transparency – mackaycartoons

Tuesday May 3, 2016

May 2, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 3, 2016

Mike Duffy makes quiet return to Parliament Hill

Mike Duffy returned to Parliament Hill on Monday, a little more than a week after a court dismissed all of the 31 charges against him related to his Senate expenses.

The P.E.I. senator casually strolled past waiting reporters without saying anything, and entered Centre Block through the front doors that lead to the Senate chamber. He was similarly silent when he later came upon reporters outside his third-floor office.

The Senate is not sitting Monday, but Duffy could return to the Upper Chamber when business resumes on Tuesday. He has not appeared in the Senate since 2013, when he addressed the controversy around his expenses shortly before senators voted to suspend him without pay.

That suspension ended with last year’s election call. And with last month’s verdict, Duffy was cleared to return to the job to which he was appointed in 2008.

Senior Conservative senators have already said that they will fight any effort by Duffy to collect that back pay saying the suspension process was separate from the criminal trial proceedings.

“There is no appetite among senators to revisit this. It brings back some very tumultuous times,” Conservative Senator Leo Housakos, chair of the internal economy committee, told CBC News last week.

Claude Carignan, the leader of the Conservative opposition in the Senate, added Monday that he is staunchly opposed to cutting a cheque to Duffy.

“I completely disagree with [back pay for Duffy]. If he asks for that I will disapprove because that was in fact a completely different situation. He was suspended on a disciplinary sanction for negligence in the management of his office. His criminal charges were something completely different,” he said.

James Cowan, the leader of the Senate Liberals, added that it would be up to Duffy to make his case to fellow senators.

“Any senator is entitled to bring anything before the Senate,” Cowan said outside the chamber. “I think the proper thing is to let Senator Duffy come back and make his own decision about how he should behave and deal with that situation, and then we’ll deal with it. But it’s not up to us, it’s up to him.” (Source: CBC News)

Saturday, May 23, 2015

May 22, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, May 23, 2015

Wynne responds to Hydro One criticism: There will be oversight, she says

Ontario’s premier has defended the partial sale of Hydro One, insisting there will be oversight of the electricity utility after the government sells off up to 60 per cent of the operation.

Kathleen Wynne was responding to criticism from several provincial oversight agencies that the public would continue to own much of the utility, but not get to exercise much scrutiny over it.

Eight officers of the provincial legislature, in a public letter last week, bemoaned that the utility would become exempt from things like government audits, disclosure-of-lobbying rules and Access to Information law.

Wynne was asked about that letter in an interview during a trip to Washington, where she will speak at a public forum today after meeting with members of Congress and the Obama administration.

Wynne said companies have their own oversight models.

She suggested that will be the case when the province proceeds with the sale of 60 per cent of Hydro One, starting with an initial public offering of 15 per cent.

[slideshow_deploy id=’4298’]

“The fact is that private companies have their own oversight mechanisms,” Wynne told The Canadian Press.

“There are rules around oversight for publicly traded or private companies. And on top of that we’re going to put a Hydro ombudsman in place. We’re building in some oversight. So I actually think the oversight will be there.”

She said the government wants to create “a great Canadian company” that will provide quality service, with price controls still in place on electricity rates, but sell part of the utility to raise revenue for new infrastructure. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Wednesday August 13, 2014

August 12, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 13, 2014

Justin Trudeau Vows To Scrap First Nations Financial Transparency Act

Justin Trudeau has promised to scrap a controversial law forcing First Nations leaders to disclose salaries and band financial statements online and replace it with something more “respectful” if he becomes prime minister in 2015.

Trudeau told The Vancouver Sun the First Nations Financial Transparency Act, passed in 2013 amid complaints from many aboriginal leaders, has been used as a “weapon” against critics of the Stephen Harper government.

“I wouldn’t keep the legislation in place,” Trudeau told the newspaper. “I would work with First Nations to make sure that a proper accountability act that would have disclosed any excesses we see, but is done in a way that is respectful of the First Nation communities.”

The law requires First Nations bands post audited financial statements — including remunerations of chiefs and councillors — on their websites within 120 days of the end of the financial year. Smaller bands without websites can post them to the sites of larger First Nations groups or a site hosted by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.

The department is publishing the documents online as they are received from more than 600 First Nations bands. As of Monday afternoon, documents from less than 250 bands were posted, despite a deadline to submit the information by July 29.

After the rules came into effect two weeks ago, it was revealed Kwikwetlem First Nation Chief Ron Giesbrecht received nearly $1 million in remuneration last year for serving as leader and economic development officer of his B.C. band. (Source: Huffington Post)

OTHER MEDIA

This cartoon was posted to Yahoo News Canada, and iPolitics.

FEEDBACK

p.s. that’s not even what a six nations headdress looks like. you can’t even get your racist stereotypes right @TheSpec @mackaycartoons

— kris (@khrismmm) August 14, 2014

From the Hamilton Spectator: From: http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4756600-august-13-editorial-cartoon/

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

October 21, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Kathleen Wynne to launch ‘open government’ push to boost transparency

Premier Kathleen Wynne wants to fling open the doors of government.

Dogged by the lingering controversy over the Liberals’ shadowy cancellation of two gas plants at a cost of up $1.1 billion, Wynne is pushing for greater transparency at Queen’s Park.

“Together, let’s do government differently,” the premier writes in an unusual open letter to Ontarians to be released Monday.

“We need to make information easier to find, understand and use, so that we can design services that deliver better results to the people of Ontario. We must also unlock public data so that you can help us solve problems and find new ways of doing things.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Can’t Wynne on spelling
CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS

“I believe that government data belongs to the people of Ontario and so we will make government data open by default, limiting access only to safeguard privacy, security and confidentiality.”

To that end, the premier will turn to a top academic, a respected former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, business leaders, and a bevy of experts on “open government” to improve public access to the inner workings of the province.

Wynne wants her administration to “open up more data and information” so Ontarians can “engage in the decision-making process and the development of policy.”

She hopes that along with making government more accountable, the availability of more data will “boost innovation and economic productivity.”

“By putting data online for fresh analysis, we can spark innovative discoveries that could help grow our economy and improve peoples’ lives,” she writes in her letter. (Source: Toronto Star)

[slideshow_deploy id=’824′]

Saturday December 10, 2011

December 11, 2011 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday December 10, 2011

Some Attawapiskat residents at odds with chief

Some residents of Attawapiskat First Nations support the government’s plan to put the reserve under third-party management, a move strongly opposed by the chief and band council.

“I think it would be a good thing. We need to clean up our financial crisis here in Attawapiskat because it’s been like this too long now,” Greg Shisheesh, a former deputy chief of the reserve, told CBC News in a phone interview.

“I was happy to hear the federal government was stepping in to clean the mess up.”

2011-2015

Shisheesh, who said he has lived on the reserve all his life, said he believes a forensic audit should be conducted on a number of organizations on the reserve, including the band office and economic development office.

“If our leaders have nothing to hide, by all means do it.”

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence has vehemently rejected the imposition of a third-party manager.

“She says that and she didn’t even ask the whole community what we thought about it. She never asked us,” Shisheesh said. “The way the chief and council operate is totally opposite. They decide and then bring it to us after.”

Spence also said on Monday she will use the courts if necessary to resist the imposition of a third-party manager.

Martha Sutherland, a tribe elder, told CBC News she is frustrated with the reserve leadership.

“We want to hear what the Indian Affairs has to say, the third party, and we want to meet with them so we can voice our concerns.” (Source: Globe & Mail)