Tourism – mackaycartoons

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

June 25, 2024 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, June 25, 2024

* Find an animated version of this cartoon through this link!

The Science Centre is the latest casualty of Doug Ford’s policy of neglect

December 7, 2023

The abrupt closure of the Ontario Science Centre is a glaring reflection of Premier Doug Ford’s administration’s approach to public infrastructure and governance. This situation, marked by strategic neglect and controversial redevelopment plans, echoes the handling of other public assets like the Greenbelt, raising significant concerns about transparency, priorities, and potential cronyism.

The Ontario Science Centre, opened in 1969, has been an integral part of the province’s cultural and educational landscape. However, years of deferred maintenance and underfunding have left the facility in a state of disrepair. An engineering report revealed that the centre’s roof was at risk of collapsing, necessitating immediate closure to ensure public safety.

News: Ontario Science Centre to close immediately: province

November 8, 2022

Despite the obvious need for regular maintenance and timely repairs, successive Ontario governments, including Ford’s administration, have repeatedly deferred necessary projects. Since 2017, 42 maintenance projects were deferred, highlighting a pattern of neglect that ultimately led to the current crisis. This neglect aligns with a broader trend seen in the handling of other public assets, where lack of investment is used as a pretext for drastic measures.

The decision to relocate the Science Centre to Ontario Place is part of a larger redevelopment plan that includes a privately owned Therme spa. This move has been highly controversial, with accusations of arbitrary decision-making and lack of public consultation. Critics argue that this relocation is a thinly veiled attempt to justify the closure of the current facility, allowing private developers to benefit from prime real estate.

May 30, 2023

Opposition politicians and community leaders have expressed skepticism about the government’s intentions, suggesting that the move is more about benefiting Ford’s allies than about genuinely improving public services. The timing and nature of the closure have further fuelled these suspicions, with many viewing it as a premeditated strategy to pave the way for private development.

The handling of the Science Centre’s closure bears striking similarities to the Ford government’s approach to the Greenbelt development. In both cases, there have been allegations of backroom deals and favouritism towards developers with close ties to the Progressive Conservative party. The Greenbelt controversy involved plans to open up protected lands for development, benefiting a select group of developers, many of whom were significant donors to the PC party.

January 17, 2023

This pattern of governance raises serious concerns about the integrity and motivations behind such decisions. It suggests a governance style that prioritizes the interests of a few well-connected individuals over the broader public good.

The closure of the Ontario Science Centre is not just a loss of a physical space but a significant blow to the community, particularly in neighbourhoods like Thorncliffe Park. The Centre has been a vital resource for education and cultural enrichment, and its loss will leave a void that virtual programs and pop-up experiences cannot fully replace.

Editorial: The Science Centre is the latest casualty of Doug Ford’s policy of neglect

August 5, 2023

Furthermore, the lack of transparency and perceived cronyism erode public trust in the government’s stewardship of public assets. The secrecy surrounding the financial details of the redevelopment deal, including the terms of the lease with Therme and the long-term plans for Ontario Place, exacerbates this distrust.

The closure of the Ontario Science Centre under Doug Ford’s government is a stark example of “demolition by neglect,” where strategic underfunding and deferred maintenance are used to justify controversial redevelopment plans. This approach not only undermines the preservation of public heritage but also raises significant ethical concerns about governance and accountability. As taxpayers and citizens, it is crucial to demand greater transparency, prioritize the maintenance and enhancement of public assets, and resist policies that disproportionately benefit a select few at the expense of the many.

In the end, the Ontario Science Centre’s fate should serve as a wake-up call to scrutinize and challenge the decisions made by those in power, ensuring that public resources are managed with integrity and foresight for the benefit of all Ontarians. (AI)

Saturday June 24, 2023

June 24, 2023 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 24, 2023

Deep Water Rubber Necking Will Always Thrill Some, Despite Safety Concerns

July 13, 2021

The recent tragedy involving the Titan submersible has reignited the debate around deep-sea tourism safety. While calls for stricter regulations are expected, enforcing them across international waters poses challenges. The incident was an outlier, as most deep-sea excursions have been incident-free for over 60 years. Although safety is crucial, deep sea rubber necking will continue to be sought after by thrill-seekers with means.

The absence of regulations in international waters makes implementing safety measures difficult. Industry experts support certification for submersibles, but passing and enforcing regulations globally is complex. Responsible submersible operators prioritize safety, exploring natural phenomena at depths of 500 meters or less. It’s vital to distinguish between such operators and OceanGate’s unconventional decision with the Titan.

News: OceanGate Was Warned of Potential for ‘Catastrophic’ Problems With Titanic Mission

Despite the tragedy, the allure of deep-sea exploration remains. Future expeditions may include submarine tours to view the Titanic and Titan debris. While safety regulations should be enhanced, the limitations in international waters must be acknowledged. Rather than focusing solely on oversight, improving operations and responsible practices should be prioritized within the submersible industry.

