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Wednesday June 14, 2017

June 13, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 14, 2017

Ontario offers public servants ‘unprecedented’ contract extensions, 7.5-per-cent raises over 4 years

July 20, 2010

Ontario is offering public servants a four-year contract extension with 7.5-per-cent raises, which, if ratified, would avoid possibly contentious bargaining before the next provincial election.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union workers would get 1.5 per cent on July 1, then one per cent on Jan. 1, 2019 and another one per cent every six months for the life of the deal. The approximately 35,500 workers and correctional staff represented by OPSEU are employed across the public sector, from administration and enforcement to social work, IT and laboratory staff.

The possible deal follows the Liberal government’s successful offering to teachers and education workers of two-year extensions that came with four-per-cent raises and more than $275 million in additional funding.

OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas called the scope of the latest contract extension offer “unprecedented” and said he suspects it is related to the June 2018 election.

“I’m kind of shocked the government actually made us any kind of an offer,” Thomas said. “It’s no secret that my union and myself, my executive board, we’re always in a battle with the government…We’re at odds with them on a lot of fronts.”

But, Thomas said, the offer contains a number of positive changes with no demands of concessions for members, and no matter the motivation he’s looking for the best deal for the workers.

Premier Kathleen Wynne disputed that the offer was about the upcoming election.

“My position has always been, since I’ve been in elected politics, has been that good working relationships with our labour partners is good for the people of the province,” she said.

For many years now, the government has only been able to offer public-sector workers small increases, as it worked to eliminate a multi-billion-dollar deficit, but the budget is now balanced.

“One of the reasons that we have been able to come to this position now where we are able to balance the budget, where we are able to make investments, is that we’ve worked very well with our labour partners,” Wynne said. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

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Thursday October 7, 2015

October 7, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 7, 2015

Harper’s proposed niqab ban among civil servants draws condemnation

He opened the door earlier in the week with a CBC television interview, saying niqabs could be nixed in the public service — echoing similar comments last week in the French-language leaders’ debate.

2011-2015

But on Wednesday, the Conservative leader went further, lauding Quebec’s Bill 64, which requires those who wear face coverings to remove them if they want to work in the public sector — or do business with government officials. Although tabled in the National Assembly, the bill has yet to be debated.

He called the Quebec Liberal government’s approach measured and pledged that when it came time for federal legislation, he would follow their lead.

“I believe the Quebec government has been handling this controversial issue in a responsible manner and we will do exactly the same thing in Ottawa,” Harper said during a campaign stop in Saskatoon.

As if to hammer home the point, the Conservatives released online attack ads in French Wednesday, going after Justin Trudeau’s position on the niqab.

A proposed ban on niqabs in the federal civil service would affect an infinitesimally small number of bureaucrats — if any at all. Statistics from 2011 show only 1.8 per cent of 257,000 federal employees are Muslim women and only a small subset of them is likely to wear face coverings.

The Conservatives have already tried to require Muslim women to show their faces at citizenship ceremonies, but those rules are being challenged in the courts. Harper’s comments on Wednesday make clear he is eyeing additional legislation to require women to unveil every time they want services from the federal government.

Harper insisted his government has been “saying the same thing for several months” on the issue.

While the prime minister may have been consistent in his comments that niqabs are contrary to Canadian values, that doesn’t mean members of his own cabinet are all on the same page about a wider ban.

Asked last spring whether the Conservatives would consider implementing measures similar to those in Quebec, Treasury Board President Tony Clement said the federal opposition to niqabs was limited to citizenship ceremonies.

“That is what the prime minister said and that is a point of view that one can hold,” Clement said on March 11, 2015. “That doesn’t mean that you can impose that view in the workplace or in the private sphere. The one place where I think we have a right and an obligation to stress Canadian values is in the act of obtaining one’s citizenship”

Both Trudeau and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair condemned the latest proposal as an attempt to distract voters from serious questions about Conservative management of the economy. (Source: Globe & Mail)

Wednesday October 29, 2014

October 28, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 29, 2014

Where did you go, Hamilton voters?

Not good enough, Hamilton.

That was the consensus among disheartened democracy boosters after voter turnout plummeted to a record low of 34 per cent in Monday’s city election. By contrast, 60 per cent of eligible Toronto voters cast a ballot.

