valentines day – mackaycartoons

Friday February 14, 2025

February 14, 2025 by Graeme MacKay

February 14, 2025

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 14, 2025 (also, The Toronto Star.)

Ontario’s Valentine’s Day Love Affair with Doug Ford

February 14, 2024

As Valentine’s Day casts its romantic glow across Ontario, it seems the province has found its unlikely suitor in Doug Ford, affectionately dubbed “Captain Canada.” Despite a landscape dotted with pressing issues—from crumbling healthcare to overcrowded classrooms—Ford’s charm offensive has successfully wooed a significant portion of the electorate.

Much like a well-timed bouquet of roses, Ford’s early election call appears to have enchanted voters. With his strong stance against the Trump Tariffs and his portrayal as Ontario’s steadfast protector, Ford has captivated hearts, even as the province faces shortages of doctors and nurses, overcrowded emergency rooms, and inadequate mental healthcare. These challenges, alongside reduced college funding and a lack of affordable housing, seem to fade into the background in the face of Ford’s allure.

Poll: Here’s the top election issue for Ontario voters, according to a Nanos survey

Ford’s courtship of Ontarians has been nothing short of strategic. From $200 cheques appearing in mailboxes to the liberation of alcohol regulations, he’s offered sweet gestures that resonate with everyday voters. Meanwhile, controversies like the redevelopment of Ontario Place and the Greenbelt scheme are overshadowed by his narrative as a defender against external threats.

Yet, as with any romance, there are those who remain skeptical, wary of the long-term implications of this political dalliance. Critics point to sweetheart deals, wasteful spending, and privatization as causes for concern—issues that might be ignored in the throes of infatuation but could have lasting repercussions.

As election day approaches, the question looms: Will Ontario’s voters solidify their love for “Captain Canada,” or will they awaken from the spell, casting their ballots for a divided opposition? With voter turnout on the decline, the risk remains that those not enamoured by Ford’s charm may not make their voices heard, leaving the province’s future in the hands of those who do.

February 14, 2018

Happy Valentine’s Day, Ontario. In this season of love, it seems you’ve been seduced by a political Casanova. Whether this romance will lead to a happily ever after or a dramatic breakup remains to be seen, but one thing is certain—Doug Ford’s charm has left an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of the province.

Dougie Ford’s Love Letter to Ontario Voters:

Roses are red, Ontario’s blue,

With a $200 cheque, I’m wooing you.

Healthcare’s a challenge,

but I’ll stand tall,

As “Captain Canada,” I’ll answer the call.

Trump’s tariffs loom, yet I’m your knight,

Fighting for jobs, I’ll make it right.

Though classrooms are crowded and housing’s tight,

I’ll charm you with changes, both day and night.

Alcohol’s flowing, and spirits are high,

In this grand seduction, give me a try.

So on this Valentine’s, let’s seal our fate,

With your love and support,

we’ll make Ontario great!

— Sir A.I. Edmund Spenser

Please enjoy the February 14, 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 14, 2024

February 14, 2024 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 14, 2024

Love and Healthcare Politics: A Valentine’s Day Contrast

December 22, 2023

In the political romance of healthcare agreements in Canada, two contrasting stories unfold ahead of Valentine’s Day. On one side, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford engage in a $3.1 billion healthcare funding deal, promising to address the crisis in hospitals and elevate the healthcare system. This agreement, signed on February 9, aims to create new primary health-care teams, increase spots in medical education programs, and enhance tracking of health data.

News: Ford, Trudeau sign $3.1B health-care funding deal that will see Ontario hire more health workers

The urgency of this healthcare commitment comes as Ontario’s health system faces severe staffing shortages, record-high numbers of patients lacking family doctors, and extended wait times in hospital emergency rooms. The hope is that the infusion of funds will stabilize the healthcare system and alleviate the ongoing challenges.

September 3, 2021

Meanwhile, in another corner of the political love triangle, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh plays a different tune. Threatening consequences, Singh demands a federal Pharmacare program and sets a March 1 deadline for the Liberals to table related legislation. This demand follows Trudeau’s recent concession to costly dental care, sparking curiosity about the priorities and compromises within the political relationship.

