tearsheet

Tuesday April 10, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 10, 2018

Three countries ‘fairly close’ on NAFTA, Trump says as Mexico touts ‘80 per cent’ chance of deal

U.S. President Donald Trump says the U.S., Canada and Mexico are “fairly close on NAFTA,” adding that they “have a chance to make a deal.”

March 7, 2018

Trump’s words before a cabinet meeting on Monday were his most optimistic to date on the probability of a successful renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

They corroborated the optimism earlier in the day from Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo, who told a Mexican television station that there is “a very high probability, about 80 per cent,” of an agreement in principle by “the first week of May,” Reuters reported.

Guajardo, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland met in Washington last week for high-level negotiations that took the place of a full-scale negotiating round. Freeland said Friday that the talks were “intensive” and “constructive,” but she declined to offer her assessment of the chances for a deal.

January 24, 2018

It is not clear what exactly an “agreement in principle” would mean. Negotiations would be far from complete, even if such an agreement were announced. As of last month, the three countries had concluded only six of the planned 30-plus chapters of the agreement.

“The finish line is not even close on NAFTA,” Laura Dawson, director of the Canada Institute at Washington’s Wilson Center think tank, said last week.

The Trump administration appears to be in a rush because of the Mexican presidential election on July 1, in which the leading candidate is a left-wing NAFTA skeptic, and because of the U.S. congressional election in November, in which Democrats generally more skeptical of trade deals than Republicans could win back control of one or both chambers of Congress.

An agreement in principle, Dawson said, could “give all parties some political cover.” (Source: Toronto Star) 

Published in the Peterborough Examiner

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Thursday April 5, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 5, 2018

Rolling back vehicle emission standards in U.S. will affect Canada

March 8, 2017

Canada will have to decide what to do in light of the U.S. decision to ease emissions standards for cars and trucks. In 2014, Canada and the United States jointly adopted rules to radically increase fuel efficiency of the vehicles destined to be sold between 2022 and 2025.

On April 2, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said a timeline that was put in place by the previous Obama administration set standards too high and it will be changed. At the same time, the state of California has the right and is expected to keep to the tougher standards.

November 23, 2016

This will oblige the Canadian government to decide which stand to take.  Looser standards would make it more difficult for both countries to meet commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as promised in the 2015 Paris Agreement to fight climate change. But they would reduce the need for car makers to produce more electric vehicles easing pressure on them.

Canada’s environment minister has in the past said that reducing gasoline consumption is a key element in efforts to reduce this country’s emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by the year 2030. (Source: CBC News) 

Published in the Welland Tribune

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Wednesday January 10, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 10, 2018

Some questions for Mr. Trudeau

Later Wednesday morning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau drops by McMaster University for the second in a series of town hall meetings. It’s the sort of thing Trudeau is good at. His charisma, empathy and accessible style stand him in good stead.

The Liberals under Trudeau continue to enjoy strong support. The latest Nanos Research has the Liberals at 40.9 per cent, the Conservatives at 30.7, the NDP at 19.5 and the Greens at 4.8. Even more impressive is that 45.6 per cent of respondents prefer Trudeau as PM, compared to Conservative Andrew Scheer (20.3 per cent) and Jagmeet Singh (9 per cent). Even after the Aga Khan holiday scandal, Bill Morneau’s travails and numerous broken promises, Trudeau enjoys a level of support most politicians would envy.

Journalists don’t get to ask questions of the PM at today’s event. But here are some we’d like to see him answer. Feel free to borrow.

Entitlement: Trudeau, and his Finance Minister Bill Morneau, are seen by a growing number of Canadians as elitist and privileged. They owe no apologies for their accidents of birth. But even though measures like the child tax credit are unquestionably helping middle class families, there is a sense that Trudeau, especially, is more of a tourist in the lives of working class Canadians. How can the PM assure working Canadians that he is truly in their corner when he doesn’t have the life experience?

Pensions: Stories, many of them heartbreaking, continue to pour in about the hardships being experienced by Sears Canada retirees who have seen incomes cut and benefits lost. U.S. Steel retirees are still in limbo and at risk. Why won’t Trudeau commit to rewriting obsolete bankruptcy protection legislation to give pensioners more clout?

