This is a skill testing question. How are we going to spend our way back to a healthy economy? I have been doing my best at Ontario’s liquor control board stores. That enterprise has been pleased with our upgrading to single malts and better wines despite the pandemic rules that
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: Looking mean and meaning it.
That was dumb. Watching finance minister Chrystia Freeland deliver her financial update was more of a tribute to my interest in politics than any immediate need to hear her deliver it. What left me annoyed though was the rank stupidity of our opposition parties’ responses. While the speech itself was
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Political leaders get lots of advice.
It is part of the job. Leaders of all political parties get lots of advice—most of it ignored. Maybe the Toronto Star is not aware of this phenomenon. That must be why they run advice columns for different leaders every Sunday opposite the editorials. One of these, that ran last
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: We are going to miss Mr. Trump
Don’t get me wrong here. I know full well what a horror it has been with Donald Trump at loose in the White House. I am really not sure if the building will have to be tented and fumigated or just needs deep cleaning? The Trump smell will hang over
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Breaking Faith with Canadians.
Before people started accepting news in free form as whatever was trending on social media, we were encouraging business and government to work together. We called it by various names such as business-government partnerships but the essential component was the need to understand that the ultimate beneficiary was supposed to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Breaking Faith with Canadians.
Before people started accepting news in free form as whatever was trending on social media, we were encouraging business and government to work together. We called it by various names such as business-government partnerships but the essential component was the need to understand that the ultimate beneficiary was supposed to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Blame stupidity and short-sightedness.
We used to have some control in Canada about who bought and sold our industry. If you are smart enough to realize that you might be desperate for a vaccine to cure a new coronavirus some day. You would have kept Connaught Laboratories in Toronto working on vaccines and other
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The auditor versus the label salesman.
It might not be a fair fight but Ontario voters are enjoying it. The ups and downs and the tantrums of former label salesman and now premier Doug Ford are generally entertaining but when he and the province’s auditor general cross swords, the province can see the problems with better
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Parsing Pierre Poilievre.
Pierre Poilievre, conservative member of parliament for Carleton electoral district in the Ottawa area of Ontario, has described himself as a political junkie. He was born and educated in Alberta, worked for politicians such as Jason Kenney and Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day. He came east to find a riding
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Whatever happened to Uncle Malcolm?
It can be awkward when you have relatives who support Donald Trump. They think of him as a cross between God and the great leader. He can do no wrong. They are also born-again Christians and they are convinced that I am going to Hell anyway. As long as I
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump battles grief and the ocean tides.
As though commanding the ocean tide, the imperial Donald Trump continues his petulant arguments about his electoral college defeat by Joe Biden. No doubt his efforts to nullify the election are just another step in a life of dishonesty and delusion. But Trump is still in the denial stage. With
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Back to the Bully Pulpit.
It might have been a term coined by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt but our prime minister Justin Trudeau did the bully pulpit one better. It was living in Rideau Cottage while the official residence at 21 Sussex was under repair. Trudeau did a cuckoo clock single out the front door
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Doug Ford buys Ontario.
Listening to premier Doug Ford blow on about his Buy Ontario pitch brings back memories. After all I go back to the days when the province used to promote doing home renovation jobs in winter “When men and materials are available.” But Doug’s objective is to compete with president-elect Joe
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Pandemic Profiteers.
As a young man, I was trained by two different grocery chains in management of large grocery stores. Later in life, traveling around the world, I would often visit grocery stores, not to see what was different but to admire what was the same. From Hamburg to Kyoto, I could
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: See no; Hear no; Speak no solutions.
The three wise monkeys are alive and well and hiding from reality in Ottawa. At a time when a recent Environics poll shows that 64 per cent of Canadians support a guaranteed annual income program is a time for action. It is not a time to procrastinate, to put off
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Searching for the real Canada.
There is a Canada out there somewhere that we want to build on. It is a Canada led by those who can really lead. It is a Canada created willingly by our collective inspiration. It is a Canada built on equality and freedoms. It is a country that inspires. It
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: How about a modern royalty?
It must be the damn pandemic. The wife and I have these occasional short arguments. They come from frustration with the restrictions and need for more interaction with others. But what does come out of these brief squabbles are ideas. Today’s was the idea that she is a closet monarchist
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Turkey or turmoil for Christmas.
Do you ever get a feeling that something is off and you are not entirely sure what it is? It has been bothering me for a while. There is a feeling coming out of Ottawa that does not bode well. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole is salivating for an election. Federal
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The perils of pandemics.
Pandemics kill. Pandemics are economic disasters. Pandemics can be the great equalizer. Pandemics can be a bonanza for the unscrupulous. Pandemics can trap the unwary. Pandemics can destroy plans in process. Pandemics can offer opportunity. But in opportunity comes failure. The failure of Donald Trump in the United States will
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A Capital Idea.
It is fun to remember that, as a youngster, I was looking forward to a career as a writer. Writing an unedited blog can have serious consequences for those hopes. Nothing cuts deeper than the e-mails I get from readers about an occasional grammatical or spelling error. I even had
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