Winter

Tuesday March 2, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Tuesday March 2, 2016 Winter storm Approaches A winter storm is expected to hit Hamilton later this afternoon and drop up to 30 cm snow overnight. Blowing snow, powered by wind gusts of up to 70 km/h/, will create treacherous driving conditions as visibility drops to zero at times. The snow is expected to begin during the Tuesday evening commute and intensify later tonight. Environment Canada suggests postponing non-essential travel until conditions improve. The forecast suggests the storm will have moved out of the area by midday Wednesday. In anticipation of the worst storm of the winter so far, evening classes are cancelled at McMaster University, Mohawk College and the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board. McMaster University will close at 4:30 p.m. today. Mohawk will close at 4 p.m. today, with all evening classes at the Fennell, Stoney Creek and IAHS campuses cancelled. College officials say a decision will be made by 5:30 a.m. tomorrow about whether Mohawk will remain closed or reopen Wednesday. All Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board facilities will close at 6 p.m. tonight. All meetings, permits, continuing education courses, night school and ESL adult programs are cancelled. As part of that, the HWDSB senior elementary basketball championship scheduled for Nora Frances Henderson Secondary School for Tuesday evening has been postponed. Further information regarding the rescheduling of the event will be available on www.hwdsb.on.ca/athletics www.hwdsb.on.ca/athletics as well as Twitter when available. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) http://www.thespec.com/news-story/6370366-winter-storm-mac-mohawk-and-hamilton-wentworth-school-classes-cancelled-tonight/ Hamilton, Ontario, Winter, snow, storm, blizzard, cancellation, snow day, weather, lion, board, education

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 2, 2016

Winter storm Approaches

A winter storm is expected to hit Hamilton later this afternoon and drop up to 30 cm snow overnight.

Thursday, February 5, 2015Blowing snow, powered by wind gusts of up to 70 km/h/, will create treacherous driving conditions as visibility drops to zero at times.

The snow is expected to begin during the Tuesday evening commute and intensify later tonight.

Environment Canada suggests postponing non-essential travel until conditions improve.

The forecast suggests the storm will have moved out of the area by midday Wednesday.

In anticipation of the worst storm of the winter so far, evening classes are cancelled at McMaster University, Mohawk College and the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Tuesday March 11, 2008 McHattie is hot on snow removal If you've had it up to here with shovelling snow, Councillor Brian McHattie has an easy-on-the-back solution. The Ward 1 councillor is proposing hiring contractors to clear sidewalks outside people's homes next winter. If McHattie gets enough support from his west-end constituents, he'll ask city council to approve adding the snow removal cost toÊproperty owners' tax bills. After discussing it with city staff, McHattie estimates it will cost Ward 1 residents $28 to $31 per household for the first year of service. In the second year of a presumed five-year contract, the cost would fall to around $19 to $22 per year. It would be more expensive the first year because the private contractor would likely have to buy specialized plows. The work would be contracted out because the city apparently doesn't have the resources to take on the job itself. Right now, McHattie's proposal is focused only on his own ward. But he says there's nothing stopping other councillors looking at the same service for their area. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) Canada, sidewalk, snow, winter, shovelling, habits, bylaw, civility, shovel

Tuesday March 11, 2008

McMaster University will close at 4:30 p.m. today. Mohawk will close at 4 p.m. today, with all evening classes at the Fennell, Stoney Creek and IAHS campuses cancelled.

College officials say a decision will be made by 5:30 a.m. tomorrow about whether Mohawk will remain closed or reopen Wednesday.

All Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board facilities will close at 6 p.m. tonight. All meetings, permits, continuing education courses, night school and ESL adult programs are cancelled.

As part of that, the HWDSB senior elementary basketball championship scheduled for Nora Frances Henderson Secondary School for Tuesday evening has been postponed. Further information regarding the rescheduling of the event will be available on its website as well as Twitter when available. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Saturday, February 20, 2016 Obama to visit Cuba: Two views As the Toronto Star has argued before, efforts by 10 successive U.S. presidents to unseat the regime in Havana have demeaned a superpower, discredited Cuban reformers and impoverished the island. By Cuban reckoning, the embargo has inflicted more than $120 billion in economic losses since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. The U.S. severed diplomatic ties in 1961 and imposed the embargo in 1962. With every passing year the embargo became more pointlessly vindictive, as the U.S. traded briskly with Communist China, with communist regimes in Vietnam and Laos, even to a limited extent with North Korea. ItÕs a point of pride for Canadians that we played a small positive role by hosting the secret talks that led to the U.S. and Cuba breaking the ice in 2014, restoring diplomatic ties and embassies, upgrading trade and air links, and easing aspects of the boycott. Canada never endorsed or joined the boycott, taking the view that Cubans must be free to shape their own political course. Only Congress can fully lift the embargo. ThatÕs beyond this presidentÕs power. But Obama is right to make good on his promise before he leaves office. CubaÕs democrats and reformers will be cheered by this visit as they press for credible elections, independent courts and a more open economy. And the government will no longer be able to cite U.S. hostility as a pretext for Òdefending the revolutionÓ by intimidating critics and suppressing human rights. (Source: Toronto Star) http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/02/18/obama-visit-to-cuba-buoys-reformers-hopes-editorial.html Meanwhile, another take on the coming visit, though less earnest: Canadians who want to visit Cuba before an influx of Americans ÒruinsÓ it better move fast: President Obama is planning a visit in the next few weeks, and you can bet a lot of others will follow soon. On Tuesday Washington