The families affected by the Titanic disaster express their disdain for exploring their loved ones’ resting place. Their emotional pleas remind us of the tragedy. However, responsible and respectful expeditions can offer valuable historical insights.

Deep sea rubber necking will always captivate some individuals, and the fascination with exploring iconic shipwrecks will persist. Balancing regulation and the freedom to explore the depths is a delicate task. As technology advances, we must ensure future expeditions prioritize safety while continuing to ignite our curiosity about the wonders hidden beneath the waves. (AI) | Also printed in the Toronto Star.

Letters to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator, June 28, 2023

Letters to the Editor

Cartoon was an affront

If the editorial cartoon in Saturday’s Spec was meant to be humorous, it failed miserably. Maybe staff forgot that five people perished in a completely avoidable tragedy.

If the cartoon was meant to inform or entertain, again it missed the mark. The cartoon is in fact an affront to the memories of those who died.

The Spec has of late been very conscientious about holding various public institutions to account, but this cartoon makes all of that seem artificial and shows your true colours.

Jack Coruzzi, Brantford

Cartoon nailed it

MacKay’s Saturday cartoon was brilliant and spot on. Adventure tourism gets headlines for billionaires who cost the public millions, while 500 refugees died in an accident on the Mediterranean, and hardly a word was uttered. We live in a shameful society that needs to be called out by satirists like MacKay.

Rhonda Hilton, Burlington

Tuesday April 18, 2023

April 18, 2023 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 18, 2023

Ford’s Fumbled Vision for Ontario Place

Young Doug Ford: The Series

Premier Doug Ford’s recent announcements about Ontario Place and the Ontario Science Centre have left many scratching their heads. Ford, known more for his political blunders than his youthful exploits as a rebel without a cause, seems to be haphazardly scribbling plans for these iconic attractions on the back of a napkin, as NDP Leader Marit Stiles aptly pointed out in the legislature.

Opinion: Doug Ford’s vision for Ontario Place puts people last

January 12, 2019

Ford’s bewildering plan to uproot the Science Centre from its historic location and hand over public lands to a private European developer to build a luxury spa and parking lot on Ontario Place’s West Island has raised more than a few eyebrows. The lack of transparency and accountability in Ford’s decision-making process is as clear as mud, and critics are rightly concerned about the environmental impact of cutting down over 800 trees for a proposed spa, as revealed in a recent City of Toronto planning staff report.

Mayoral candidates Josh Matlow and Olivia Chow have called for preserving Ontario Place as a public park without a private spa, while Ford’s former adviser, Mark Saunders, seems to view it as a “tourism opportunity” for the city. However, Ford remains resolute in his plans, claiming that the idea to relocate the Science Centre came up a year ago and that he personally thinks it’s a brilliant idea. Perhaps his rose-tinted nostalgia for the good old days is clouding his judgment as he makes decisions about these provincial treasures.

Wikipedia: Ontario Place

July 30, 2012

As the June 26 mayoral byelection looms, Ford’s puzzling vision for Ontario Place and the Science Centre has become a contentious issue. Many are clamoring for more transparency and accountability in Ford’s decision-making process, and urging him to put aside his impulsive napkin-scrawled plans and approach these beloved attractions with a modicum of strategic foresight. It’s high time for Ford to heed the concerns of the public and consider the long-term implications of his ill-conceived plans for Ontario Place and the Ontario Science Centre, instead of making rash decisions that seem more fitting of his political misadventures than his youthful escapades. (AI)

Friday November 19, 2021

November 19, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, (Not published in The Hamilton Spectator) – Friday November 19, 2021

Capitalism is killing the planet

There is a myth about human beings that withstands all evidence. It’s that we always put our survival first. This is true of other species. When confronted by an impending threat, such as winter, they invest great resources into avoiding or withstanding it: migrating or hibernating, for example. Humans are a different matter.

4 Waves Cartoon

When faced with an impending or chronic threat, such as climate or ecological breakdown, we seem to go out of our way to compromise our survival. We convince ourselves that it’s not so serious, or even that it isn’t happening. We double down on destruction, swapping our ordinary cars for SUVs, jetting to Oblivia on a long-haul flight, burning it all up in a final frenzy. In the back of our minds, there’s a voice whispering, “If it were really so serious, someone would stop us.” If we attend to these issues at all, we do so in ways that are petty, tokenistic, comically ill-matched to the scale of our predicament. It is impossible to discern, in our response to what we know, the primacy of our survival instinct.

Here is what we know. We know that our lives are entirely dependent on complex natural systems: the atmosphere, ocean currents, the soil, the planet’s webs of life. People who study complex systems have discovered that they behave in consistent ways. It doesn’t matter whether the system is a banking network, a nation state, a rainforest or an Antarctic ice shelf; its behaviour follows certain mathematical rules. In normal conditions, the system regulates itself, maintaining a state of equilibrium. It can absorb stress up to a certain point. But then it suddenly flips. It passes a tipping point, then falls into a new state of equilibrium, which is often impossible to reverse.

