Do you trust U.S. president Donald Trump? Why would you when his actions are erratic, his decisions changeable, his sources of information questionable and his attention span so limited? In approving the revised North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), did the parliamentarians consider this man’s weaknesses and frequent whims? They
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: Paying for Jobs?
After careful study over the past few days, listening to the ideas of others and comparing the programs, I have decided that it is all a terrible waste. The federal government’s big billion bailout for Canadian business is money down the drain. We can do much better. First of all,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What was left under the rug?
There always comes that time when we have to look under the rug. Maybe we were just sending the rug out for cleaning but we can hardly ignore the detritus of time that we have collected. It is like this covid-19 emergency. This dust from under the rug was what
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Just breath that air!
Have you stepped outside lately? Even from a city condo balcony, you can feel the difference. Take a deep breath and enjoy. It is the breath of fresher air when there are so few carbon-spewing vehicles on the roads. It is air that we used to spend weekends and holidays
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Kenney dives into pipeline financing.
In a time when the rest of the world is expending all energy and funds into the war against the novel coronavirus, Alberta premier Jason Kenney is following his own drummer. In a time when you cannot get $5 a barrel for the bitumen from the tar sands, Kenney is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s the Tory party that is self-destructing.
Last weekend, Chantal Hébert wrote her regular opinion piece for the Toronto Star. She was ruminating on the idea that presumed front-runner Peter MacKay’s campaign for the conservative leadership might be self-destructing. Not that MacKay was heading anywhere in particular anyway. He is hardly the saviour of Canada’s conservatives. If
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Escaping the prison of a coronavirus.
With all the rules these days, my wife and I still like to get out for some fresh air and do our own shopping errands. Last Friday, in balmy weather and bright sunshine, my wife said ‘let’s go.’ It is becoming something of an adventure in this world of the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Dougie dumbs it down.
You get the impression that our Ontario premier goes to the office each day hoping to find new things to screw up for Ontario residents. Despite the tantrum he threw the other day over a high-priced grocery store overcharging for sanitary wipes, I never get the impression that he is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Checking with the Cuckoo Clock.
We have a pattern emerging. Every day at 11 am Eastern, we are now tuning into a news channel or live streaming CPAC on the Internet. The opening shot, is of the front door of Rideau Cottage, on the grounds of Rideau Hall in Ottawa. There is often a wait
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: An idea that’s time has come.
It has been hard to be one of the few writers harping on the need for a Canadian universal income program. This past week, we got some support in the person of Mike Schreiner, leader of the Ontario green party, and Jo-Ann Roberts interim leader of the federal greens. They
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A professional is on the job.
Kirsten Hillman of Global Affaires Canada has been appointed Canada’s ambassador to the United States of America. She has been in the job in an acting capacity since the departure of political appointee David MacNaughton to take part in the federal election last year. It is certainly a time when
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Can a conman cure a coronavirus?
U.S. president Donald Trump is impatient with the progress in curing covid-19. As a perpetual con artist, he will grasp at any straw as a solution. It is his nature. It is what also makes him a continuing pain in the ass in politics. Trump is deluding his followers and
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s time to make lemonade.
You know the old saw: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. We can all wonder at the colossal stupidity of the republicans in the American congress who fought to ensure that American business gets the bulk of federal government support funds during the covid-19 pandemic. Even in Canada, more
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Measuring social separation.
We should all applaud the ingenuity of cashiers and others in their efforts to maintain social separation at this difficult time. The prize for the most ingenious solution should go to a clerk in an Ontario Beer Store. (Yes, that’s what we call them here: The Beer Store.) Frankly, not
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Welcome to our Downton Abbey.
In reliving the period from before the First World War to the mid 1920s, the television series Downton Abbey was often criticized for not being more critical of the pomp and puffery of the British class system, of the time. Instead, the series showed the interdependence of the classes in
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In my humble opinion.
What the hell does a commentator comment on when the world’s news media (in English anyway) are totally committed to telling us, ad nauseum, about the world’s trials with a coronavirus and the results of covid-19? Is there a message of hope among all these horrendous statistics? Like the plagues
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Leadership is in the eyes of the followers.
Bob Hepburn of the Toronto Star wrote an opinion piece last week that commented on Doug Ford of Ontario looking “downright ‘leaderly’.” I rarely argue with Hepburn, but in this case, I sense some wishful thinking. True, Ford is running a notch or two ahead of Trump but nobody ever
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trudeau is in the catbird seat.
Canadians have never seen anyone so well positioned at the moment than prime minister Justin Trudeau. Popping in an out of Rideau Cottage like a cuckoo in a clock, the PM has the stage to himself. The news media await him. In his self-imposed isolation and working from home, to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Caught short in a pandemic.
We drove several hundred kilometres the other day. At least the gas was cheaper. My wife and I had to take someone some food. It made me realize how bad the planning is by our politicians. They have no idea of the basic nature of our lives. Prime minister Justin
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: We are all responsible.
It matters little where you are on the organization’s charts, you will always feel the crushing weight of the whole on your shoulders. There is no release mechanism whether you sit in a lofty corner office, draft memos for the person in the corner office to sign, or toil on
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