worms

Wednesday May 15, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 15, 2019

Niagara MPP Sam Oosterhoff shows his inexperience with two bad stumbles in a week

Maybe it was youthful exuberance. Maybe youthful hubris. But it came off as youthful ignorance.

November 5, 2016

Two times in one week, Niagara West PC MPP Sam Oosterhoff blew a chance to show statesmanship and instead demonstrated his inexperience.

On May 7, staffers in his Beamsville riding office called the cops on a group of protesters: senior citizens, most of them women, some belonging to book clubs, who were gathered in silent protest against provincial cuts to libraries. The cuts affect interlibrary loans, which are especially important in small-town areas where books are not readily available and must be borrowed from other libraries.

Oosterhoff wasn’t in the office that day. But the library system in his riding is one of those dependent on interlibrary loans. How many copies of “Where the Crawdads Sing” do you think are hanging around the Grimsby library? If you guessed three, you’d be correct. But three isn’t enough to feed a book club. Oosterhoff showed in a small way he’s out of touch with an important segment of his riding.

November 18, 2016

Two days later, Oosterhoff was definitely present for a Queen’s Park anti-abortion protest where he said it was time to make abortion “unthinkable.”

What is unthinkable is that in 2019 this discussion is still happening. What is unthinkable is that a newbie backbencher would paint his boss, Doug Ford, into a corner. In the end, Ford missed an opportunity to say he supports a woman’s right to choose. Instead, he said the government would not “reopen” the debate on abortion and, in any case, the PC party tent is large enough to hold a number of opposing views.

At a time when polling shows more than three-quarters of Canadians support abortion rights, Oosterhoff showed how out of step he is. It’s not a good look. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Friday January 13, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Friday January 13, 2012 Conservatives suggest divorce law could be revised The federal Conservative government suggested Thursday it will revisit the federal divorce law to see how to more easily dissolve the same-sex marriages of couples who married here but cannot get a divorce abroad. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson tried to defuse a growing controversy with a potentially wide-ranging gambit. It was unclear if the government would also ease residency requirements for divorce for all couples, or would just move to address the need of couples who canÕt end their Canadian same-sex marriages abroad. The move came after revelations that a senior counsel for the federal justice department had opposed a same-sex divorce by arguing firstly that same-sex marriages performed in Canada arenÕt Òlegally validÓ unless also recognized by a coupleÕs home country or state. Lawyer Sean Gaudet argued secondly that the couple Ñ who married in Toronto in December 2005 and separated two years ago Ñ didnÕt meet CanadaÕs one-year residency requirement (that all couples face) for a divorce. One lives in Florida, the other in the U.K. It was his first argument that caused a firestorm of public reaction on news websites, and led to charges by opposition critics the government was moving to undo same-sex marriage Òby stealth,Ó as Liberal interim leader Bob Rae put it. The revelations in a Globe and Mail story blindsided the Prime Minister at a news conference in Halifax. Stephen Harper said it was news to him and muttered he was not interested in re-opening the gay marriage debate. Ê(Source: Toronto Star)Êhttp://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2012/01/12/conservatives_suggest_divorce_law_could_be_revised_to_help_samesex_couples.html Letters: http://mackaycartoons.blogdrive.com/archive/272.html Stephen Harper, Canada, Same sex, gay, marriage, can, worms, union, legal, conservative

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Friday January 13, 2012

Conservatives suggest divorce law could be revised

The federal Conservative government suggested Thursday it will revisit the federal divorce law to see how to more easily dissolve the same-sex marriages of couples who married here but cannot get a divorce abroad.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson tried to defuse a growing controversy with a potentially wide-ranging gambit.

It was unclear if the government would also ease residency requirements for divorce for all couples, or would just move to address the need of couples who can’t end their Canadian same-sex marriages abroad.

StephenHarperCartoonGallery-sm

2011-2015

The move came after revelations that a senior counsel for the federal justice department had opposed a same-sex divorce by arguing firstly that same-sex marriages performed in Canada aren’t “legally valid” unless also recognized by a couple’s home country or state.

Lawyer Sean Gaudet argued secondly that the couple — who married in Toronto in December 2005 and separated two years ago — didn’t meet Canada’s one-year residency requirement (that all couples face) for a divorce. One lives in Florida, the other in the U.K.

It was his first argument that caused a firestorm of public reaction on news websites, and led to charges by opposition critics the government was moving to undo same-sex marriage “by stealth,” as Liberal interim leader Bob Rae put it.

The revelations in a Globe and Mail story blindsided the Prime Minister at a news conference in Halifax.

Stephen Harper said it was news to him and muttered he was not interested in re-opening the gay marriage debate.  (Source: Toronto Star)

Letters to the editor.

 

Monday September 6, 2003

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Monday September 6, 2003 The deamalgamation quandary We've been hearing a tiresome one-note tune since well before the new city of Hamilton was created. The singers of that song have pumped up the volume for the provincial election campaign.It's too bad the deamalgamation blues are getting louder because all that does is cast a pall of uncertainty over a city that, barely three years after its birth, is striving for stability and growth. And it doesn't help that Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty is joining the deamalgamation choir, albeit with a very quiet voice indeed. McGuinty has left the door open, ever so slightly, to pulling apart the amalgamated municipalities in Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa and, maybe, London. He acknowledges that in the case of Toronto at least, it's a dumb idea. But he says he's willing to listen if a consensus develops on a different way of governing. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) Ted McMeekin, Flamborough, Flamboro, MPP, Hamilton, amalgamation, Liberal, AncasterÑDundasÑFlamboroughÑAldershot, Dalton McGuinty, worms, can

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday September 6, 2003

The deamalgamation quandary

We’ve been hearing a tiresome one-note tune since well before the new city of Hamilton was created. The singers of that song have pumped up the volume for the provincial election campaign.It’s too bad the deamalgamation blues are getting louder because all that does is cast a pall of uncertainty over a city that, barely three years after its birth, is striving for stability and growth.

And it doesn’t help that Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty is joining the deamalgamation choir, albeit with a very quiet voice indeed.

McGuinty has left the door open, ever so slightly, to pulling apart the amalgamated municipalities in Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa and, maybe, London. He acknowledges that in the case of Toronto at least, it’s a dumb idea. But he says he’s willing to listen if a consensus develops on a different way of governing. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)