statue of Liberty

Wednesday August 23, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 23, 2023

Statue of Vulgarity

August 5, 2023

Ah, the grand spectacle of Doug Ford, Ontario’s Premier, striding onto the stage like a modern-day Statue of Liberty. In his version of the American dream, the Greenbelt isn’t a sanctuary of nature; it’s a promised land for immigrants and refugees seeking refuge from the housing shortage apocalypse. If this were a political reality show, it’d be a masterclass in spinning controversy into a potential lifeline for his political survival.

Ford’s script goes something like this: unless we bulldoze the Greenbelt, immigrants and refugees will be homeless, and we’ll be inundated with a tidal wave of resentment. It’s as if this green oasis has the power to summon housing out of thin air and guarantee smooth social integration. Day by day, as Ford digs himself a deeper pit of political quicksand, he melodramatically warns us: “If you dare save these pristine lands, brace yourself for a revolt!”

According to Ford’s grand narrative, he alone holds the key to preventing a tolerance meltdown for newcomers. It’s a speech that feels more like a fear-infused fairytale, a “chew up the Greenbelt or we’ll all suffocate under a housing shortage” bedtime story where foreigners are cast as the villains.

Opinion: Doug Ford hits a new low by using immigrants to sell his Greenbelt scheme

March 29, 2023

But let’s face it, even amidst the theatrics, Ford’s sinking to new lows. He’s the premier who cries wolf to rally support, claiming that saving the Greenbelt threatens the very fabric of Canadians’ immigration support. On August 9th, he declared that “failing to act” endangers our unwavering immigration love, a mere two days after the auditor general’s damning report on his government’s “green” giveaways. The teleprompter didn’t even get a chance to cool down.

It’s as if Ford’s bullhorn blasts from his bully pulpit are the embodiment of sophisticated political discourse. His recent speech to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario was like déjà vu from his “jobs for Ontarians first” performance in 2018. In the interim, Ford somehow caught on to the demand for foreign professionals in depopulating areas. It just took a bit of time for him to transition from parochial pitch to global perspective.

Remember when Ford turned his anger towards “illegal border-crossers,” wrongly blaming the feds for a “mess” that he claims was entirely their doing? Well, it seems old habits die hard, and this time he’s serving up a fresh batch of resentment pie.

December 24, 2022

Let’s be real here: the housing crisis isn’t a script penned by Ford’s overactive imagination. The issue predates any recent surge in immigration, a fact that Ford’s selective narrative conveniently omits. He clings to the Greenbelt giveaway as the magic key to unlocking new homes, despite his own advisors pointing in the opposite direction.

The reality is that repurposing available land can meet housing targets without turning the Greenbelt into bulldozer fodder. But no, Ford prefers a high-stakes game of pretend, where political will and economic ambition are in short supply, and skilled labor shortages become justifications for rising immigration targets.

Opinion: Doug Ford says building on the Greenbelt will help immigrants achieve the ‘Ontario dream’. Here’s why he’s (still) wrong

Sure, historically there’s been a consensus on immigration’s benefits. But Ford’s musings aren’t about prudent policy; they’re about legitimizing blame-shifting for our own problems. Our housing issues aren’t caused by newcomers; they’re the product of internal miscalculations and misconceptions.

January 12, 2023

The environmental and agricultural sanctuaries that stand against urban sprawl aren’t the root of the problem or the magic solution. They’re distractions and temptations that Ford’s government wields in a dangerous game. The preservation of the Greenbelt is a bargaining chip for a Progressive Conservative government that has no problem painting a false choice between its survival and societal tolerance.

As Ford doubles down on his scandalous Greenbelt rezoning, developers are cashing in on windfall profits. It’s almost admirable how he wrangles immigrants and refugees into his speeches, like pawns in a political chess game. Doug Ford the Greenbelt-embracing Lady Liberty, beckoning newcomers to cookie-cutter neighbuorhoods, we can only marvel at the spectacle of it all. Welcome to the Ford Theatre of Politics, where the lines between reality and rhetoric blur into a snarky farce. (AI) –  Cartoon published in the Hamilton Spectator and the Toronto Star.

Give us your wetlands, your greenbelt’s grace,

Your untouched vistas, where nature finds its space

Fill these spaces with cookie-cutter homes and big garage doors

Let neighbourhoods flourish where community soars

 

Saturday May 7, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 7, 2022

Let’s take a deep breath over Roe V. Wade

Could we all take a deep breath?

May 13, 2017

A leaked draft decision from the U.S. Supreme Court about abortion has created a bizarre political firestorm here in Canada. The most dangerous place to be these days is between a live microphone and a Canadian politician wanting to tell us how they will fight until their dying breath to protect Canadian women against the insidious evil emanating from south of the border.