Sure, Hamiltonians weren’t motivated by a world renowned mayoral soap opera — but we did have a three-way battle for the top job, four empty council seats and a polarizing LRT debate.

“People just aren’t interested,” said Larry Pomerantz, chair of the Hamilton Civic League which supported a People’s Platform resident engagement effort this election.

We’re not alone — cities throughout the GTA saw turnout under 40 per cent, with some, like Oshawa, even dropping to 26 per cent.

Pomerantz said the key is to convince residents it’s in their interest to join the civic debate. “Do we really want more voters, or more informed voters?”

Education is essential, says mayor-elect Fred Eisenberger. “Voting is a learned behaviour we need to instill in our children,” he said.

Eisenberger also argued that the city can make it easier to vote. He vowed to “aggressively” pursue online voting options, which the city will study in advance of the 2018 election.

Online voting helped Ajax reach its best turnout in decades — even if it was just 30 per cent.

Municipal Affairs Minister Ted McMeekin also said Tuesday Ontario is “committed to moving ahead” with offering a ranked ballot option to cities — and “quite possibly” a shorter campaign period.

Ranked ballots allow voters to list candidates by preference, with second choices used in a run-off until a candidate earns 50 per cent support.

While Hamilton’s election day had some snafus, they shouldn’t have kept voters away from the polls, said election manager Tony Fallis, who called the vote one of the smoothest he’s seen in the city.

Fallis received five complaints about electioneering at polling stations and a parking problem at a Flamborough school.

Councillor Judi Partridge said she also fielded complaints from upset voters who claimed the station opened late, leading to lineups.

Fallis said he was not aware of any delays in opening of any of the 209 polling stations. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Thursday August 30, 2012

August 30, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Thursday August 30, 2012

Federalist voters are faced with some difficult decisions

Jean Charest has called the latest published poll results, showing his Liberal party losing the Sept. 4 Quebec election, “unreliable.”

But the actions of Charest and his party say otherwise.

When the Liberals spend more of their campaign budget on English television spots than usual, and when their leader spends time in the West Island and Outaouais in the last 10 days before a general election, it means something.

It means they’re in danger of losing even seats formerly considered safe.

The poll results from a survey conducted by Léger Marketing for the QMI news agency after last week’s crucial televised leaders’ debates, show Liberal support cratering.

The Liberals were a distant third in popularity among French-speaking voters — the choice of only 18 per cent — and third in every region except Montreal Island.

The poll results indicated that, barring a miracle, the Liberals were facing their worst defeat since 1976.

They also showed the Parti Québécois with less than overwhelming support, but enough for a slim majority in the National Assembly.

So with less than a week to go until the election, the federalist voter is faced with a difficult decision:

Go down with the Liberals, the only major party that is truly federalist. (Source: Vancouver Sun)

Monday March 5, 2012

March 5, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Monday March 5, 2012

If robo-calls were meant to keep voters away, they failed miserably

Tales of voter suppression in the last federal election have emerged across the country. But while ridings alleged to have been targeted by these tactics were won by smaller margins than those not implicated, an analysis of these ridings indicates voter turnout was higher, not lower, than elsewhere in Canada.

n almost 70 ridings from every region of the country, allegations have been made that voters were falsely directed to polling stations by “robo-calls” or were harassed at all hours of the night by rude live callers posing as representatives of the Liberal Party. The opposition parties have blamed the Conservatives for these calls, and indeed Elections Canada has found some indication of a link between calls made in the Ontario riding of Guelph and the local Tory campaign there.

But an analysis of these ridings shows turnout averaged 61.6 per cent, slightly higher than the 60.9 per cent average turnout in ridings where no allegations of impropriety have been reported. If we only focus on the ridings in which allegations of misleading robo-calls have been made, the turnout averaged 62 per cent.

Compared to 2008, turnout increased by 4.7 per cent in these ridings. It increased by only 3.9 per cent in ridings that have not been implicated in the scandal. Turnout in neighbouring untainted ridings does not seem to have been significantly different. If these allegations of voter suppression tactics are indeed true, they do not appear to have been very successful.

Nevertheless, there is a clear difference between ridings in which misleading or harassing phone calls are alleged to have been made and ridings in which there have been no allegations of under-handed tactics. (Source: Globe & Mail)