Human civilisation relies on current equilibrium states. But, all over the world, crucial systems appear to be approaching their tipping points. If one system crashes, it is likely to drag others down, triggering a cascade of chaos known as systemic environmental collapse. This is what happened during previous mass extinctions. (Continued: The Guardian)

November 19, 2021

Atmospheric rivers of the kind that flooded British Columbia and renched California in recent weeks will become larger — and possibly more destructive — because of climate change, scientists said.

Columns in the atmosphere hundreds of miles long carry water vapour over oceans from the tropics to more temperate regions in amounts more than double the flow of the Amazon River, according to the American Meteorological Society.

These “rivers in the sky” are relatively common, with about 11 present on Earth at any time, according to NASA.

But warming air and seas around the globe causes conditions that scientists said will make them hold more moisture, causing extreme precipitation when they make landfall, often on the west coasts of North America, South America and Western Europe.

Because of climate change, atmospheric rivers are projected to become slightly less frequent, but more intense, according to a 2018 study led by researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“There may be fewer, but they are going to be lasting longer, and more intense,” Vicky Espinoza, an author of the NASA study who is now a graduate student at the University of California Merced, said.

Atmospheric rivers will become about 10% less frequent by the end of this century, but about 25% longer and wider, the study found. That will lead to nearly double the frequency of the most intense atmospheric river storms. (Continued: CTV)

Tuesday July 13, 2021

July 23, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday July 13, 2021

Space Billionaires, Please Read the Room

Dear billionaires, no one cares whom you beat to space.

After Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, announced that he would join the first crewed flight by his rocket company, Blue Origin, later this month, Richard Branson just couldn’t let himself be outdone.* So now Branson, merely the world’s 589th richest person, is joining the crew of his next Virgin Galactic flight on Sunday, nine days before Bezos goes vertical.

May 11, 2021

All of this to go to “space.” Branson will go only about 50 miles up, where the military says space starts. Bezos will go 12 miles higher, just past the internationally recognized Karman Line, but he’ll be there for only four minutes.

Could there be a worse time for two über-rich rocket owners to take a quick jaunt toward the dark? Especially in the United States, the climate crisis is now actually starting to feel like a crisis. The western U.S. is in the thick of fire season, experiencing record-breaking drought and temperatures. Last week, Bezos’s hometown of Seattle hit 108 degrees. Hurricane season is starting early, and a once-in-200-years flood just ravaged northern Mississippi. Oh yeah, then there’s the pandemic that is very much still not over. Anyone would want a break from this planet, but the billionaires are virtually the only ones who are able to leave.

Leaving Earth right now isn’t just bad optics; it’s almost a scene out of a twisted B-list thriller: The world is drowning and scorching, and two of the wealthiest men decide to … race in their private rocket ships to see who can get to space a few days before the other. If this were a movie, these men would be Gordon Gekko and Hal 9000—both venerated and hated. Maybe, I don’t know, delay the missions a bit until people around the world are no longer desperately waiting for vaccines to save them from a deadly virus.

To their credit, the two billionaires aren’t totally oblivious. In recent years, Branson has proposed a climate dividend, while Bezos has pledged to spend $10 billion on climate efforts, though we still don’t know where most of that money will go. But given what humanity has been through in the past year and a half, I can’t help but wonder, what are they thinking? (I reached out to both Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic for comment and neither company responded. Branson has insisted that he is not in a competition with Bezos.)

January 6, 2020

And it’s not just them that make this display feel so gross. Their fellow billionaire Elon Musk (currently the No. 2 richest person, if you’re keeping track) may not be far behind in his own space travels and is in the midst of ruining the night sky with his mega-constellation of satellites. While Bezos and Branson will be in space—I mean, “space”—for just a few minutes, their departure is yet another reminder of all the other earthly things they can avoid that the rest of us can’t. Billionaires have purchased private islands, built underground bunkers, and gotten LASIK to prepare for not having glasses during the climate apocalypse. They can’t truly escape Earth now, and they likely never will, but they can avoid helping make this planet better.

However, even after their trip past the atmosphere, the space billionaires still have to come back here and face the world. When they are pushed upward into the sky, they will live-stream their experience, their bodies briefly floating, staring out at the curvature of our delicate and beautiful planet, all of us invisible. Will leaving Earth change them?

This is one of the universal sentiments that astronauts express once setting foot back on the ground: Looking at Earth, from up above, gives you a different perspective, enough to shift something inside. “The thing that really surprised me was that [Earth] projected an air of fragility,” the Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins said. “And why, I don’t know. I don’t know to this day. I had a feeling it’s tiny, it’s shiny, it’s beautiful, it’s home, and it’s fragile.” Maybe this quick trip really will change the billionaires, but I’m not counting on it. After all, they’re only going to “space.”

*This article previously misstated that Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson are vying to become the first billionaires in space. In fact, at least one billionaire, Charles Simonyi, has already traveled to space. (The Atlantic)