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Friday January 24, 2025

January 24, 2025 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday January 24, 2025, and The Toronto Star

Doug Ford’s Call for a Mandate is a Diversion, Not a Solution

Young Doug Ford: The Series

In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s provocative rhetoric about using “economic force” against Canada, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s call for a new mandate to tackle potential U.S. tariffs seems less about addressing genuine economic challenges and more about diverting attention from his government’s shortcomings.

Opinion: Doug Ford is trying to protect himself, not Ontario, with an early election call

His concept of “Fortress Am-Can” emerges as a notable, albeit gimmicky, initiative by Ontario Premier Doug Ford. This catchy moniker is intended to symbolize a robust economic alliance with the United States, aiming to fortify trade relations while addressing potential external threats. While the name conjures images of impenetrable economic strength, critics might argue that it serves more as a rhetorical flourish than a concrete policy framework, highlighting the complexities and challenges inherent in truly integrating cross-border economic strategies with domestic priorities. It’s has yet to be seen if the moniker goes anywhere.

January 17, 2025

The proposed 25% tariffs on Canadian goods by Trump present a significant economic threat, but framing an election as the solution is misleading. At a time when the Canadian economy needs strategic, collaborative responses, Ford’s focus on securing political capital is a distraction from more pressing and actionable solutions.

For one, Canada must urgently diversify its trading relationships. Reliance on the U.S. leaves Canada vulnerable to the whims of American policy shifts. By expanding trade ties with Europe, Asia, and other global markets, Canada can bolster its economic resilience and reduce dependency on a single partner.

Moreover, the real opportunity for economic strengthening lies within our borders. Interprovincial trade barriers in Canada are a self-imposed obstacle that stifles economic potential. These barriers, in the form of differing regulations and standards, create inefficiencies and restrict the free flow of goods, services, and labor. Addressing these would not only enhance domestic productivity but also prepare Canada to better withstand external economic pressures.

News: Split on U.S. tariffs, premiers agree to focus on dismantling interprovincial trade barriers

October 17, 2024

Meanwhile, Ford’s government faces significant domestic challenges, particularly in healthcare and housing. Ontario’s healthcare system is under strain, with long wait times and resource shortages affecting patient care. The housing crisis continues to escalate, with affordability and availability issues persisting across the province. These are critical areas that demand focused attention and effective policy solutions, yet they seem overshadowed by the political theater of an unnecessary electoral mandate.

In essence, Ford’s election call seems more a maneuver to consolidate power rather than a genuine effort to address the economic challenges posed by U.S. tariffs. What Canada truly needs is strategic leadership that prioritizes internal economic reforms and external diversification. By focusing on these substantive issues, Canadian leaders can enhance national resilience and secure a more stable economic future.

The path forward requires vision and collaboration, not electoral distractions. It’s time to move beyond political posturing and focus on the real work needed to strengthen Canada’s economy from within.

Interprovincial trade barriers might not be the most sexy topic, but they could be the secret weapon Canada needs to counteract the financial strain from U.S. tariffs. These barriers have been a thorn in Canada’s side since Confederation, and while they don’t grab headlines, tackling them could make a real difference.

When a tariff crisis hits, it’s tempting for politicians to make a big show of calling elections and casting tariffs as the villain. Yet the real challenge—and opportunity—lies in bringing provinces together to break down these old trade walls.

“Economic force”, as Donald Trump has called it, in the form of tariffs, would mean trouble for consumers on both sides of the border, leading to job losses and economic pain. Canada, being the smaller player, will ultimately suffer more in this exchange.

To strengthen its position, Canada should look beyond North America and build trade relationships with friendlier markets. At the same time, cutting through the red tape of interprovincial trade is a crucial, though often overlooked, move that could boost the economy.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s call for an election in response to tariffs seems more like political theatre than a real solution. He’s learned from the great Guru of distraction who’s the new leader down south. An election diverts attention from RCMP investigations and urgent issues like healthcare and housing that need urgent fixing. Instead of playing games, Canada needs to focus on real change: diversifying trade and tearing down those internal trade barriers. By doing so, Canada can stand stronger and more independently, ready to face whatever comes its way.