Democratic reform: Trudeau promised electoral reform but broke that promise and now says he thinks a proportional representation system would be “damaging to our stability, to our electoral system.” How can that be? How did reform go from being needed to being a threat? And are we stuck with the status quo forever?

Poverty: The government deserves credit for its $40 billion national housing strategy. But why does the investment not kick in until after the next election? Even more seriously, where is the government’s promised plan to fight poverty, promised in 2016? In his mandate letter, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos was given this direction: ‘Lead the development of a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy that would set targets to reduce poverty and measure and publicly report on our progress, in collaboration with the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour. Our strategy will align with and support existing provincial and municipal poverty reduction strategies.’ Nice words, but where’s the action to back them up?

If Trudeau could give credible answers to even two of these four questions, he’d offer assurance to the growing number of Canadians who fear his leadership is long on style and charisma, but short on substance. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

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Tuesday January 9, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 9, 2018

Province vows to step up enforcement to ensure $14-minimum-wage is paid

The Ontario government is stepping up enforcement to ensure employers are paying workers the new $14-an-hour minimum wage.

Labour Minister Kevin Flynn said Monday that up to 175 new employment standards officers are being hired to inspect workplaces that may not be abiding with the hourly increase from $11.60 that took effect Jan. 1.

“You can’t break the law in the province of Ontario; you have to pay the minimum wage,” Flynn told reporters at Queen’s Park.

“Unfortunately, it appears some employers are abandoning the spirit of this legislation and some may even be doing more than that,” the minister said.

“The stories we’ve all heard over the past week have not only been disappointing, but quite frankly they’ve made the premier, myself, and others in this province angry,” he said.

That was a reference to the children of Tim Hortons’ billionaire co-founders reducing benefits to employees in response to the wage hike at their two franchises in Cobourg.

Ron Joyce Jr., whose father co-founded the coffee shop chain, and his wife, Jeri Horton-Joyce, daughter of Tim Horton, told workers they would no longer be entitled to paid breaks and would have to pay more for dental and health benefits.

The couple said the measures were to help their company cope with the jump in wages. Unlike independent businesses, franchisees cannot simply raise prices to offset higher labour costs.

Similarly, a Scarborough Tim Hortons outlet banned employees from accepting tips and stripped them of paid breaks in response to a $2.40-wage-rise.

Tim Hortons’ corporate parent has dubbed them a “rogue group,” the actions of which “do not reflect the values of our brand.”

Echoing Premier Kathleen Wynne, Flynn warned such “bullying behaviour will not be tolerated. (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

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Thursday November 9, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 9, 2017

High anxiety in Hollywood amid sexual harassment allegations in the industry

February 25, 2017

The curtain has been pulled back, and, oh, is it messy.

Hollywood has always revelled in scandal. The rumour. The whisper. The unfortunate photograph. The apology and return to grace. But the recent sex abuse stories have turned into a parade of tawdry violations and twisted passions, the stuff of movies acted out in real lives against the unglamorous air of disgrace, endless transgressions that even Ray Donovan, Showtime’s half-shaven mercurial fixer, couldn’t clean up with all his hush money and muscle.

March 1, 2016

The rape and sexual abuse allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein, Brett Ratner, James Toback and others have shattered the awards-season aplomb in a town that imagines itself bold and freewheeling but prefers the tempered and scripted. The entertainment industry has slipped into a multi-polar catharsis of emboldened women, nervous men, threatening lawyers, broken deals, spoiled careers and the uncertainty that comes when cracks run like lightning through facades.

March 5, 2014

“I think the industry is forever changed,” said Marcel Pariseau, a publicist whose clients include Scarlett Johansson and Olivia Munn, one of six women who accused Ratner of sexual misconduct in the Los Angeles Times last week. “Every morning we wake up and we don’t know what’s going to be next. You’re almost afraid to get on your gadget to see what the new story is.”

“No one is going to be going to a producer or director’s hotel suite anymore,” he added. “All meetings will be done with somebody else in the room for protection for both sides. It’s a defining moment. It’s vigilance.” (Source: Toronto Star) 

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