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Wednesday February 1, 2023

February 1, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 1, 2023

Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner isn’t ruling out a bid for the leadership of the Ontario Liberals.

A group of high-profile Liberals — including former cabinet ministers Deb Matthews and Liz Sandals, and current Liberal caucus member Lucille Collard — released a letter Sunday urging Schreiner to join the party and run to be its leader.

October 18, 2012

“Our party needs to rediscover a politics of purpose and principle. We need to reach out to a new generation of voters. We need to open up to new people and new ideas and to embrace the kind of energy and enthusiasm that is driving grassroots activism and engagement across the province,” the Liberal group wrote.

“And that’s why we’re turning to you … We believe that your strong principle-based approach and your ability to connect and motivate activists — especially young people — is exactly what our party and province need now.”

Speaking to CBC Radio’s Metro Morning on Tuesday, Schreiner said he is mulling over the unusual proposal.

“My response is: give me time to think about this. Most importantly, give me time to consult with people — especially my constituents in Guelph and my friends and colleagues in the Green movement and people across the province — about the best way I can move forward to advance the issues I care about,” he said.

November 22, 2022

Schreiner had previously dismissed the idea when it was broached late last year, but he said the letter “really challenged” him to consider how he might “work differently” on issues like the climate crisis, housing affordability and protecting the Greenbelt.

The Liberal group argued that as Liberal leader, Schreiner would have a broader platform to rally Ontarians opposed to Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government.

“I think I owe it to people to think about it,” Schreiner told Metro Morning.

The party has been without a permanent leader since Steven Del Duca stepped down last year following a devastating election loss — the party’s second such result in a row.

Several Liberals have publicly said they’re exploring a run at the top job, including MP and former Ontario cabinet minister Yasir Naqvi, MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and current Ontario Liberal caucus member Ted Hsu.

he letter and companion DraftMike.ca website are not going over well with some Liberals.

September 28, 2012

Erskine-Smith wrote on Twitter that purpose and principle are indeed needed, along with “serious renewal” in the party.

“But we don’t need gimmicks, open letters, or Hail Marys,” he wrote. “There is no substitute for hard work and grassroots engagement. We need serious leadership. For a change.”

In response to those comments, Schreiner said Tuesday that he considers the letter “genuine outreach” but that he needs time to consider his options.

Schreiner has been the leader of the Ontario Greens since 2009 and in 2018 won the party’s first seat in the legislature.

His performance in the 2022 election debate was widely praised and he is well liked at the legislature, but despite the party’s high hopes of winning a second seat in that election, the Greens remain a caucus of one. (CBC) 

 

Wednesday December 21, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 21, 2022

Impeachments, Criminal Referrals, and Trading Cards

The criminal referral of Donald Trump to the Department of Justice by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack is largely symbolic – the panel itself has no power to prosecute any individual.

February 11, 2021

Nonetheless, the recommendation that Trump be investigated for four potential crimes – obstructing an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make a false statement; and inciting, assisting or aiding or comforting an insurrection – raises the prospect of an indictment, or even a conviction, of the former president.

It also poses serious ethical questions, given that Trump has already announced a 2024 run for the presidency, especially in regards to the referral over his alleged inciting or assisting an insurrection. Indeed, a Department of Justice investigation over Trump’s activities during the insurrection is already under way.

But would an indictment – or even a felony conviction – prevent a presidential candidate from running or serving in office?

The short answer is no. Here’s why:

The U.S. Constitution specifies in clear language the qualifications required to hold the office of the presidency. In Section 1, Clause 5 of Article II, it states: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”

These three requirements – natural-born citizenship, age and residency – are the only specifications set forth in the United States’ founding document.

January 8, 2021

But in case of insurrection, the Constitution includes no qualification regarding those conditions – with one significant exception. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies any person from holding federal office “who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

The reason why this matters is the Department of Justice is currently investigating Trump for his activities related to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. And one of the four criminal referrals made by the Jan. 6 House committee was over Trump’s alleged role in inciting, assisting or aiding and comforting an insurrection.

Even in the case of conviction and incarceration, a presidential candidate would not be prevented from continuing their campaign – even if, as a felon, they might not be able to vote for themselves.

