‘Better the problem we understand’ seems to be the thinking of the leaders of Canada’s new democratic party. They are closing ranks around the leader who cost them almost half the seats they held in the last parliament. Unlike the conservatives whose leader actually grew their seats by 22, they
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: Trump’s guilt is not the question.
What kind of trial is this in the U.S. senate chamber, where the rules are controlled by the jurors? Does a trial matter if people have already made up their minds? Can ordinary citizens be satisfied with a moral victory? Can the voters be satisfied with a sham? Maybe it
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The metrics of higher education.
Ontario premier Doug Ford wants our colleges and universities to earn their way. He wants some measurement on their economic performance. He wants to put a dollar value on that cap and gown. And when the minister of higher education is a lawyer, he seems to believe that such measurement
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “It’s time to give the profile…”
It is likely due to the lack of creativity on American network television that the show Criminal Minds has lasted so long. I thought of it when reviewing the Ontario liberal leadership race the other day. It is a puzzle to figure out why Ontario liberals put up with such
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The gravitas of Justin Trudeau.
You do know that prime minister Justin Trudeau used to teach drama, do you not? Given the holiday time he had with family in the Caribbean over Christmas, he had time to work on both the new beard and demeanour. This is supposed to be a new Justin we are
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Big tents are hard to move.
If only we had a nickel for every time someone told us that Canada’s conservative and liberal parties are ‘big tent’ parties. Big tent parties are, as the name implies, large enough to accommodate many different views, as opposed to smaller, narrow interest parties. You can think of the big
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “Enter Laughing.”
So, you want to be an actor? And Canada is the theatre. Nova Scotian Peter MacKay, once more wants to be conservative leader. It reminds us of the semi-autobiographical novel by American humourist Carl Reiner. He turned the book into a successful movie in 1967 and launched his career in
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When do we get back to the environment?
Between Mr. Trump’s tantrums, the concerns over Meghan and Harry and the disaster in Iran, the prime minister is not getting much done about the environment. And why would we ever be satisfied with just getting to a net-zero emissions target? Net-zero emissions is not a target, it is a
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘Unencumbered as I am by experience.’
Ontario education minister Stephen Lecce is no mystery. Politics is full of people like him. Their ability as a con artist is far more important than any particular experience or training. They are chameleons. Lecce was actually prime minister Stephen Harper’s discovery. He gave the handsome young man a job
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Being a liberal is tough.
Maybe I am not the only liberal who wonders where my party went. I got a copy of a rather angry e-mail the other day from a liberal in my riding of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte. The e-mail was to the provincial party president. I know that this letter-writing liberal is a hard-working
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: On being royal refugees.
It was hardly just the Downton Abbey dowagers who were clucking over the American divorcée marrying into Brit royalty. Well, their predictions of trouble are in, fast and furious. Harry and Meghan are rebelling against the vacuous life of the royal family. The very good news is that Harry’s gramma
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The grief of greed.
Many people share the blame for the shooting down of Ukraine International Airline Flight 752 over Iran. It is not the first time a civilian airliner has been brought down while carrying out its business. But what business, other than greed, takes a civilian airliner into a threatening war zone.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The gang that can’t sell pot.
It pains us to consider the lengths some cartel bosses would go to if it happened them. Imagine an outfit that cannot even make a profit selling marijuana. We are talking about the Ontario government here! After a full year in the business of selling the stuff, the government swore
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Politics of Oligarchs.
In an interesting opinion piece, recently, the Toronto Star’s Susan Delacourt said that both Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau had to reinvent their respective parties to win election. Neither liked the parties they were taking over in their search for power. Similar to Donald Trump in the United States, they
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Where is the vision?
In a recent commentary we complained about the lack of leadership of all Canadian political parties. What Canadians want from their leaders is vision. It is like the vision of Sir John A. Macdonald that ribbons of steel could bind this country together. It is our flag and the international
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “Rent-a-Vote” services for political parties.
It has been going on for many years. As someone who taught others how to communicate with Canada’s ethnic groups, I have always been disgusted by how the information is being used. Something that started out as an honest effort to bring newer Canadians into the political process has become
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: They can help you write right.
You cannot be sure here, just who is the problem? It is all about a program called My Analytics from Microsoft and another program called Grammarly. Both programs are intrusive and trying to sell us something. They both present themselves as though they have groups of monkeys in lab coats
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Ontario offers the bland and the pit bull.
We are still a while from knowing the slate of candidates for the federal conservative party leadership, but there are two Ontario MPs lining up their teams. They are Erin O’Toole from Durham and Pierre Poilievre from Carleton. I think of them as the bland and the pit bull. Erin
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The terrors of Trump’s testosterone.
You never know what you will read in the Economist. Just the other day I was reading about the lower levels of testosterone in modern American males. Despite the changes in diet and the higher levels of male obesity, this is probably good news for the Me-too movement. Let’s face
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Defeating democracy, drilling down to dismal.
Are Canada’s conservatives making the same mistakes in their June, 2020 leadership contest as gave them Andrew Scheer last time? Some people never seem to learn. We are hearing that they are trying to defeat democracy again. In what should be a one-member-one-vote contest, we understand that they have declared
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