuinty’s disinclination to do likewise.

On a few fronts, there were notable policy shifts as well. Ms. Wynne appears to be more passionate about upgrading the province’s lacklustre transportation infrastructure, and willing to consider road tolls to do so. She is also less reluctant about collecting more corporate tax revenue (possibly by doing away with existing credits) and more eager to make life better for social-assistance recipients – issues that could not only help her win support from the third party NDP, but also seem to fit her own value system.

But on the biggest issues, the ones that will inevitably consume much of her attention, her policies remain ambiguous. (Source: Globe & Mail)