Singh’s warning comes after the Liberals admitted to missing the original timeline for the Pharmacare legislation, causing tensions in their supply and confidence agreement with the NDP. The NDP insists on a universal system that is publicly delivered and administered, with the federal government as the single payer. The contrast between Singh’s demands and Trudeau’s recent concessions adds layers to the political drama, creating a storyline worthy of a Valentine’s Day tale.

News: Jagmeet Singh threatens consequences if Liberals miss March 1 pharmacare deadline

May 19, 2023

As the political love affairs unfold, Canadians watch with anticipation, wondering how these healthcare promises and demands will shape the future of their well-being. In this political Valentine’s Day saga, the dance of agreements and demands reveals the intricacies and complexities of navigating the path to a healthier, more caring nation. (AI)

Wednesday February 15, 2023

February 15, 2023 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 15, 2023

John Tory, amid scandal, will lead Toronto’s budget debate

2007

Toronto is about to have one tense budget meeting Wednesday.

John Tory, who announced last Friday night he’s stepping down as mayor following an extramarital affair with a staffer who used to work in his office, will preside over the meeting.

Tory’s presence in the chamber will be controversial. If he does, in fact, tender his resignation after passing the city’s $16-billion operating budget, he creates a situation where he will set the city on a specific course but won’t be there to deal with any potential fallout.

August 17, 2022

One can also argue Tory should be present for the debate because, thanks to the “strong mayor” powers he asked Ontario’s government to grant him, he is responsible for designing this budget. He is its champion.

Nobody really knows how this debate will go. This will be the first budget passed with the new strong mayor powers in place, which changes the dynamic because Tory can now veto any amendments, something that would then trigger a whole new chain of events.

There’s growing speculation about a political push for Tory to stay or run again in the very byelection his resignation could trigger. On Monday night, many Torontonians reported getting a robocall that included the question: “Would you support John Tory running in a mayoral byelection in 2023?”

Tory’s office said it is not connected with that polling.

Tory is proposing a property tax hike higher than Torontonians have been used to under his term (a 5.5 per cent increase) and will use that money, in part, to spend $48 million more on police. “The budget makes key investments in housing, transit, and community safety,” his office said.

October 26, 2022

Critics have focused on what’s not in it, including funding for 24/7 warming shelters, enough cash to keep transit fares from rising while the TTC struggles to get riders back on the system.

There may even be questions about police spending, after CBC Toronto published this story about the service’s $337,000 podcast.

With his “strong mayor” powers he only needs the support of one-third of council. At this point, he almost certainly still enjoys the support of eight councillors.

Practically, Toronto’s budget is all about livability.

The decisions council makes affect everything from the state of the roads (pretty rough at the moment) to public library hours to whether or not there’s a bathroom open at the park during winter months — and yes, the latter did spark a major debate at city hall.

Hair: Toronto Mayor John Tory

There’s also the huge question of whether or not the city will do enough and spend enough to start tackling the housing affordability crisis.

This budget also features what Tory’s been calling a “COVID hangover” that’s created a financial crunch that the city needs the provincial and federal governments to help deal with. Tory and city council have recently launched yet another review of potential “revenue tools” — aka taxes, aka levies — that might bring in most cash in future years. (CBC)

Saturday February 13, 2021

February 20, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

February 13, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 13, 2021

Lovers in dangerous times: Valentine’s Day winners, losers in pandemic

When it comes to romance in the age of the coronavirus, COVID-19 hasn’t entirely clobbered Cupid.

March 28, 2020

This Sunday will be the first Valentine’s Day since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic last March.

If you’re thinking of making the time-honoured romantic gesture of sending your beloved roses or a bouquet, you will have plenty of company.

“Since COVID, the flower industry has just gone through the ceiling,” said Sarah Watkin, a veteran of the floral industry who works at Jim Anderson Flowers.

While the retail side of flower shops has dried up, the delivery facet is blooming because the floral industry was already set up for pandemic conditions, even before the arrival of the coronavirus. “The flower business has always been very close to 70 per cent on the phone anyways,” she said.

“There’s been very little pivoting for the flower industry, let me tell you.”

Jackie Bell-Jones, who owns Burke Flowers, confirms it was “not a huge shift” to adapt her operation to the new reality. The majority of her business was already not done in person.

“Business is up (on the delivery side),” she said, although wedding orders have fallen off.