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, February 20, 2016

Obama to visit Cuba: Two views

As the Toronto Star has argued before, efforts by 10 successive U.S. presidents to unseat the regime in Havana have demeaned a superpower, discredited Cuban reformers and impoverished the island. By Cuban reckoning, the embargo has inflicted more than $120 billion in economic losses since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. The U.S. severed diplomatic ties in 1961 and imposed the embargo in 1962.

Thursday December 18, 2014With every passing year the embargo became more pointlessly vindictive, as the U.S. traded briskly with Communist China, with communist regimes in Vietnam and Laos, even to a limited extent with North Korea.

It’s a point of pride for Canadians that we played a small positive role by hosting the secret talks that led to the U.S. and Cuba breaking the ice in 2014, restoring diplomatic ties and embassies, upgrading trade and air links, and easing aspects of the boycott. Canada never endorsed or joined the boycott, taking the view that Cubans must be free to shape their own political course.

Only Congress can fully lift the embargo. That’s beyond this president’s power. But Obama is right to make good on his promise before he leaves office.

Cuba’s democrats and reformers will be cheered by this visit as they press for credible elections, independent courts and a more open economy. And the government will no longer be able to cite U.S. hostility as a pretext for “defending the revolution” by intimidating critics and suppressing human rights. (Source: Toronto Star Editorial)

Meanwhile, another take on the coming visit, though less earnest: Canadians who want to visit Cuba before an influx of Americans “ruins” it better move fast: President Obama is planning a visit in the next few weeks, and you can bet a lot of others will follow soon. On Tuesday Washington and Havana agreed to re-open commercial air traffic. And Beyoncé’s already been there. Can Havana Disney be far behind? Obama’s visit could could legitimately be termed an historic event. And he doesn’t have a lot of other foreign successes to brag about, so he might as well highlight one of the few achievements he can claim. Enjoy the rum, el presidente.(Source: National Post Editorial)

Published in the Telegram, St. John's, Newfoundland, March 1, 2016

Published in the Telegram, St. John’s, Newfoundland, March 1, 2016

 

Wednesday December 24, 2015

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday December 24, 2015 Where will the cold come from? Warmer weather forecasted in Hamilton T.S. Eliot wrote that the cruelest month is April, when flowers emerge from "the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain." But the poet never experienced our December, which may end up the warmest on record, with confused buds blooming on land that doesn't know when to die. Cruel? "People are loving it," said Environment Canada climatologist David Phillips. "Forget about the whole Great White North reputation, people see this as payback for the last two winters, which were brutal." The Hamilton forecast not only calls for a green Christmas, but the temperature spiking to 15 C Thursday. Mild weather has been influenced by the impact of El Ni–o Ñ unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America. Phillips cautions that December is not over yet, but offers these highlights: ¥ Hamilton's average 2015 December temperature has been 4.8 C; the normal is -2.3 C, a seven-degree difference that Phillips calls "shocking." ¥ Total snowfall has been 1.8 centimetres; the lowest on record from fall through to Jan. 1 was 5.4 cm ¥ It can all change fast, but: "I see no end in sight for 2015. Because of El Ni–o, I don't see where the cold will come from. The ground is warm, lakes wide open, and any cold air that comes from the north is being moderated." Reaction depends on who is weathering the warm snap. Golfers delight: Knollwood golf club in Ancaster, for one, reopened, heralding on its Facebook page it's "the season that never ends" and noted 174 golfers teed-off one day. Commuters like it, as well as joggers, and those who never tire of talking weather Ñ the last refuge of the unimaginative, said Oscar Wilde. (And journalists.) Squirrels in Hamilton, meanwhile, have been spotted looking noticeably plumper from eating everything in sight like it's an end

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 24, 2015

Where will the cold come from? Warmer weather forecasted in Hamilton

T.S. Eliot wrote that the cruelest month is April, when flowers emerge from “the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.”

But the poet never experienced our December, which may end up the warmest on record, with confused buds blooming on land that doesn’t know when to die.

Cruel?

“People are loving it,” said Environment Canada climatologist David Phillips. “Forget about the whole Great White North reputation, people see this as payback for the last two winters, which were brutal.”

