Wednesday September 8, 2021
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 8, 2021
Canada's Trudeau struggles, two weeks before election
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – who has slipped in the polls and faced angry protesters on the campaign trail, with one even throwing stones at him – is struggling with less than two weeks to go before snap elections. When he called the September 20 elections a few weeks ago, the 49-year-old Liberal Party leader was in a far better position.
At that point, Trudeau was ahead of Conservative leader Erin O'Toole in opinion surveys and hoped to ride his handling of the coronavirus pandemic to a third term. But since that August 15 announcement, his campaign has stagnated and his hopes of returning at the head of a majority government seem difficult to fulfil. On Monday, Trudeau suffered a fresh indignity – as he was leaving an event in London, a city southwest of Toronto in Ontario province, he faced a crowd of protesters angry over proposed mandatory coronavirus vaccines and other crisis measures.
Someone threw what appeared to be a handful of gravel at him, television footage showed. No one was injured.
"Yes, I felt some of that gravel," Trudeau confirmed yesterday.
Some protesters "were practically foaming at the mouth, they were so mad at me," he said, adding: "It is absolutely unacceptable that people (would) be throwing things and endangering others at a political rally." The incident – which comes during a crucial campaign week with two scheduled debates that could tip the election scales – drew condemnation from Trudeau's rivals, O'Toole and New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh.
"Political violence is never justified," O'Toole tweeted late Monday, while Singh said: "It is not acceptable to throw objects at anyone. Ever. No matter how angry you are. And, it's never ok to try to intimidate people who don't agree with you – or the media." Trudeau is now in a statistical dead heat with O'Toole, with 34% support for the Liberals and 32% for the Tories, according to a Nanos survey released Tuesday – a difference that is within the poll's margin of error.
The prime minister has faced off on several recent occasions with what he described as "anti-vaxxer mobs" and "a small fringe element in this country that is angry, that doesn't believe in science."
Protesters have shouted racial and misogynist slurs at his entourage. Demonstrations also targeted hospitals across Canada that are struggling with a sudden spike in Covid cases, and candidate lawn signs have been defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti.
In late August, Trudeau was forced to cancel an event over security concerns.
So far, Trudeau has pledged not to allow so-called "fringe" groups "to dictate how this country gets through this pandemic."
And Felix Mathieu, a politics professor at the University of Winnipeg, said the angry protests and Trudeau's pushback might actually benefit the Liberals, who stumbled in the early days of the campaign. Although O'Toole has promoted the use of vaccines, "his party remains widely associated with those who vehemently oppose vaccines and Covid containment measures," Mathieu told AFP.
That allows Trudeau to present himself as a defender of public safety, especially as he steps up criticisms of the Tories' rejection of mandatory vaccines, Mathieu explained.
More than 83 percent of those Canadians eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine (12 years or older) have received one dose and 76% are fully vaccinated, according to government data.
The Liberal plank proposes mandatory jabs for public servants and travellers on trains, planes and buses. It also earmarks C$1bn (US$800mn) to stitch together a patchwork of provincial vaccine passports.
Pollster and former political strategist Tim Powers said the violent protests are "concerning." "The pandemic has intensified people's manner of anger and the way they express anger," Powers told AFP. "There are a lot of people who are very frayed and beaten down by the pandemic, and campaign events provide an opportunity for some people to showcase their discontent," he said, adding a warning: "Who knows what can happen in these sorts of circumstances."
But Powers said he agrees that the protests are "providing the Liberals with a useful political prop," allowing Trudeau to be seen fighting against anti-vaccine groups who might threaten a quick post-pandemic return to normalcy – just as Canadians are heading back to classes and offices. (Gulf Times)
Other editions from the "Boy Who Cried…" Series…
Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2021-31, book, Canada, election2021, Erin O'Toole, fear, Justin Trudeau, literature, moderate, parody, sheep, wolf
Thursday July 21, 2016
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 21, 2016
Dick Pound says ban Russia from Rio 2016 Olympics
The founder of the World Anti-Doping Agency says the answer is clear — Russia should be banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics for the good of the movement.
Dick Pound, a longtime IOC member and a former competitive swimmer himself, says the IOC has an opportunity to send a clear message about zero tolerance for doping in the Olympics.