Watkin said over the years, her customers have had less need to make their orders at the counter.

Plus, competitors such as drug stores that stock a few flowers ahead of Feb. 14 don’t have the same delivery infrastructure as her shop. “This year, we don’t have them stealing our thunder,” she said.

November 28, 2020

If you are in the habit of wooing your love over a romantic meal on Valentine’s Day, you’ll have to supply the ambience yourself because restaurants haven’t been able to open their dining rooms. It will be Tuesday before the gradual reopening of the economy arrives in Middlesex-London and restaurant owners find out in which colour zone the city will be placed.

Tony Elenis, head of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association, said Valentine’s Day — although not as important as Mother’s Day or Father’s Day for eateries — was still a big one in pre-pandemic times.

“Valentine’s Day is a busy day, absolutely,” he said. “Valentine’s is a day that restaurants are spotlighted.”

Marty Novak, marketing and communications manager for Palasad Social Bowl, said this year’s Valentine’s Day will be a “missed opportunity” for his facility that draws a lot of the first-date crowd and even prospective grooms proposing in the place’s escape rooms.

February 14, 2020

“We actually go all out for Valentine’s Day, Valentine’s Day is a fantastic day for us,” he said, but that won’t be the case this year, although staff are gearing up for the reopening a few days later.

“We would have gone completely all out for it” if restrictions had been lifted before Valentine’s Day, Novak said, with features such as live music.

Elenis points out you can still enjoy a romantic meal on Sunday — you’ll just have to have it delivered or pick it up yourself.

“It’s not even (just) the little guys. Even the big guys are hurting,” he said of the restaurant industry. (London Free Press)

Friday February 14, 2020

February 21, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 14, 2020

The Conservative Party’s moderate-centres have disappeared

Alone among the senior party elephants who in the past few days have fled the high veldt of the federal Conservative leadership campaign, former Quebec premier Jean Charest left behind disquieting words as he took the exit road. The party, he observed, has changed a lot since he was last active in it in 1998.

March 24, 2018

You wonder why Conservative strategists and the media have not made more of what he said.

They’ve stated that the party is confused; it has lost its identity, needs to find itself—when, for the most part, the party knows exactly where it is and how it got there. It’s the strategists and media who are living in something that looks a lot like a state of denial.

They’re engaging in a surreal debate about what the party needs to do to fix itself and grow its political message—make symbolic or mild policy nods toward the political centre, have its leaders walk in a pride parade, declare it won’t be re-opening the abortion debate, do something to hobble the party’s “extremist wing.”

Yet the Conservative moderate-centre has all but disappeared. Largely, the so-called Red Tories have left the party and gone elsewhere. There is no “extremist wing”—that’s imaginary. Fundamental changes have shaped the base of the party that reflect differences in outlook, preferences and values from the great majority of Canadians and have little to do with what someone thinks about gay pride parades. As in the U.K. and the U.S., authoritarian or ordered populism has polarized Canada into two incommensurable camps.

Animated!

The Conservative Party that most Canadians have known—the political centre that previously had the ability to find centre terrain on the most divisive issues of the day—has disappeared. What contemporary Conservative strategists and the media seem to have significant difficulty recognizing is that Canadian politics has become much more like American politics—it’s become tribal. And just as two Americas have taken root and blossomed, two Canadas are appearing on this side of the border.

EKOS Research found that four years ago, there was a 10-percentage-point gap between Liberals and Conservatives who selected climate change as the top issue of political concern. That gap is now 46 percentage points.

More than 90 per cent of Canadians who identify with the political centre-left, which is 65 per cent of adult citizens, think that Canada now has a climate emergency (they don’t believe that it’s coming, but that it’s here now.) For people who identify as Conservative or People’s Party supporters, the figure is less than 30 per cent. Four years ago, there was a 20-percentage-point gap between Liberals and Conservatives on trust in science. That exploded to a 40 per cent gap following the last election.

Since 2012, the incidence of Conservative voters who think Canada is admitting “too many” visible minorities as immigrants has swollen from 47 per cent to 70 per cent . Meanwhile, the corresponding incidence of Liberals agreeing there are too many has dropped from 35 to 15 per cent. A modest 12 per cent gap has also expanded to a massive 55 per cent gap. (MacLean’s)