But no, Dougie Ford has to revert to his teen brain and thrust us into a provincial election.

Please enjoy the January 23, 2024 making-of animated editorial cartoon below. Posts come out every Saturday as I summarize the week that was in my editorial cartoons. What you’re reading now is regarded as a “note”, which is used to help compose my weekly posts and showcase the animated versions of my daily editorial cartoons. If you like my editorial cartoons and animations, please subscribe to my Substack newsletter, if you haven’t already. A lot of work goes into these cartoons and commentary — Best of all, it’s free!

– The Graeme Gallery

Read on Substack

Wednesday February 1, 2023

February 1, 2023 by Graeme MacKay

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)

Tuesday March 3, 2020

March 10, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 3, 2020

Here’s What’s at Stake in Super Tuesday States

Sketch from the CBS News Democratic Party Candidates Debate, Charleston, South Carolina, February 25, 2020.
Michael Bloomberg, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer

The contests on Tuesday may be the single most important day on the primary calendar, with the potential to elevate one candidate as a decisive front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

If one Democrat — most likely Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — builds a wide lead of several hundred delegates over the rest of the field, it could become exceedingly difficult for other candidates to catch up over the remaining three months of primary elections.

But it is by no means certain that Mr. Sanders or anyone else will establish a controlling advantage on Super Tuesday, and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is hopeful that a late surge of momentum will keep the final margin close.

The vast diversity of the country and the internal divisions of the Democratic Party will be on display across a landscape of elections that covers the swollen suburbs of the Mid-Atlantic and the Sun Belt; traditional Democratic strongholds in New England and the Upper Midwest; the booming cities of the upper South and the interior West, and large rural stretches across both regions.

For any one candidate to dominate that map would be an extraordinary show of strength.

Super Tuesday 2012

It is the closest we will get, in this long campaign season, to a national day of voting in the nomination race. But the balance of influence on Super Tuesday is weighted toward the West, represented by huge states like California and Texas. Other big population centers in the country — electoral prizes like Florida, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois — are still weeks from voting.

Mr. Sanders is highly likely to come out of Super Tuesday with a lead in the delegate count. But the size of that lead is a big question mark, and so is the number of states Mr. Sanders might win outright.

July 31, 2019

There are few states out of reach for Mr. Sanders. In theory, he could win virtually everywhere on Super Tuesday, except perhaps Alabama, where moderate African-Americans who lean toward Mr. Biden make up a huge share of the primary electorate.

The Vermont senator has even been showing strength in Massachusetts, the home state of his rival, Senator Elizabeth Warren. He also has a chance of capturing Minnesota, which is now up for grabs after Senator Amy Klobuchar decided to exit the race on Monday. Mr. Sanders won the state in 2016.

The most important target for Mr. Sanders is California, where his campaign hopes not just to win, but to win by such a dominant margin that he captures a vast majority of delegates. If Mr. Sanders managed that feat, he could open a nearly insurmountable delegate lead.

Yet Mr. Sanders’s strength depends on his political opposition staying fractured. If moderate voters or African-Americans coalesce around just one or two other candidates — Mr. Biden may be the likeliest rallying point — then Mr. Sanders could end up with a shorter list of victories, concentrated in Western states where his coalition of young liberals and Latinos is strongest.

February 11, 2020

The race began to take a dramatic turn on Sunday after former Mayor Pete Buttigieg dropped out, clearing the way for moderate voters to coalesce around candidates who may be better positioned to stop Mr. Sanders. The exits of both Mr. Buttigieg and Ms. Klobuchar could lift Mr. Biden’s political fortunes on Tuesday, but might also benefit Ms. Warren and Michael R. Bloomberg.

Mr. Biden received the big victory in South Carolina that he was looking for, but it remains to be seen how much of a lift he will get heading into Super Tuesday. One problem: Until this past weekend, he had not campaigned in a Super Tuesday state in over a month, aside from fund-raising.