History is dotted with instances of candidates for federal office running – and even being elected – while in prison. As early as 1798 – some 79 years before the 14th Amendment – House member Matthew Lyon was elected to Congress from a prison cell, where he was serving a sentence for sedition for speaking out against the Federalist Adams administration.

Eugene Debs, founder of the Socialist Party of America, ran for president in 1920 while serving a prison sentence for sedition. Although he lost the election, he nevertheless won 913,693 votes. Debs promised to pardon himself if he were elected.

And controversial politician and conspiracy theorist Lyndon Larouche also ran for president from a jail cell in 1992. (The Conversation) 

 

Wednesday April 8, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 8, 2020

Self-appointed pandemic police should think before they default to public shaming

The pandemic disaster is bringing out both the best and worst in people. And some behaviours are just annoying.

Coronavirus cartoons

One of the most annoying trends is the emergence of busybodies who are eager to pass judgment on others before they have all the facts. They’re the “pandemic police” — self-appointed vigilantes who are calling out people for not strictly adhering to social isolation protocols.

A mom in Sooke, B.C., was a recent victim of this overzealous reign of terror when she was repeatedly verbally assaulted for taking her two kids, ages two and six, out with her for errands.

Janene Walker says she was stopped in a Lowe’s parking lot changing her daughter’s diaper in her van when a passing man in a truck yelled out at her, “Keep your kids in the house, for Christ’s sake!”

Then, during a visit to a local grocery store, her daughter was strapped in the shopping cart and her son was close to her side when a man called her a “shitty mom” for taking her kids out with her. That confrontation turned into a shouting match that left her in tears.

November 14, 2019

Now, no question it would have been far better if this mom didn’t have her children with her while she bought necessary supplies. But sometimes we find ourselves in difficult circumstances. In her case, she’s managing her kids on her own while her husband is deployed with the military and, with no family nearby, she says he has no one to help her with babysitting.

Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, recently spoke up to condemn such public shaming. Community harassment, especially online, is “inappropriate,” he said.

What’s more appropriate is cracking down on people who are obviously flouting common sense — and, increasingly, the law in many provinces and states. 

And then there are the COVID-19 skeptics — yes, believe it or not, they’re still out there. They think all of this is being overblown or even a left-wing conspiracy. They also seem to think they can carry on as before without any consequences. To them, the answer may be not only public shaming, but also the full force of the law.

But what about people like Janene Walker, who just find themselves in a bind and don’t know what to do?

Strang says that rather than harass or shame individuals, people need to offer help and support so the person in question feels able to self-isolate and has the support to see them through the period of isolation.

Walker agrees, arguing that compassion should extend to any single parent who’s struggling to keep their household afloat while maintaining physical distancing and isolation.

“All these people just … think that they know better. And they’re shaming people publicly when they don’t know their situation. We should be helping each other and lifting each other up and showing compassion.”

I suspect that all of us have at some point in our lives felt the sting of being judged by people who seem to be lurking in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to pounce.

I don’t want to dive too deeply into the psychology behind that, but I suspect a lot of these people grew up in very judgmental households. Their tendency to gossip and look down their noses at others apparently gives their egos a boost.

It’s time for those people to show consideration and find out the full story before passing judgment.

I’m left to wonder what might have happened if one of those people who were so quick to denounce Walker had stopped and asked her why she was out with her kids. A little understanding and problem-solving might have made the connection she needed to find some babysitting or discover someone who could bring supplies to her.

Except for a handful for ignorant scofflaws, the vast majority of us fully understand the urgency of maintaining safe social distance. With each passing day, the grim news reminds us what’s at stake.

Rather than assuming the worst, when we see someone who’s breaking the rules, it’s worth asking whether we can help them comply.

We’re in this together — let’s all try to remember that some people just need a helping hand. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Thursday February 20, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 20, 2020

Force won’t fix Canada’s blockade problem — but that won’t let Trudeau off the hook

The most evocative image coming out of this week’s protests against the Coastal GasLink pipeline was that of a Canadian flag hanging upside-down outside the provincial legislature in Victoria, with the words “Reconciliation is dead” scrawled across it.

February 13, 2020

Because it’s 2020, that phrase was a hashtag, too.