"This is institutional cheating. It's just not acceptable in sport," said Pound on Wednesday.
But the enormity of Russia — both athletically and politically — seems to be giving the International Olympic Committee pause, and it's delayed any decision on the allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia until Sunday.
"It's political — instead of focusing as we should on the sport aspects of this," Pound said.
Far from marring the Olympic brand, Pound said banning Russia from the upcoming games would improve the reputation of the IOC and the Olympic movement more generally.
"It would demonstrate that, on matters of principle, and the protection of clean athletes and the integrity of competition, that the Olympic movement is prepared to suspend even one of its most successful countries, because it has been demonstrated to endorse and in fact organize cheating."
Russia has been accused of running a widespread state-sponsored doping program designed to give Russian athletes an edge in international competition by WADA, the agency Pound founded, which has recommended that Russia be banned from the upcoming games.
Pound said he understands the IOC delaying the decision for fear of legal reprisal from Russian athletes, but says they've missed an opportunity by not embracing WADA's recommendations.
"If I were the president of the IOC, I would be on my knees saying, 'Thank you for taking this albatross from around my neck. We are happy to do what you recommend,'" Pound said.
Russia is not the only country with a doping problem, but this situation is unique in that it was run by the state and extended to almost all areas of high-level sport in the country, he noted. (Source: CBC News)
Posted in: Canada, International Tagged: 2016, bear, committee, doping, drugs, enhancement, Games, IOC, Olympic, Rio, Russia, sheep, Sports, Vladimir Putin, WADA, wolf, world
September 5, 2013 by Graeme MacKay
Verizon's exit leaves Harper with tricky wireless file
With the deadline to sign up for a spectrum auction looming and a major U.S. company out of the running, it looks doubtful anyone will burst onto the scene to compete against Bell, Telus and Rogers.
So with Verizon out, what now for a Conservative government that has long staked its ground on getting a fourth player into Canada's wireless market?
Companies have until Sept. 17 to put down a deposit to participate in the auction of wireless spectrum, which will be held in January.
One route might be to delay the auction — an option Industry Minister James Moore's office says it isn't considering.
Canaccord Genuity analyst Dvai Ghose says putting off the auction would be a politically tricky move since it has already been postponed.
"I think that's politically very, very difficult to do. The government has already delayed the auction once," he said.
Indeed, the consumer-oriented Conservatives have already been in the awkward position of being pitted against private companies who claim the auction process was rigged to favour foreign competitors over Canadian incumbents.
So the government may instead look at regulating things such as roaming fees, Ghose said.
Last week, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission asked cellphone companies for data on their roaming fees. It will eventually fall to the commission to decide whether to regulate roaming rates if it finds companies are gouging consumers or limiting their choices.
Posted in: Business, Canada Tagged: Bell, Canada, competition, pig, Rogers, Stephen Harper, telecommunications, Telus, Verizon, Wireless providers, wolf
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 13, 2008
Tories set to survive two more confidence votes
Two more confidence votes are scheduled Thursday, during which the Liberals will emerge to see the shadow of their electoral prospects and scurry back underground, presaging at least six more weeks of frosty partisanship.
"About an election, look, not this week," Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said Wednesday following a caucus meeting.
A vote on extending Canada's military mission in Afghanistan to 2011 is assured passage after a compromise was hammered out between Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government and Dion's Liberals.
And a budgetary ways-and-means motion, which guts a new Liberal private member's bill that would make Registered Education Savings Plans tax deductible, will be allowed to pass the House late Thursday – provided Speaker Peter Milliken doesn't rule the government tactic out of order.
The votes will effectively end a six-week period of brinkmanship in the Commons that saw the minority Tories survive their third federal budget, a government-manufactured crisis on crime legislation, the Afghan debate and an NDP confidence motion on climate-change policy.
But as parliamentarians embark on a two-week Easter break beginning Friday, the season of resurrection ensures that nothing, politically, has been settled. (Source: Sun Media)
Posted in: Canada Tagged: Afghanistan, book, boy, Budget, Cadman, Canada, confidence, Cried, election, Kyoto, memo, nursery, Obama, Ottawa, Parliament, rhyme, Stephane Dion, wolf