May 11, 2012

After his fourth-place finish in Iowa and his fifth-place finish in New Hampshire, Mr. Biden planted himself in Nevada and then in South Carolina — and he achieved the results he was looking for in those two states. But that came at the cost of campaigning elsewhere. He visited North Carolina, Alabama and Virginia this past weekend, and he is campaigning in Texas on Monday before heading to California.

Mr. Biden’s team is focusing on congressional districts that play to his strengths, such as those with large numbers of black voters.

Mr. Biden’s operation on the ground across the Super Tuesday states is also conspicuously thin. He has only a single office in California and four in Texas. By comparison, Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign says it has 24 offices in California and 19 in Texas.

February 6, 2008

Still, Mr. Biden has some significant advantages heading into Tuesday’s contests. He emerged triumphant from the South Carolina primary, which provided him with a burst of positive attention, and the endorsements from Ms. Klobuchar and Mr. Buttigieg offered a signal to moderate voters to embrace his candidacy. Mr. Biden already had a long roster of prominent endorsers in Super Tuesday states, which has grown even larger in recent days.

He is also relying on his status as a household name and the goodwill that remains among Democrats from his time serving as President Barack Obama’s vice president. (NYTimes)

Thursday May 16, 2019

May 23, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 16, 2019

Freeland renews push to remove steel, aluminum tariffs during Washington trip

July 27, 2018

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is bound for Washington to meet with Trump trade czar Robert Lighthizer in a renewed push to get punitive steel and aluminum tariffs lifted.

The meeting at the United States trade representative’s Washington office is to take place on Wednesday but Freeland will also venture to Capitol Hill for a meeting with the influential Republican chair of the Senate finance committee, Chuck Grassley.

“We continue to lobby very assertively for the lifting of the tariffs. We’re at a point where we need to do everything we can and talk to everyone we can about why we see these as unjust,” a senior government source said Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing dispute.

June 1, 2018

The meetings come after a pair of telephone calls on consecutive days late last week between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in which the controversial 25-per-cent duty on Canadian steel and 10-per-cent levy on aluminum was a major subject of conversation.

On Tuesday, Grassley suggested to reporters in a conference call that an end to the tariffs might be close. Last month, Grassley tweeted that Trump must remove the tariffs before the new North American trade deal can be ratified.

Trump imposed them in the first place using a section of U.S. trade law that gives the president powers to put duties on imports on national-security grounds.

Freeland, Trudeau and others in Canadian government have derided the tariffs as absurd, illegal and insulting.

But Freeland has said she’s heartened by the recent comments of both Republican and Democratic American lawmakers who say the new North American trade agreement that includes Mexico can’t be ratified with the “Section 232” tariffs in place. (Global)

Friday June 16, 2017

June 15, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 16, 2017

Netflix tax? Trudeau says no to MPs’ proposed broadband internet levy

February 11, 2016

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has flatly rejected a controversial recommendation from a parliamentary committee calling for a five per cent tax on broadband internet services.

The new levy, included in a majority report of the Canadian Heritage committee released Thursday, was intended to boost a media sector struggling to adapt to technological changes and evolving consumer habits.

“We respect the independence of committees and Parliament and the work and the studies they do, but allow me to be clear: We’re not raising taxes on the middle class, we’re lowering them,” he said during an event in Montreal. “We’re not going to be raising taxes on the middle class through an internet broadband tax. That is not an idea we are taking on.”

September 24, 2014

Trudeau said his Liberal government was elected on a promise to lower taxes for the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest one per cent.

The committee’s report suggested the proposal would add hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues to the Canadian Media Fund, which already receives a levy on cable bills to finance the production of Canadian content.

The tax, levied on broadband internet providers, would apply to high-speed internet services that allow for the streaming of music, movies and TV shows, but not to slower and less costly services.

Revenue generated by the current cable levy is no longer seen as sufficient in an age of cord cutting and “over-the-top” services that stream content over the internet.

The Heritage committee has spent more than a year studying the industry, which has been steadily losing advertising revenue and market shares to online giants such as Facebook, Netflix and Google. (Source: CBC News)

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