Between the declaration of reconciliation’s demise and competing claims that Canada has fallen into “chaos” or “mob” rule, there is a yawning vacuum that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau might need to fill — to make the case again for a reconciliation project he embraced of his own volition.

There is more here than can be conveyed in a sound bite or tweet.

“Contemporary events have two-hundred-year-old tails,” Harry Swain, a former deputy minister with Indian and Northern Affairs (as the department was then known), wrote a decade ago in his book Oka: A Political Crisis and Its Legacy.

July 14, 2005

“Flashpoints like Oka occur when Indian people believe that governments have violated treaties or their own laws, when a long struggle to right the wrong has been unavailing, and when a government crystallizes matters by licensing a further insult or alienation,” he added. “Land is always at the heart of the broken promises.”

On those terms, historians might file the Wet’suwet’en protests against the Coastal Gas Link project alongside events like Oka, Ipperwash, Caledonia and Gustafsen Lake.

But those examples also point to the great danger involved in attempting to resolve such disputes with force. In Oka and Ipperwash, people died. Wherever there is violence, there is lasting trauma. And the last thing the relationship between Canada and Indigenous Peoples needs now is more trauma.

September 1, 2006

Even if calls for Trudeau to immediately intervene seem either to understate the difficulty of doing so, or to promote a potentially dangerous course of action (one commentator this week invoked Margaret Thatcher’s handling of the miners strike in the United Kingdom, a violent year-long conflict, as a laudable example of leadership), Trudeau’s government can’t be absolved of its duty to safely end this standoff as quickly as possible.

On Friday, Trudeau said that the government’s focus was on “dialogue” and “constructive outcomes.” A day earlier, his government announced that Carolyn Bennett, the minister of Crown-Indigenous relations, was being dispatched to British Columbia, while Marc Miller, the minister of Indigenous services, will get involved in trying to resolve the blockade in Ontario.

But in the post-conflict analysis, there will be questions about whether the Liberals should have intervened directly sooner. (CBC) 

 

Tuesday October 29, 2019

October 29, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 29, 2019

Ontario will champion a united Canada: Premier Doug Ford

November 20, 2018

Ontario needs to “step up” and help heal a country fractured after a federal election campaign, Premier Doug Ford says.

“I’ve never seen the country this divided,” Ford said in a one-on-one interview Thursday with the Toronto Sun. “I think it’s time that Ontario steps up and unites this country. We’re so much stronger when we’re united.”

Ford said he gets along well with several other premiers, including those in Alberta and Quebec, and strongly believes that the provinces should be competing against the world, not each other.

Ontario does well in a strong Canada, and Canada does well with a strong Ontario, he said.

“I understand their concerns out west; they’re putting $20 billion into the federal government’s pockets and they’re frustrated,” he said. “(Albertans are) upset; they’re really upset, actually.”

March 24, 2009

The same is true for folks he spoke to in Saskatchewan, he Ford.

One of the issues dividing some provinces and the federal government is carbon taxes.

The federal government’s lead voice in favour of carbon taxes, Liberal MP Catherine McKenna, found the windows of her constituency office spray-painted with a vulgar, sexist message Thursday.

Ford said he continues to oppose carbon taxes, believes that they put the province at an international economic disadvantage, but called for political points of views to be expressed peacefully.

“That’s totally unacceptable what they spray-painted,” he said. “I don’t care what political stripe you are.”

His own constituency office was occupied by protesters recently, terrifying his staff, he said.

February 1, 2018

Ford and his government head back to the legislature Monday for the first time since June.

Many have suggested that Ford was keeping out of the public eye for fear of hurting Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s chances of winning Monday’s federal election.

Ford said he told Scheer at the start of the campaign that he hoped the Conservative leader won but he was staying out of it, focusing on pressing provincial matters.

Asked if he minded that his name kept popping up in the campaign — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeatedly told Canadians they could expect Ford-like cuts from Scheer — the premier said it didn’t bother him.

However, in a phone call with Trudeau the day after the election, he touched on the topic, Ford said.

“I told the prime minister that ‘enough of the politicking now, people expect us to work together and make sure that we build on infrastructure and other areas,’” Ford said. (Toronto Sun) https://torontosun.com/news/provincial/ontario-will-champion-a-united-canada-premier-doug-ford