Can we bring a little sanity to the situation?

First, the court has not banned abortions. A draft internal document was leaked on a case challenging abortion law which may or may not reflect the court’s final decision. If the leaked decision stands, abortion will lose its constitutional protection and individual state legislatures will be able to regulate or outlaw it. Although a dramatic change, it would not create a nationwide ban

This case has no effect on Canada where there hasn’t been an abortion law since 1988 when the Canadian Supreme Court found the existing law unconstitutional. No successive government was able to come up with a replacement and no major Canadian political party currently supports reopening the issue. Although several Conservative MPs and a second-tier leadership candidate have tried to raise restrictions, it is simply not on the political radar.

Friday May 6, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 6, 2022

The Supreme Court might never recover from overturning Roe v. Wade

October 23, 2020

On Monday, Politico published a draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling declaring that the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to end their pregnancies. The court later confirmed that the document, written in February, is genuine, but emphasized that it is not the court’s final word. We hope not. If the justices embrace the sweeping document, they will deal a grievous blow to freedom in the United States — and to the legitimacy of the court itself.

Such a leak from the court’s typically tight inner sanctum is itself astonishing. The court works on trust among justices and staff, so that the justices can deliberate frankly. Whether the document leaked from a conservative justice’s chambers, in an effort to lock in the support of others on the right for its far-reaching language, or from a liberal’s, in an effort to mobilize outside pressure against such a ruling, the leak represents a dire breakdown in norms and another dramatic sign of the court’s political drift.

Saturday January 13, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 13, 2018

Norway was once the kind of country Trump might’ve spit on. Now its people don’t even want to come here.

After telling lawmakers in an Oval Office meeting Thursday he doesn’t want more immigration from “shithole countries,” President Trump said the U.S. should bring in more people from countries such as Norway instead.

December 8, 2015

In the history of international migration to the U.S., it was a deeply ironic statement. (Many have also called it racist, since Trump used the vulgarity to describe Haiti, El Salvador and African nations.)

About a century ago, a wave of European migration drew many Norwegians to the U.S. At the time, they faced challenges assimilating and catching up with native-born Americans.

But now that the president wants Norwegians to come on over? They’re likely too successful to bother.

Norway may have been on Trump’s mind due to his recent meeting with the country’s prime minister, who would have reason to boast of her country’s economic success. Norway has ranked at the top of the U.N.’s Human Development Index for all of this century. By all measures, it has a high quality of life.

But, interestingly enough, that’s a relatively recent development.

For the vast majority of their shared history, including the period in the mid-to-late 1800s and early 1900s that comprised the biggest wave of immigration from what is now Norway to the United States, Norway might have been on the president’s so-called manure pile.

European immigrants of that time fueled many of the same fears about immigration we see today, and politicians fought to close the nation’s borders back then as successive waves of migrants from different European countries faced hostility upon arrival in the U.S. (Source: Washington Post) 

 

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Friday September 8, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 8, 2017

Trump’s plan to end DACA could lead to influx of ‘Dreamers’ in Canada

President Donald Trump’s threat to end protections for those who entered the U.S. illegally as children could spark a new wave of immigration and asylum requests, some analysts warn.

If that happens, they say, Canada’s already stressed systems would come under further pressure and potentially intensify a backlash against newcomers.

About 1.7 million illegal migrants to the United States – the vast majority of them Mexicans – are either registered or qualify for registration under a five-year-old policy called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA. The program, which Trump wants ended, allows them to obtain work permits and protects them from deportation.

If even a fraction of those look north, it would still be a significant number of so-called Dreamers who might try to make Canada home.

Guidy Mamann, an immigration lawyer and policy analyst in Toronto, says he has already started getting calls and emails asking if Canada is an option.

“Now that there is a real question as to whether or not there is a permanent solution for these DACA kids, many of them are going to start to look towards Canada for both legal and possibly illegal entry,” Mamann said. “I suspect that we’re going to start seeing a real flow at this point because there is so much uncertainty.”

Younger Mexicans in the U.S. – those without completed higher education or solid work experience – are unlikely to qualify under Canada’s normal immigrant requirements. As a result, some might opt to claim refugee status, a process likely to take several years to play out, even for those whose claims are rejected.

Martha Batiz, an award-winning Mexican-Canadian writer and academic, said Canada would do well to put a system in place to welcome Dreamers, many of whom have grown up in the U.S. and are therefore culturally adapted and speak English as well as Spanish.

Otherwise, she said, they might feel desperate enough to create the kind of risky and uncontrolled influx recently seen with Haitian and African migrants.

“Canada has to step up,” Batiz said. “It would be better to have some system in place, even if it’s an imperfect system, so that (Dreamers) can apply legally, and Canada can decide who they are going to welcome.” (Source: Globe & Mail)