The Hamilton forecast not only calls for a green Christmas, but the temperature spiking to 15 C Thursday.

Mild weather has been influenced by the impact of El Niño — unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America.

Phillips cautions that December is not over yet, but offers these highlights:

• Hamilton’s average 2015 December temperature has been 4.8 C; the normal is -2.3 C, a seven-degree difference that Phillips calls “shocking.”

• Total snowfall has been 1.8 centimetres; the lowest on record from fall through to Jan. 1 was 5.4 cm

• It can all change fast, but: “I see no end in sight for 2015. Because of El Niño, I don’t see where the cold will come from. The ground is warm, lakes wide open, and any cold air that comes from the north is being moderated.”

Reaction depends on who is weathering the warm snap.

Golfers delight: Knollwood golf club in Ancaster, for one, reopened, heralding on its Facebook page it’s “the season that never ends” and noted 174 golfers teed-off one day.

Commuters like it, as well as joggers, and those who never tire of talking weather — the last refuge of the unimaginative, said Oscar Wilde. (And journalists.)

Squirrels in Hamilton, meanwhile, have been spotted looking noticeably plumper from eating everything in sight like it’s an endless September. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Wednesday November 25, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday November 25, 2015 10,000 Syrian refugees to be resettled by yearÕs end, 15,000 more by February The Liberal government will not meet its Dec. 31 deadline to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees and now says it aims to complete the program by February. The new target is to bring 10,000 people to Canada by year's end and the remainder in the first two months of 2016. The group will be a mix of government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees, all of whom will be identified by the end of next month. The Canadian government is working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as well as the Turkish government to find suitable candidates. Priority for government refugees will be given to complete families, women at risk, members of sexual minorities and single men only if they are identified as gay, bisexual or transgender or are travelling as part of a family. Private sponsors have no restrictions on whom they can bring over and the majority of refugees expected to arrive by the end of the year will be coming via private groups. All health and security screening will take place overseas and once that's complete, refugees will be flown to Toronto and Montreal, largely on chartered aircraft. From there, they will be spread across 36 different destination cities which already have resettlement programs in place. Temporary accommodation will be provided by the military if required, but the government aims to have lodging in place in the host cities and towns. The federal government cost for the program is an estimated $678 million over the next six years but doesn't include additional funding that could be necessary for provinces and territories. More than 500 officials have been assigned to work on the massive resettlement program, one of the largest of its kind in the world as it relates to the Syrian refugee crisis. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) http://www.thespec.com/news-s

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 25, 2015

10,000 Syrian refugees to be resettled by year’s end, 15,000 more by February

The Liberal government will not meet its Dec. 31 deadline to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees and now says it aims to complete the program by February.

The new target is to bring 10,000 people to Canada by year’s end and the remainder in the first two months of 2016.

The group will be a mix of government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees, all of whom will be identified by the end of next month.

The Canadian government is working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as well as the Turkish government to find suitable candidates.

Priority for government refugees will be given to complete families, women at risk, members of sexual minorities and single men only if they are identified as gay, bisexual or transgender or are travelling as part of a family.

Private sponsors have no restrictions on whom they can bring over and the majority of refugees expected to arrive by the end of the year will be coming via private groups.

All health and security screening will take place overseas and once that’s complete, refugees will be flown to Toronto and Montreal, largely on chartered aircraft.

From there, they will be spread across 36 different destination cities which already have resettlement programs in place.

Temporary accommodation will be provided by the military if required, but the government aims to have lodging in place in the host cities and towns.

The federal government cost for the program is an estimated $678 million over the next six years but doesn’t include additional funding that could be necessary for provinces and territories.

More than 500 officials have been assigned to work on the massive resettlement program, one of the largest of its kind in the world as it relates to the Syrian refugee crisis. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Friday November 13, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Friday November 13, 2015 Lobby begins as city to choose tobogganing hills Council has signed off on a plan to identify and make safe at least three city-owned snow hills this winter for sanctioned sledding - despite a long-standing bylaw ban. It could cost close to $40,000 for the city to add signage, hay bales, monitoring and any other required safety features to the as-yet unidentified hills. But the race to add favourite hills to the list has already begun - and the city could end up approving more than three official tobogganing spots. City staff have promised to report back this year on likely locations. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) Hamilton, Ontario, minecraft, children, sedentary, toboggan, tobogganing, winter, sports, fitness, litigation, legal

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 13, 2015

Lobby begins as city chooses tobogganing hills

Council has signed off on a plan to identify and make safe at least three city-owned snow hills this winter for sanctioned sledding – despite a long-standing bylaw ban.

Tuesday January 13, 2015It could cost close to $40,000 for the city to add signage, hay bales, monitoring and any other required safety features to the as-yet unidentified hills.

But the race to add favourite hills to the list has already begun – and the city could end up approving more than three official tobogganing spots.

City staff have promised to report back this year on likely locations. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)